The introductory letter seemed like a reasonable assignment for the beginning of a science-based writing course. The introductory letter enabled me as a student to question why am I attending college? What do I hope to accomplish? How did I get where I am? Taking a moment to look back at the tasks of this assignment and understand how it was that I chose to major in biology was an interesting assignment.

When writing my introductory letter, the audience I had in mind was general. One of the guidelines for the introductory letter was it would guide the other letters we would have to complete for the semester. I figured the introductory letter would reflect an exercise to determine our writing levels at the beginning of the semester. Therefore, I wrote the introductory letter with the intent that my professor and classmates would be the intended audience.

I feel I adhered to the guidelines of the introductory letter well, however, in some sections, I used detail while I kept others vague. In order to introduce myself, I used details from the task we did in class where we worked in groups to build a general sense of how we would describe ourselves to our peers. I introduced myself using general facts about myself, where I attended middle/high school, and how that led to me attending CCNY. With the professional goals I shared in my letter, I shared who has influenced me and the role that volunteering in the medical field has played in my career choices. I chose to share my ultimate goal of opening a medical practice because of my field of study. I explained that my field of study is biology, with a biology degree many opportunities are presented for students. I chose the specific route of pursuing an MD after because of the volunteer work I have done and my mentors.

Writing the introductory letter was a rather different assignment than I am used to because it was not about simply fulfilling a task, it was about trying to acknowledge and communicate my goals. It is not common that I get the opportunity to write about or reflect on why I pursue my goals. This letter changed how I felt about my goals by making me appreciate them more. Reflecting on why I hope to accomplish the goals I have set forward provides that much more ambition to complete everything I have set out to do.

My editing and proofreading process consists of reviewing my completed work on my laptop. When proofreading my work, I like my workspace to be completely quiet and I will read on the computer and make edits as I read. I usually reread the paper two times in order to see if the edits I made on the first reading were necessary. I prefer working in silence without disruptions because I will not be distracted.

I feel I was successful at addressing the assignment prompt because I created a general overview of myself and goals at CCNY within the given length of the assignment. In completing this assignment, I feel the course learning outcome addressed is “Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment.” This learning outcome was addressed because when writing the introductory paper, we were essentially drafting, reading, and revising our own paper because the first draft was the final paper. Writing this blog post to coincide with the introductory letter and using our letters and the feedback we receive helps us enhance strategies for self-assessment.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.