Critical Thinking, Communication Skills, Quantitative Literacy, and Personal Responsibility

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Reflective Self Analysis
Writing excellent scholarly papers is a process that requires continuous learning and patience. When I was starting the semester, I thought my writing skills were perfect, but I have realized there was more I needed to learn. When I compare the papers I wrote at the beginning of this semester and the ones I am writing now, there is a big difference. I am happy to have obtained more skills in writing since I know that it is one of the vital ways to communicate with others. The paper shows my progress in critical thinking, communication skills, quantitative literacy, and personal responsibility.
My critical thinking has improved throughout the semester on synthesizing sources, paraphrasing, quoting, and summarizing materials. Specifically, I learned that the most significant thing is paraphrasing is to read the original material, understand it, and rewrite points in the way that ones understand them. When it comes to quotes, I have learned that an individual should use short quotes and put them in the right context without forgetting an in-text citation. I stopped using long paraphrases without adequate explanation. For instance, at the beginning of this semester, I wrote, “To attain the control and authority of the people, the government exercises hard labors, torture, captivity, and executions (sometimes public), to reinforce control and fear from the people” (“North Korean Censorship” Final Draft 1). The information from the above statement was vital, but I would have summarized it. Besides, I have also improved on how I paraphrase and explain my quote. Later in this semester, I have learned how to paraphrase sources and summarize critical points. For example, in my paper about “Educators of Tomorrow,” I wrote, “Schools are faced with challenges of having an education system relevant to the 21st century” (“Educators of Tomorrow” Final Draft 3). By summarizing what I paraphrased from the original source made my points outstanding. In that light, thinking critically contributes to choosing vital information that helps me communicate effectively. I feel happy that I can pass relevant information to those who want it and on time.
I have significantly improved my communication skills this semester by learning how to proofread to avoid spelling, grammar, structural, and syntactical mistakes. I also realized that proofreading enables me to format my papers academically. I have learned that tools, such as grammarly, are important to help one remove common grammatical errors and improve the coherency of the paper. At the beginning of the semester, when I submitted the rough draft of one of ...