1.

Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience

with writing and UWRT 1102. Consider including a video of the song. Explain
your choice.
The musical composition I chose to represent my experience with
UWRT 1102 is Viva la Vida by Coldplay. This song tells the story of a former
King who used to have it all until he fell from power, lamenting about the
good days as ruler of the world. While my story may not be quite so
dramatic, I think that I can relate to the basic concepts. During High School I
was an amazing writer and took several upper level writing classes. I used to
have it all just like the king, but due to lack of practice I have fallen from
power and now have to look back on what I used to be. Even though I will
be done with writing courses after this semester, I plan on practicing my
writing more so that I can be good again.

2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasize?
If I was to teach a class I would emphasize the idea of peer reviews the
most. No matter how good of a writer you are, it is always helpful to have an
extra pair of eyes or two reading and critiquing your paper or just offering
relevant ideas of their own. Professional journalists have to submit their
papers through multiple different editors for a reason: it works. I believe that
this is one of the most valuable skills in writing yet it is one that is rarely if
ever talked about in school. I believe this to be because of the limited time
given for classes; no teacher wants to spend the several days off topic
required for a thorough peer review by multiple people. I would attempt to
incorporate this more into the curriculum perhaps by assigning it as
homework so that it does not take up class time, but I think that the
workshop peer review days we had were immensely helpful.

3. Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over

the course of the semester using at least three examples from your writing.
Ex. Did you shift an assignment to better fit a particular genre like a
proposal?
In UWRT 1102 I learned that rhetoric is more about using language in
many different ways to better appeal to the reader than just spouting off
facts. I learned that sometimes you have to adapt your writing style to cater
to the audience the work is intended for. Sometimes you need to provide

background info on a complex topic, or that you need to first understand

what the reader is expecting out of your paper so that you can fulfill their
expectations. Rhetorical knowledge can be practiced by reflecting on past
works and deciding what worked and what did not. The biggest example I
have of this from this semester is in the final thesis where I completely
changed my topic. I reflected on my draft and realized that while the topic
might be interesting to me, I was very likely to be the only on in a group of
students who would care about it. Realizing the needs of the audience
allowed me to adapt my paper to better fit the situation.

4. Explain how your critical reading has improved during the semester. Ex. In
what ways did you read across texts for connections and patterns in your
inquiry.
I believe that my critical reading has strongly improved over the course
of this semester. Before, I would have read a text and just gained knowledge
through memorizing the facts within the texts. However, now when I read a
text I see it more as that authors take on the particular subject. I see now
not only what is being said, but how the text portrays the subject matter. I
recognize now how each and every text is actually a unique creation of a
unique author. I used this new knowledge when researching for my thesis
paper. There were many different views on the topic I chose but I was able to
read critically into it and incorporate many different authors views (and my
own) into my paper, making it far more well-rounded than it would have
otherwise been.

5. Discuss your composing process. Ex. Did you conduct additional research
while revising or after consulting a colleague? Provide at least three
examples to support your assertion.
I conducted almost all of my research after consulting with colleagues.
Going into my small group workshop, I had a very rough draft with a topic
regarding Star Wars. I presented my idea in front of the group and they
were not impressed. It is not possible for me to provide specific examples of
this because I completely erased my draft and started over, this time with a
new topic. Once I was started on the new topic I spent a few days doing all
seven of my annotated bibliographies; finding and reading through sources
to decide which ones I wanted to include. Because I was so thorough going

through sources, I did not have any need to do additional research after
starting my thesis paper.

6. Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions. Ex.

Sentence level changes, MLA citations.
I do not believe that I have gained too much knowledge of conventions
during this course, mainly because I was taught them for many years all
throughout high school. I was in advanced writing classes during my time in
High School and had the privilege of having great teachers who taught us to
be well rounded writers. We spent time learning many different formats,
writing styles, and viewpoints. However, there are a few things that I did
learn during this course, the main being the They say I say style of writing.
I believe that this style of writing is very effective and I plan on using it more
in the future. I have not had to write too many argumentative papers (most
have been creative writing) so I wasnt sure what style to use until we went
over the book in class. I believe that the style is very easy to read because it
follows our natural thought process and thus is highly effective in getting the
argument across. I also made some changes in my use of grammar during
this course. I have always considered myself fairly good at grammar but I
have always desired to become better. Reading past papers in this course
allowed me to realize that I could use some work, specifically in that I use too
many commas. I forced myself to do an exercise where you have to walk
around while reading a paper and stop each time you hit a comma; this
forces you to realize just how many are present. I believe that by revising my
grammar and gaining a new effective writing style I will be a much better
writer in the future.

7. Critical Reflections A) Explain the importance of reflection in learning

processes.
Reflection to me is one of the most key components in the learning
process. I have always believed in the quote history repeats itself. If you do
not reflect back on your past works you will only continue to make the same
mistakes over and over again in future writings. Reflecting on a past work
allows you to see what you need to improve and what you did well. By
realizing this, you can revise your mistakes and keep in mind what worked

well, incorporating both of these into the next work. This process allows you
to end up a much better writer.
B) Explain what you think is important in providing commentary on others
work and receiving commentary on your own.
Providing and receiving commentary is another important component
in the learning process, second to personal reflection. I like the quote you
might be the sweetest peach in the world, but someone out there just
doesnt like peaches for this situation. You might think your paper is
absolutely amazing, but someone out there will disagree and be able to
explain to you what they dont like and what they would change. Getting
multiple different perspectives is invaluable in the writing process. No
amount of personal creativity can compare to having several different
people, all with different life experiences, reading your works and adding
their own thoughts to it. In the same way, providing commentary is
important not only because it will help a fellow writer, but because it will help
you cement the ideas in your own head. In regards to studying, I have always
been told that you dont really know a subject until you are able to explain it
to someone else. Similarly, providing commentary on someone elses paper
helps you learn how to correct your own papers.
C) Provide at least three examples of your nuanced use of commentary in
your writing projects.
I used commentary in my works this semester, mainly in my annotated
bibliographies and in my thesis paper. In my bibliographies, I had to find
seven different sources and give summaries of each. I explained exactly
what my idea was to incorporate each one into my paper. Adding this
commentary to the sources helped me when I was writing my final thesis;
instead of having to figure out exactly how I was going to use the sources, I
could just look back on the past commentary and remember what my ideas
had been. Another example of commentary I used was in my thesis final
where I had to present an argument in a They say I say style. I provided
facts both for and against the topic and then inserted my own commentary.
Starting off with the facts gave my paper a foundation to work off of, but my
commentary was the main part of the paper. The addition of my commentary
allowed my paper to take on a personality and to be able to be better
understood by the reader, versus just being a spreadsheet of facts. I believe
that commentary is always necessary in a work; without it the paper has no
personality and can be incredibly dry to read.