Reflection

Final Semester Reflection

This semester has been a time of personal, professional and spiritual development in my life. As the semester began, I chose to do my research on fetal and maternal health issues. Specifically focusing on what can be done to decrease maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Since my wife was pregnant with our first child and I had been gathering information regarding her pregnancy and being a new parent, I thought this would make my research much easier. I never could have imagined as I was researching local issues and birth defects that within weeks I would become one of the very statistics I was learning about. A month into the semester, my son was born. What should have been a day filled with bliss and grandiose plans for the future soon became an urgent quest for research as my child was born with several birth defects. A topic that I chose to research because I thought it would be easy and could serve a dual purpose in my life suddenly became more personal and beneficial to me and my family. Through my research and writing I learned the importance of credible sources, the importance of written communications and the value of personal interviews.

English has never been my strong subject and writing has been a challenge. I found the obstacle course to be a literal “obstacle course”. Navigating the web and following the directions proved to be confusing and stressful. As I prepared the draft of my first paper I felt very confident until I submitted the paper to the safe assign inbox. I carefully watched as the number of errors kept rising and I was sure I had failed. It took until the third paper submission for me to determine that I should omit my bibliography to keep from being penalized for plagiarism. 

The second and thirds assignments offered a chance for students to show their creativity. I received the most positive feedback from others students on my brochure. I enjoyed this assignment because we were allowed to choose our own pictures and images for the brochure. It was interesting to see how many different interpretations there were on the same subjects. Allowing visualization helped the viewer to understand the importance without using words. I admit it was difficult to watch and film and not analyze the plot. I had to make a list of things I was looking for to in the movie review and pay close attention to those elements like setting, sounds and background. Most people do not pay attention to the music, camera angles or the lighting techniques in a film. In my particular film those elements were vital to the film production.  I felt more confident about these two assignments and enjoyed incorporating my ideas and creativity.

Properly using sources and citations in research is critical to the credibility of the paper. As I searched my topic for the first time, I found a wealth of information and was so excited thinking this would be an easy assignment. I found many interesting sources on the internet but when evaluating the sources for my annotated bibliography I found several that were not credible. This realization has made me look more closely at the sites where I get my information from and will prove to be helpful throughout my life. I will use this in my work, when seeking vendors for home or auto repairs and in searching for physicians for my family. The techniques of evaluating can be modified and applied to many situations.

The most challenging aspect of this class has been the technology involved. At three in the morning when I am trying to figure out how to create a blog or make a word document into a JPG file, I asked myself if this is really an English class or a computer class. I have spent more time on my assignments in this class and more time deciphering the instructions. At times, I feel completely computer illiterate!  Writing in MLA format has helped me become more confident in my citations. Although I did not do as well on the MLA test as I thought I should have, I have learned a great deal and have received higher scores on papers in my other courses.

Deadlines and peer edits as well as a newborn at home have deprived me of much needed rest and I anxiously await the end of the semester. I felt very proud after completing my peer edits on other students papers. I offered suggestions for strengthening the thesis, proper citations, grammatical and spelling errors and most importantly that coveted DO NOT USE LIST. A surprising number of students, including myself, had many preventable errors.  Composing this essay is difficult because a reflection allows one to use some of the taboos! I was elated awaiting the critiques on my paper only to realize that some of the students didn't participate. This was a disappointing lesson learned so I submitted my paper to the writing lab for review.  I was grateful to have new group each time and eventually to get some very positive and encouraging feedback from other students.

Overall, this has been a semester of growth and development for me. Juggling a full time job, a new baby and going to school full time has prepared me for a much needed summer break!  My research in this class has helped me better understand the issues surrounding maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in Idaho, the United States and globally. I appreciate the opportunities and challenges of the course and look forward to using these skills in the next chapter of my life.