Goal 3: Demonstrate excellence in verbal and written communication

When I started college, I did not necessarily think about how many papers I would have to write and how often I would give presentations. Nothing prepared me for the volume of written assignments and public speaking I have done in the last four years of being in college. Before joining the Honors program, I had done a few presentations and papers, but the Honors Program helped me improve and become more comfortable with writing and public speaking. The artifacts below showcase how I was able to demonstrate excellence in verbal and written communication in my time in the Honors Program.

Outcome 1: Present ideas logically and effectively – verbally

 I demonstrated the ability to present ideas logically and effectively verbally in my leaders in film presentation for the HON250H- Foundations of Leadership course. For this presentation, we were asked to select a movie from a list of recommendations and watch it to identify the leaders and leadership styles exhibited in the movie. As part of our presentation, we were also to identify the types of power used by the leaders in the film and how the followers were impacted by their leadership. Through this presentation, I was able to strengthen my public speaking and presentation skills. I was also able to achieve this outcome because of the criteria that the presentation needed to meet to fulfill the grading requirements. I had headings for each slide of the presentation that guided me to be able to present the content logically, clearly, and confidently to my peers and professor.

Outcome 2: Present ideas logically and effectively – written

I demonstrated the ability to present ideas logically and effectively in a written format through many essays that I have had to write in the Honors Program. Below are two examples from the HON 264H Thinking Outside the Box and HON351H- Integrity and Examined Life classes. In HON 264H for our final exam, we had to draw a random word from a pile and write a paper about that word without using any external resources. This was a very taxing and interesting paper to write because the goal of the paper was to think critically, creatively, and outside the box about what we thought the word meant, either literally or personally, without the use of any resources. I liked writing this paper because it made me realize that effective writing does not always require outside sources. I really enjoyed this exam because it was both challenging and rewarding. This paper showed excellence in my written communication by encouraging me to communicate my perspective and understanding of a concept in a clear manner. The second artifact for this outcome from the HON351H class, on the other hand, was a reflection journal on the films and documentaries we had watched in the class throughout the semester. Since it was a reflection, I could revisit the movies and connect them to our class discussions and my personal observations and thoughts. This paper showed excellence in my communication by helping me reflect and critically think on the issues and lessons presented in these movies and documentaries, and accurately connect them to both real-world examples and in-class discussions. Although these two assignments were quite different, both reinforced the importance of thoughtful and critical thinking and my voice in the writings. They helped me write down my ideas both logically and effectively.

Summary

These artifacts show how my writing has grown over the years in the Honors Program through various assignments. These assignments strengthened my ability to put my thoughts together in a clear and concise manner and break down complex ideas in a meaningful way.