Letter to Future WRA Students – Blog 30

Before you begin this course, I would say my biggest piece of advice is to look at each day’s assignment sheet and have a clear understanding of what you need to do before next class. I would recommend having some organizational tool, such as a planner or a calendar, and writing down your due dates. The amount of coursework you get is substantial, but not impossible by any means. It’s easy to stay on track if you keep up with the assignments and blog posts, which are listed at the bottom of every day’s assignment sheet. One thing I wish I had done differently was to start my projects sooner. There are four major projects, three of them being large papers. I tended to procrastinate and then “binge-write” as the due date came closer. It’s more effective to write a little bit each day. Your paper and mental health will both benefit from doing it this way as opposed to cramming it all in before the due date. In this class, you should expect to do a decent amount of reading/listening and analyzing, with an emphasis on the analyzing aspect. You don’t have to just read things, you have to pick it apart and look at the who, when, where, what, and most importantly, why. I also think, of course, that you should expect to do a lot of writing! The blog posts serve as frequent writing practice, and the large papers are good for honing your formal writing skills.