Anthony Carambot
ENGL 210
Professor Brandon
May 2025

Throughout this semester in ENGL 210, I’ve grown as a writer in ways I didn’t fully expect. At the beginning of the course, I saw writing mainly as a requirement—a set of academic tasks that had to be completed to get a grade. But through writing, revising, and reflecting on major assignments like the Cultural Op-Ed, the Subculture Essay, and the “Culture is Ordinary” essay, I’ve come to understand writing as a process rooted in identity, audience awareness, and critical thinking. In this essay, I’ll reflect on four major areas of learning: embracing linguistic diversity, developing revision strategies, writing for different genres and purposes, and integrating sources effectively.

The one of the first course learning outcomes was to “recognize” that you and others all have a range of ‘linguistic resources.’” At the beginning, I paid no heed to this but then realized that my writing voice is dependent on my cultural background, daily conversations and the languages I speak. In my ‘Culture is Ordinary’ essay, I explored my experiences of the Colombian and Assyrian cultures and an attempt to convey what I was being asked to use a personal and authentic tone. Take my example. When I wrote about how I helped my mom make ajiaco, there was no need to sanitize my writing for a “formal” academic tone; I was allowed to be honest and I was able to drive my point home. I learned I have a voice that is valid and that it is valuable to share that voice. When I do share my voice, I find that it allows me to connect with the readers more deeply.

Prior to this class, I didn’t take anything seriously. I wouldn’t necessarily fix grammar issues or reformulate a sentence. Hence, unlike that point in the semester, I know now that revision is something that is just as important as writing when it comes to writing. After I received feedback from my peers and my professor, I reorganized entire paragraphs to better support my claims and put in stronger topic sentences to help guide the readers. I also pruned unnecessary filler and made each line important. An example of that was when I cut vague phrases out and instead used specific language that echoed my argument. But now, I don’t just check grammar. I edit to be more clear.

 Another important outcome was to “negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre.” This was especially clear in the difference between writing the Cultural Op-Ed and the Subculture Essay. For the Op-Ed, I needed a public voice that someone could grab with, persuade with and simplify for someone else. The Subculture Essay was less personal and not academic as the other one. I needed to embed evidence for my points, MLA format my claims. I discovered that writing can be flexible, depending on the audience. I already know the genre and I knew the kind of audience I was writing for before I created everything else.

I had to figure out how to incorporate sources when I began this class. I didn’t know how to analyze it or tie it back to my thesis and might throw in a quote here or there. I learned over the semester to use sources as more than just filler. In my essay on Subculture, I wrote an essay about ice hockey goaltending using articles and examples backing my points. To strengthen my argument, not distract from it, I practiced quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing. In addition, I became better at processing databases and assessing which sources to use and which were good ones. I didn’t copy a format, citation became something that I did on purpose.
However, one thing that changed during this course was the relationship with AI tools. I didn’t know whether to use them or give them too much. While I didn’t use this much, as we spoke of AI in class and wrote AI statements for our assignments, I realized that these tools could help with my learning – in an ethical way. 

In hindsight, I am pretty sure that I can leave ENGL 210 with a better understanding of myself as a writer. At the least, I have learned to recognize the value of my own language, to learn to revise with purpose, to learn to fit my words to an audience and to make good use of sources. Rather than simply an item on my to do list, writing is something for me to personify. I am proud of the work I did and am now much more ready to write in multiple situations, whether in school or out.