Madison Taylor

LANG120.07
Prof. Graves
2 November 2015
Letter to the next cohort
Future LANG 120 student,

I transferred into UNCA from Western Carolina University (WCU), where I had already
taken a first year English course. In my English course at WCU I wrote multiple papers and
worked as hard as I could to earn an A. When I found out that my English course from WCU did
not transfer over I was furious. I had worked so hard and met the NC English requirement so
what was the point of taking another English class that focused specifically on writing? As
furious as the news made me at the time, I tried to head into LANG 120 open minded and
focused to make sure I would receive another A.
Heading into the end of the semester, I am very happy that I was forced to take LANG
120. Being a Biology major I am required to write a lot of lab reports and without the help of
LANG 120 I am not sure I would have been able to. One of my projects in LANG 120 required
me to focus on a certain interest and how it related to writing; I chose to research and write about
how to write in scientific disciplines. The idea of the project was very confusing but it eventually
worked itself out after group discussions and one on one meetings with the professor. This
project has taught me how to write my biology papers effectively where they will make sense to
someone familiar with the sciences and to someone who is not. This has benefited my biology

lab grade significantly, where as the biology department expects you to be able to write a perfect
paper in the first week of lab.
The most important thing I have learned this semester is the shitty first draft. What is the
shitty first draft? It is your absolute roughest draft of your writing. I have always thought that the
first draft had to be somewhat perfect, something I could possibly turn in if I forgot to edit it
later. I was extremely wrong. Creating a shitty first draft has allowed me to see how well the
writing process can evolve. Looking at the difference in my first draft and my final draft shows
how a paper can go from a low grade to a higher one easily. I am thankful for my newfound
knowledge of the shitty first draft and for Lang 120.
To do well in Prof. Graves Lang120 class you must do three simple things. You must
attend class regularly, write the rhetorical analysis, and participate in the group conversation, or
at least pay attention to it. Being in such a small class allows for one on one conversation with
Prof. Graves and an open discussion with several classmates. We were able to talk about every
rhetorical analysis we wrote, allowing me to learn from my classmates examples, leading me to
better perfect my own. Class discussion may not seem like it would help you since you are
depending on others opinions but the more you listen it allows you to compare and contrast
others opinions to your own, allowing you to mend them into your own writing.
You can expect to gain a sense of understanding from this course. This course has a vast
amount of open discussion that will teach you to be more open minded, like I said before. The
difference is that you will start to do this in all of your classes. I have found myself being more
attentive to what my classmates have to say rather than just listening to my teachers opinions. It
has broadened my perspective on many topics and has greatly affected the way I take notes, pay
attention in class, and write in all subjects.

I believe that this course has satisfied our entire list of student learning outcomes (SLO).
The student learning outcomes consist of: engage in critical inquiry and reflection, development
of information literacy, and communicating in rhetorically effective ways. Class discussions
ensure that we engage in critical inquiry and reflection while also teaching us various
communication skills. Having to read They Say, I Say by Bacon has helped expand our
knowledge and develop information literacy while we get to practice different exercises through
out the readings. Class discussion and reading various works, especially Bacon, has helped in
learning how to communicate in rhetorically effective ways. When I write my rhetorical analysis
I write the first draft as normal, then I edit it. When I edit my analysis I think about our group
discussions and how my peers go about writing theirs. I consider the different ways we could
interpret the readings and the main idea the author is trying to portray. Then in my final edit, I
think about the Bacon exercises. They teach you different ways to use style, theme, and structure,
so I look at my writing and see where else it could go. There is much more that we do in class
that contributes to satisfying our SLOs, but I believe that group discussion and Bacon are huge
contributors that impact us the most.