Hello. My name is Ronya Regis. This e- portfolio encompasses some key artifacts I submitted in my virtual Writing for the Sciences (WFS) course during the Fall semester of 2020. This course was not like any other English class that I had previously taken. As a gateway class for all science majors, the course was a melting pot for peer learning. I developed as a writer throughout the semester, as I learned how to write new kinds of essays. Below, I will go more in depth about the learning outcomes I was able to engage with.

One of the first assignments that I completed for the course was a technical description essay. This was the first time I had written a technical description. For this assignment, I had to choose an object or a process, and describe how it functions. Brainstorming what to write about was a bit challenging. Even though the object or process did not need to be entirely scientific, I knew that I wanted to write about a scientific or anatomical process. Being a biology major, at the time, I knew that I would be more engaged by writing about something that I had an interest in. In the end, I chose the human respiratory system. The next step for writing this paper was to conduct some research and read about the parts of the human respiratory system. One thing that I wanted to make sure I was doing throughout this paper was to not lose my audience. Meaning that I did want to write in strictly scientific jargon that might have been difficult for my audience to understand. Hence, I used subtitles to categorize my descriptions for the functions  and parts of the respiratory system. By doing so, I negotiated my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation.

The second paper I wrote for this course was a scientific controversy paper. The goal of this paper was to choose a current scientific controversy and detail its aspects. After taking into consideration all that I learned about choosing the best topic, particularly, choosing one that was not too extensive; I decided to write about child immunization. After conducting some baseline research, I learned that there are many reasons why parents can be apprehensive about vaccinating their children. My main concern was staying consistent and explaining each of those reasons. I had to conduct further research and choose the most relevant and appropriate primary and secondary sources to support each claim. By doing so, I practiced using various library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate resources for my writing. It was also important to mention the opposing sides of the controversy; which in this case, were the reasons why medical professionals guarantee that child immunizations are beneficial. Towards the end of the paper, I weighed in my own opinions about the controversy. I was able to do so based on all that I learned about the issue. In the end, I formulated and articulated a stance in my writing, and was able to write an effective conclusion.

The third major assignment I completed for the course was a group research paper and presentation. This assignment was the odd one out from the previous papers that I wrote. Being in a group of four and trying to virtually write a cohesive scientific research paper did not come without its challenges. The first and most essential step in writing this paper was choosing a topic. I took on the role of facilitator of the group, and since we had a slow start; I decided to browse through the internet and write down a few interesting topics for my group to choose from. We decided to go with the question of whether or not dementia and memory loss could be prevented. The first part of the assignment was to submit an abstract. We conducted some research and learned that dementia could not fully be prevented but its risks could be diminished by living a healthy lifestyle. We wrote and edited the abstract and submitted it. The next part to be submitted was a bibliography. Hence, the moment came to find the best peer reviewed research that was relevant to our topic, and write a properly formatted bibliography. Hence, once again, I practiced using various resources to conduct research. One of the challenges my group faced was communication. With each of us having  different schedules, it was difficult to find the best times to meet and discuss the progress of the paper. Nonetheless, we managed to enhance our strategies for reading, drafting, and revising the research paper. We followed the guidelines given by the professor and included an effective title, introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections within the essay.

The second part of the group research paper was formulating a visual presentation. We used slides to outline the most significant aspects of the research we conducted. We included the same structure within our slides, and by presenting our finding in a different way; I engaged in genre analysis and multimodal composition to explore effective writing. My group presented our slides to the class. This the first presentation of the semester for me, hence, I was nervous. However, I was familiar with my sources and research, and was able to explain our findings. By the end of this group project, I realized that I did indeed developed and engaged in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process. Another difficulty that I overcame through this assignment was acknowledging mine and  my peers’ range of linguistic differences as a  resource. My group members and I had linguistic variations, and different writing styles. However, we tried our best to revise and edit the research paper to best of our abilities.

After taking this course, my perspective on what writing is and how it can look has been expanded. By choosing the topics for each of the papers I wrote, I was able to develop and analyze papers I was interested in. Writing is what you make it, and with supporting and relevant evidence, any claim can be developed into an articulated paper. Also, since this course is writing for the sciences, I was able to look at each assignment through a scientific lens, and bring my own prior knowledge into my writing. In terms of the course learning outcomes, I was able to engage with all of them to a certain extent. One learning outcome that I extensively used throughout each writing assignment was, strengthening my source use practices, such as evaluating, paraphrasing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources. One learning outcome that I hope to keep practicing in the future and develop new methods for is, engaging in the collaborative and social aspects of writing. I faced some challenges this semester during the group research paper; when it came to putting all my group members’ work into one logical paper. Hence, I feel that I could possibly spend more time with this learning outcome and learn the best ways to work collectively.

In short, I am proud of the work that I was able to produce for the course. From the technical description, to the scientific controversy, then the research paper, and finally the presentation- I learned a lot about scientific writing, and was able to develop my own writing style that I can take with me for the future.