Luke Aulbert

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UWRT 1103
Malcolm Campbell
5/3/2016

Dear Reader

Through taking taking this course. I believed to have gained some valuable insight into how I
think, and as to how exactly and clearly I write down my thoughts. Although I wouldnt say that
I gained much insight into exactly how I think, however I did gain valuable insight into how
exactly I put my thoughts into words. By taking this class, I have learned to transcribe my
thoughts into words for a reader to see, allowing me to share my ideas with fellow peers rather
than keeping my thoughts to myself and failing to share unique ideas. Although this process was
relatively short, spanning only about 3-4 months, this process is evident through the works I
created in this class, from the literacy narrative to the E-portfolio in which is a living process as I
am typing this letter. By completing and reflecting upon these works, I have progressed as a
writer and come closer to effectively express my thoughts onto paper.

To help us progress as a writer, our teacher Malcolm Campbell, decided it would be a good idea
to make every student make a blog and develop it accordingly throughout the semester. Although
I was originally opposed to this idea. I believed the blogs helped everyone grow as a writer
throughout the semester. I know certainly that the blogs I wrote effectively made me grow, but
thats not to say only the blogs in this class helped me grow as a writer. The daily free writes in
the class helped me out as well. Although some were completely pointless and a waste of my
time, such as they are you chill free write, some free writes, such as the writing is and reading is,

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made a substantial impact on my thoughts on writing. For instance, before writing about this
prompt, I thought writing was pure agony, however after putting my thoughts onto paper I come
to learn to appreciate the art of writing and writing for me hasnt been the same since. Although
these informal assignments did help, the paper I submitted and received feedback were indeed
the most beneficial writings for this class.

The first paper I wrote in which received substantial feedback was the literacy narrative,
although I struggled a bit with this paper, as it was the first time I was forced to tell a story as
part of a grade, I believed I did well with the end result as I received an A for the work. I believe
the first paper created the most growth for me as a writer as I spent more time wondering how I
could come up with a narrative and ultimately spent more time on writing this paper more than
any other paper. Nonetheless, this paper received the highest grade out of any of my assignments
so perhaps I could utilize my process of how I crafted the literacy narrative. I started the
narrative by reflecting on what writing events changed my life forever. One event that clearly
stood out was the Guardian podcast on Postmodernism I decided to listen to in my free time for
whatever reason. Although I had a hard time keeping up with what the professors were trying to
say, this instance was the first time I realized just how powerful of an effect literature could have
on society. By debating on literature in an academic setting, I learned the profound effect
literature can have in understanding human society. By emphasizing the effect this one instance
had one my life, I created a narrative that ultimately started the journey in this class to my
progression as a writer. Although my narrative wasnt perfect the narrative served as a good start
for my journey in this class.

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The next assignment I did in this class was the topic proposal. When it came to
choosing a topic. I knew that I always I always wanted to choose a topic about ADHD, however I
didnt know whether or not what aspect I should conduct research on about ADHD, such as
treatment of ADHD, scientific background of ADHD, or the prevalence of ADHD in certain
demographics. Initially I was uncertain about what topic I should choose, however after talking
to my professor, Malcolm Campbell, I decided I should discuss the evolutionary side of ADHD,
particularly ADHD and the prevalence of ADHD in nomadic settings. Although the paper was
mediocre at best, I believed this initial topic proposal was a good start in developing myself as a
writer as well as becoming knowledgeable about the evolutionary perspective on ADHD.

Now for my least favorite assignment, the annotated bibliography. Not only was this paper
awful, but the events that occurred while crafting this paper were indeed particularly bad. When I
was creating this paper, my computer decided to crash on me and luckily most of my word files
were backed up onto a google drive. Unfortunately, the annotated bibliography was not one of
these files. I remember yelling at another computer for three hours while I was retyping the
annotated bibliography as typing it twice was pure agony for me. Although I typed my paper this
certainly did not mean that my second paper was any better as this paper was in fact the lowest
grade I received for this class.
However, I had a chance to redeem myself with the EIP first draft. Although no computer
crashed on me this time when I created this EIP, this paper unfortunately did not stand out as a
particularly good paper. However, the paper did not necessarily stand out as a particularly bad
paper either. The paper was mediocre at best, however the EIP did sum up what I learned
throughout the course. With Dan Eisenbergs finding of the link between a specific gene allele

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expression 7-DRD4, to Thomas Barkley Ludacris defense of why ADHD isnt human evolution,
I realized that when I wrote the EIP I had acquired knowledge about the subject of ADHD, then I
would have if I took an abnormal psych class at the university. When I wrote the EIP I realized
that although this class was a general studies class, I gained a fair bit of knowledge from this
class than what I would have learned from most of my course classes.

And finally the E-portfolio, a time where I have to reflect on all the works I did in this class.
Hopefully my E-portfolio will earn me high marks, though time will tell. It is a little nostalgic to
see all of my free writes I created, the Ponderings on human existence in my writing, and the
gradual assimilation and integration of my knowledge about ADHD. As a writer, I think my
biggest weakness for me is how to put my ideas onto paper and express them in a precise
manner. If I mastered this, all of my papers would earn high marks. However, some strengths I
do have as a writer, I would say would be to come up with ingenious ideas, these ideas come in
handy when writer a dry prompt and sometimes makes a paper more entertaining to read. I
believe throughout the semester I have slowly progressed into honing this skill and will build
upon in for the years to come.