Starting off in this class I didn’t really know what to think of it. I thought it was going to be long and boring, with essay after essay after essay. However, professor Brian really turned out to be different. He made me realize that writing doesn’t really need to be a drag, especially when you get to pick your own writing topics.

To start off on the first day of class professor Brian had us all send in our emails. This was just so he could have our contact information, just incase he would need to inform his students of an absence or a material change (or that one time someone left their phone in the classroom). He also gave us a vocabulary sheet with the singular and plural forms of multiple words to help us with our writing.

BUT WHAT WORK DID WE REALLY DO IN THIS CLASS?

Professor Brian allowed us to dip our toes into the water by assigning us an essay on how science enters into our educational and/or career goals. Now to me this essay was pretty easy because I actually like to write. I spent about maybe an hour or three writing and looking over my essay making sure it was good enough to submit. Here is a copy:

We then had to worry about the Literature Review paper. Unlike the first essay we had this one had to be 4-5 pages long. Thats a little more intimidating than 1-2 pages if you ask me. In this assignment we had to summarize, analyze, and synthesize three research papers that all have a similar focus. At this point I was honestly sweating because I was never allowed to pick my own essay topic, let alone it had to be about 5 pages. At this point I knew Professor Brian was serious. I spent a very long time looking for a topic I really liked. I decided to do artificial insemination because I liked the show Jane the Virgin so much. I then realized that it couldn’t really be on humans so I just switched the idea to the breeding of animals. Writing this essay I really learned so much that I didn’t already know not only about insemination in animals but also about how to find peer reviewed articles on the CCNY library website. I made sure to type my paper in APA format and that really helped jog my memory because I haven’t really written and essay in APA for a few years. I made sure to add an abstract and a header as well. I really thought I gave that essay my all, but I was given feedback that my vocabulary needed to be more academic as well as many grammatical errors. In the end I got a B on my first real paper in this class:

The next assignment was our position paper. This paper was also a 4-5 page essay where we had to take a position on a scientific topic and use 3 peer reviewed articles to back up our argument. This paper was a little tricky because we could only make scientific arguments, not moral ones. Writing this essay I definitely found myself trying to make moral arguments but I finally came through to finishing the paper. I actually took the criticism and decided to have my paper sound more academic, since it is a scientific paper after all. I also took account my grammar and fixed the APA flaws I didn’t understand in my essay before:

Our second to last paper was the most difficult for me. It was the profile of a science professional. This paper was to basically just find a science professional, like a professor or a nurse/doctor and ask them a series of questions based on their field of medicine and personal experiences. I decided I would interview my sister because she works as an OBGYN at a hospital. My sister lives with me, so it was easy to get a good session with her whenever she was home. Unfortunately for me, I did not get the chance to record my answers in the form of an essay because I also work work part time on top going to school full time. Around the time this essay was due, Thanksgiving was around the corner and my store needed as much help as they could get. Here I learned that not everything goes the way expect it to, but everything will still be okay. I do, however, have the results I recorded from my sister as well as the questions I asked her:

Our last assignment was our lab report. This consisted of a group essay and a presentation to the whole class. We basically had to come up with a scientific topic that did not involve animals or humans whatsoever. My group decided to do the water quality of the bodies of water here in NYC. I ended up doing the water at Brooklyn Bridge Park, which was, by the way, freezing cold and super moss-y. I was responsible for the introduction in both parts of our lab report. Other members of my group did the Hudson River, the Bronx River, and Flushing Bay. Our results came back pretty much how we expected them to, not so clean. We then worked together to make a powerpoint and a 3 page essay on our findings as a group.Here are some pictures of my work:

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Here is the copy of me and my groups work:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15E2u5_NO0Rh-JMHjthEOXdwVE6FuESOOt6BAmoNJlVs/edit?usp=sharing

On top of these essays and presentation we also had readings to do for almost every class followed by a discussion question. We were required to do at least 5 discussions to get full points for this section of the class. Unfortunately for me again, I didn’t get a chance to do a single discussion because, well, life just isn’t that nice to me. Working after school almost everyday did not allow me to do these discussions. Coming home at 2 in the morning I had no time to look online especially since I needed to sleep to wake up for school the next morning. It was also very difficult for me because when the discussions were posted on Blackboard, there was no notification. So there was no way for me to know the discussion was there unless I physically looked myself, and I had a lot on my mind already. I did, however, read the articles and tried to put my two cents in, in class group discussions. Professor Brian always made sure that if we couldn’t access the article in class, he would have physical copies to give us to follow along. Here are some examples:

This portfolio is our last and final assignment for this Writing for the Sciences class. I learned that being punctual pays off in this class. Procrastination isn’t your friend if you know you want to write a good essay. Most importantly I learned that if you really put in the effort, your hard work will pay off. That is all for ENGL 21003…