Crawford 1

Michael Crawford
Professor Olivia Rines
UWRT 1101-002
April 9, 2015
Final Reflection
There are times in our lives that we think we know and understand about certain items.
Understanding the style of writing and what has to be considered when writing was an item that I

Commented [SM1]: Is there a better word than item that

fits here?

thought I understood. This course has helped me to expand how I write, the style, content and
format. The course has also helped me to expand how I think in regards to performing the
research to do the writing. To attempt to put into words what this course and this semester has
meant is not such an easy task.
The first item that has helped reshape how I write and what goes into my writings has
been the Day Book entries that we have done. Each class session for the most part we would be

Commented [SM2]: Add commas. session, for the

most part,

given a topic or statement and then given approximately five minutes to write a response to it.
One of the things that I came to realize early about this is that there is no time to research and
think through what you might say. When you are given something to write about and then told
that you have the next five minutes to respond to the statement, what comes to your mind first is
what gets written down. This is to me both a positive and a negative.
Most writers prefer to have ample time to perform research on whatever the topic or
subject is that they will be writing about. This research time helps the writer to form his
thoughts and create a quality writing that will cause the readers to pay attention and become

Commented [SM3]: You could explain that we are given

specific prompts from Olivia to write on sometimes or
someone can choose out of the book

Crawford 2

involved. Writing on a spur of the moment and with a time constraint can be stressful to some,
but also helpful as it truly causes the creativity to start working. Many times the writer only has
time to come up with one or two thoughts in response to the statement and then the remainder of
what gets written is formed from that.
The simple writing exercises have helped to open my mind and my thinking as to how to

Commented [SM4]: Do you mean daybook entries here?

become a more effective writer. Writing is not as simple as some may think it is, especially if
they have never had to write much before. The smaller writings that had to be completed helped

Commented [SM5]: What specific smaller writings?

me to look at writing in a much broader view than I had ever done prior. There are a number of
key points to writing that I had not taken into consideration prior to this course. Having a greater
understanding of Genre would have to be one of the largest adjustments that has been made.
Genres have an entirely different understanding and meaning than what I would have
thought or said previously. What I would have said was the definition of Genre at the start of the
class to what I know now are completely different. Genre impacts almost every aspect of our
lives, we just dont look for it. As we learned and came to understand exactly what Genre is it
became much easier to start to identify different genres in my everyday life. I never would have
thought that so many different things that had been taken for granted could be and are considered
to be genres.
The characteristics used to help identify a genre have been a true eye opener as to how to
examine an item to determine if it meets the qualifications. Writers have to examine and qualify
what they are writing, but this requires a great deal of time and understanding, which I have
gained throughout this course. The more that information is provided to a writer to help them
improve on their abilities, the better quality of writer that individual then becomes. The primary
information which has been introduced during this course are the six characteristics described by

Commented [SM6]: What does this mean, qualify what

they are writing?

Crawford 3

Swales. This information has helped to ensure that all of the topics can be described as either
falling into the specified classification or not, simply by using this as a guide.
The Genre analysis that was written was a paper that helped to clarify just what is truly

Commented [SM7]: Just isnt needed

considered as a genre and what we may think is genre. This paper caused my understanding to
be expanded in ways that normally would not have been known possible. The first avenue of this
was the understanding of what a genre actually is and how to identify a genre. Once this has
been accomplished, than the paper starts to take shape. The more focused the genre is the deeper
the paper becomes in describing and sharing this genre with the audience.

Commented [SM8]: Discuss what you did your genre

analysis on and more about the assignment in general
instead of just talking about genre.

One of the other methods that has caused us to experience changing our writing
techniques have been through the Discussion Forums. As we comment on what has been read or

Commented [SM9]: Are these one of the smaller writings

mentioned earlier?

assigned and then read another classmates comments, we expand our own thinking and
viewpoints. As there were various assignments that had to be completed by posting forums about
certain topics or articles, the discussion forums that also followed were enlightening and caused
one to stop and think. Just when you may have thought that there was not some angle that you
had thought of, one of the other writers in the class would come up with an angle that was

Commented [SM10]: Watch wording of the sentence.

Makes it a little confusing

completely out of left field. The discussion forums helped to broaden the scope of our thinking
as writers as we had to be both parties, writer and audience. This caused the quality and style of
the writing to change as our thinking was expanded outside of the norms.
For me one of the items that I feel was more beneficial were the in-class or group tasks or
assignments that were completed without notice. In writing if there is no time to do any research
and find facts, than what the writer presents is completely raw. There are times that this in itself
is not always bad as the writer has the opportunity to express themselves in a manner that
normally they would not. Every writer should do this from time to time to just free flow and see

Commented [SM11]: Mention the requirements of the

assignments like the 300-500 word count

Crawford 4

what the end result is. Free flow in writing can express emotions and thoughts that just go
without trying to actually structure the flow of the paper.
Free style writing allows a writer to start with one idea, one word, or just the topic and
then write based on that. As writers tend to like to know information about what they are writing
and have their research, free style writing can be completely creative. Many times in free style
there is no set structure or format, it is just what it says. Writers that express thoughts in this

Commented [SM12]: Could mention changing from the

standard 5 paragraph essay form

manner have the ability to not only be rather bold in what they say, but typically do not put much
concern in how the audience will react to the writing.
The final piece that most likely caused most of us to look at groups, individuals and
organizations in an entirely different manner was the Micro-Ethnography. This project while
somewhat simple was also a little complicated. Having to do the research about whatever group
or organization was chosen and then determine if the qualifications were met to be called a
Discourse Community was an adventure. The interviews and observations helped to bring to

Commented [SM13]: Include what discourse community

you did your micro-ethnography on

light just how many things that we are involved in on a daily basis actually fit into the
classification. There are sports teams, sporting events, fun activities, daily activities that are
required and many others that now have a much broader understanding and scope to us. When
research is being done on a specific group and you start to learn more and more about that group,
understand why they do what they do and when they do it, there become a deeper appreciation
for that group and its members.
The Micro-Ethnography helped to open my eyes as to just how many various groups,
organizations, individuals, etc. around us every day fit into the discourse community class.
There are groups that we may not have the first bit of understanding about and feel that they
serve no purpose at all, but then find out that there is great purpose in what they do and why they

Commented [SM14]: Does this include your group of

chosen discourse community?

Crawford 5

do it. The understanding that has been gained through this project itself has been in-valuable to
me as a writer and as a person. The time spent just in research has been a wake up for me to not
be quick to judge or lump people or groups any one way, but to always keep and have an open
mind.
The overall outcome of this course has been a true eye opener to me. The understanding
of what is a genre, the proper style of writing that is expected today and the content. Another

Commented [SM15]: Reword sentence to make more

sense

area that had never been given much consideration from myself was the actual audience that
would be reading the writing. Many times when an individual is given a topic or theme to write
about and they do, there is little thought as to who that audience will actually be. As a writer we
need to always consider the audience so that we are either informing on a general scale or being
much more detailed with the information and research. Does our audience have an
understanding of the topic that we are writing about or do we need to inform them? This is a

Commented [SM16]: Are both of these sentences

needed? Sounds repetitive

question that as writers we should always try to keep in the front of our mind.
The various projects, in-class assignments and daily activities have been informative and
educational at the same time. There is nothing that has been done that was not cause for us to go
back and examine ourselves closer, make adjustments in how we say, what we say and when we
say certain things, even in our writing. This course has been helpful not just to someone wanting
to be a writer, but to each of us in our daily lives. How we view people and situations will be
vastly different as a result of what we have gained throughout this course.

ENDNOTE: Overall I thought that this was a well written draft. You touch on each of the 5
bullet points that are supposed to be mentioned throughout the paper. While talking about each

Commented [SM17]: Could say have not only been

informative but educational.

Crawford 6

of those 5 points you provide a good description of each assignments but could possibly include
more information about your Genre Analysis or Micro-Ethnography. You do a good job of
giving general info about each assignment but nothing really specific. By giving the audience of
the paper your topic for both of those assignments it could give them more insight on the
assignment itself. It also shows the audience you referencing specific examples which is another
factor that should be mentioned in your reflection. Along with the bullet points you include a
good amount of information about your in-class experiences which is also important to include in
this paper. One thing that Olivia mentions that is extremely important to add to your paper is
discussing your portfolio content. I did not see this talked about anywhere while reading your
paper so when you go back for the second draft be sure to include some information about this.
Other than putting in the information about the portfolio I thought this was a really good draft
with quality writing.