Cilina Haddad

Writing 2
Zack De Piero
December 3, 2015
Farewell and Adieu Writing 2
On October 7, into the second week of the quarter, I wrote in my journal, I want this course
to help me become a more advanced and creative writer. Through the course of this class, I have
learned and developed into a writer who is always willing to learn from mistakes and who is
continuously revising a once thought of perfect paper. I felt mildly confident coming into this
writing class. I thought this class would be very similar to my English classes in high school and
had a sense of relief when I added this class, believing this would be an easy A, and I would be
working on 2 maybe 3 essays. Little did I know, not a day went by that I was not doing some sort of
writing homework. Whether that was reading an article from the course reader, writing my weekly
Thlog, working on a PB, commenting on a classmates paper, or working hard on a WP, most of my
homework consisted of rewriting and revising my work to earn the grade I hoped for.
The first lesson we learned in this class, first and second order thinking, described in
the article, Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking, was the first step in developing me into a more
advanced writer. Although I knew there was a difference between informal, creative thinking and
formal, analytical thinking, I was finally given a term to refer to. Learning about these concepts and
applying them to my papers has allowed me to grow and progress. Now, every time I am given a
new prompt or asked to write an essay, I initially refer to first-order thinking. I use this to assert
creativity, and free thinking, with no rules or prescriptive writing. There are no limits placed to
restrict my analysis or my ability to expand upon an unconventional idea. Then, I refer to secondorder thinking. This is the time when I elicit the conventional, right way to write my essay. I

follow the rules and carefully annotate my thoughts and ideas to please my audience (the teacher).
Each project builder that we were assigned was a bit of a drag, but when it came to working
on the WP, I incorporated a lot of my analysis and findings from my PB. Although the PBs were not
an assignment I enjoyed, they were assignments that empowered and advanced my writing skills.
All 6 PBs elaborated on different themes of the class, from discovering what a genre is to each
genres conventions to a variety of authors moves to discovering different types of disciplines. I
have become aware and have learned skills for taking small, slow steps to accomplish major
changes.
I came into this class with the mindset that a rough draft was supposed to be a somewhat
flawless, edited paper. I believed that the purpose of writing a final draft was to fix the grammatical
errors of the paper- not the overall ideas or thorough analysis. Little did I know, the first WP that
was assigned shaped me into believing that the first draft is just a shitty first draft. To my own
benefit, De Piero assigned the article, Shitty First Drafts to the class. This was a huge clarification
and wake-up call to my writing process. Prior to this class, I focused so much of my attention on
essentially forming and creating my first draft into my final draft. This was a problem that has
weakened and taken a toll on my writing. I realized that instead of spending hours writing my
rough draft, all I had to do in the beginning was write down all I wanted to achieve in my paper: the
course readings I would use, the sources I would refer to, the rhetorical features, and the analysis. I
focused on creating my first draft as an outline (where my first-order thinking took place), my
second draft as a pre-essay (where most of my second-order thinking took place), and my third draft
as the final editing and revising all that was written in the second draft. If I told my past self that
in order to successfully write a good paper (because there will never be a perfect paper) I would
have to write THREE drafts, I would have probably cried. But, after trying this with my first WP, I
realized this method saves me time and tears.

Another important element that will stick with me beyond this class is genres. If
someone asked me to explain a genre or convention to them before this class, I would have
confidently said that I have no answer. This was evident in my journal on September 30, when I
labeled an essay as a genre. Looking back, I am actually ashamed. Now, I cant seem to go
through a day without analyzing everything around me and labeling what genre this is or what
conventions this has. Dirks article, Navigating Genres was a read that I enjoyed. I found it so
interesting learning that everything in this world can be categorized under a specific genre and how
each genre has its own distinct conventions. The first WP enabled me to explore the importance of
genres and expand upon how this relates to my everyday life. Unlike many of the essays I have
completed prior, this paper taught me a life lesson that I have and will be utilizing on a daily basis.
In addition, learning about genres, conventions, and moves in this class would not have been
clear and understandable if it was not for the article, Murder! (Rhetorically) and the activities
regarding the videos of the country songs, horror movies, The Rock, Elvis, and Michael Jackson.
First-off, the Murder! Rhetorically article allowed me as a student and writer to better understand
genres and how they would apply to the real world. It was also interesting to see how one event can
be written through a variety of different genres and disciplines. Additionally, I also enjoyed the
videos. They allowed me to refer writing terminology to practical and recognizable features. Who
knew we can label Michael Jacksons distinct dancing or The Rocks wresting techniques as their
moves. This class has broadened my knowledge and enabled me to look at a bigger pictureconnecting what Ive learned to how I live and what surrounds me.
After the submission of my WP1 and receiving the teachers feedback on my paper, I
was seriously surprised with how many comments I got. I thought to myself that this teacher either:
a) has all the time in the world and chooses to waste time reading these papers or b) genuinely cares
about his students and their improvement in writing. After 10 weeks in this class, it was evident that

the second reason was true and De Piero does have a life. I learned from the first WP that my
analysis HAS to be deeper. Although all the content required was there, there was too much fluff.
I learned that I have to spend much more time describing and thoroughly elucidating my claims.
This has advanced my writing capabilities, as I am now able to effectively and meticulously educate
or inform my audience on the importance of my subject.
Besides the Murder! Rhetorically, Two Kinds of Thinking, Navigating Genres, and
Shitty First Drafts articles, Bunns How to Read like a Writer and Carrolls Backpacks to
Briefcases has allowed me to learn and grow as a writer in regards to the audience. I used each
article as a technique to enhance and advance my paper and a tool to refer to when I am struggling
on certain aspects of the paper. How to Read like a Writer has enlightened me on some
approaches to reading. Now, when I read an article, an essay, and even a Facebook post, I have
started to pay attention to some of the authors moves and why they wrote what they wrote. I no
longer merely read something and move on - I look at each passage as a decoder and try to figure
out why the author choice to include this. This approach to reading has enabled me to see and
evaluate the importance of everything I read. Also, as a reader, I now pay attention to conventions
and rhetorical features of each piece. Backpacks to Briefcases has allowed me to understand the
importance of who the audience is, the distinct jargon I use in each piece of writing, what the
rhetorical situation is, the constraints, the exigence, and the discourse of my claims and argument
(Journal 2.1). I learned that an effective writer always pays close attention to how their work will
affect the readers and the impact the rhetorical features bring about. To effectively and influentially
deliver the rhetorical features, I put myself into the readers shoes and ask myself, how would I
like to read this or how can this be best understood in the simplest terms?
Another technique that I have acquired in this class that has allowed me to improve as a
writer is the reverse outline. Although I did not utilize this method with WP1, this definitely came in

handy for WP2. In my journal for week 6, I wrote that for my WP2, I spent time making a reverse
outline, allowing me to take a look at what I included in my essay and what I missed. De Pieros
lesson on the importance of reverse outlines allowed me to take a look at my work and take a closer
look at the vital elements that are missing. Although I already know what I included in my essays,
what I did not include was what I needed to focus on. Reverse outlining grants me the opportunity
to compare the prompt of the essay with my outline, and then use the outline as a checklist.
As I learned from my mistakes from WP1 and moved on to WP2, I placed most of my focus
on how to successfully analyze my argument and claims for my given audience. Although this
assignment needed the most research, sources, and analysis, I enjoyed working on it, because we
were given so many questions to answer from the prompt, and I had the freedom to pick and choose
the questions that I believed were most important to answer. My writing flowed much smoother,
because I was able to choose certain questions to answer that would effortlessly and conveniently
fit. Also, this writing project acquainted me with the skills of recognizing moves. In my journal
response for Week 6.2, I evaluated my experience with WP2 by explaining that, this writing
assignment has allowed to grow as a writer and observer. Throughout the day, I now see myself
noticing and appreciating the different, distinctive moves of my friends, strangers, and even
animals. I feel more aware as an individual. The discovery and research I did in the course of WP2
permitted me to establish the skills of being able to distinguish the uniqueness and differences from
certain things. I learned from De Pieros comments that I should work on how I state certain claims
and how I need to elaborate on evidence and my statements. I am glad that the portfolio is giving
me another opportunity to reestablish my ability to analyze and assert strong statements.
Furthermore, Thlogs have been used as a reflection for me now a days. I recently have been
looking back at my Thlogs to see what I have struggled with, learned, and accomplished as a reader
and writer throughout the quarter. Each weekly Thlog reminds me of the progress and hard work I

have put in to get this far. Although it was another weekly assignment to complete, Thlogs were an
essential part to the class and a great learning process. They were time well spent.
Besides the articles and in-class activities, the daily/weekly writing and process tips played a
big role in advancing my writing. Learning about the accurate ways to use hyphens, dashes,
commas & semi-colons, hedged language, parallelism, when to use italics, and the difference
between who & whom were significant information to be familiar with. Additionally, I was so used
to a fixed thesis that I wrote before the start of my essay, but learning that using a working thesis
while writing my paper has allowed me to create a more detailed, thorough, and comprehensive
thesis, making my whole paper more effective. The highlighting activity that we were introduced to
in class was also a helpful suggestion in regards to editing and finalizing my paper. This activity is
one I will definitely use in the future. Having a visual representation of where I am at, what I am
missing, and what I need to include in a colorful display makes editing not so boring. Finally, the
suggestion with messing around with different font sizes has led me to have fun with my
writing and focus more on the tone of my writing. Every font symbolizes a different accent, so
when I am struggling with my choice of words/ the jargon of my paper, I utilize different fonts to
direct the path I want to take. Another skill that I have acquired was changing the font

size or

highlighting sentences so it is obvious to me when I finish writing which parts need revising or
restating.
Last but not least, the WP3 was the most interesting and enjoyable paper I have ever worked
on. I have never been given so much freedom and free will with an assignment, so being able to be
the teacher of my own work was great. I chose to create a TIMES magazine cover page, article, and
a fake Facebook profile & status. I actually had fun making the Facebook profile and playing
around with what picture I should use and what name I should give to the fake person (all to make

the conventions credible). Both these assignments also advanced my skill with genres, conventions,
and moves. I wrote in my journal week 8.1 that, As opposed to the last two WPs that involved
evaluating OTHER authors works, I actually applied all that I learned into my own piece with
WP3. WP3 was the assignment that allowed me to shape and develop into the creative write that I
hoped to become since the beginning.
Anyways, thanks De Piero for making Writing not so bad!