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Daniel Lieu
Dr. Haas
Writing 39C
June 1, 2016
Reflection Essay
Throughout two years here at UCI, I have had the opportunity to take many classes, most of which are
classes that are specific towards my major. Since Im a biology major, with each class and sequence of
classes that go by, I continually feel that I am improving my knowledge and scope of science each and every
day that I put effort into studying. However, I rarely feel that what I learn in one class will be beneficial for
another. This is anything but the case for my writing class sequence, beginning with writing 39B the fall of
my freshman year, to writing 39C in the spring of my junior year. By establishing a foundation of college
level writing in 39B through my rhetorical analysis, I had the opportunity to build upon that foundation
through my historical conversations[1] project (HCP) and advocacy project (AP) process. My ability to
communicate with ethos, pathos, and logos through different mediums like a HCP, AP, and social media has
been critical towards my development as a writer.

The reiterative process of creating a researched text[2]

Throughout the quarter, I had the opportunity to create a research text, or a literature review, on the
topic of rat grief. This is something that I havent done before and was truly and entirely new learning
experience. What I learned about the process of generating a research-based composition is that it needed to
stray away from the normal argumentative and fact with opinion based style that I was always used to. A
great first example that we looked at was the article Animal Minds,[3] ,[4] published by the Economist.
Our group was assigned to focus on animal communication. What I noticed in this literature review was that
it presented a lot of different science-based [5] sources and they were all evidence and science based[6] . In
addition to this, one major component that I learned was to be able to introduce sources well to the point
where the reader understands that this person is credible to be discussing the topic. For example, in the

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article, it introduces a scientist by, a professor at Rockefeller University in New York, Donald
Griffen, which introduces Donald Griffen with his credentials. I took this type of style in order to make
my researcher whose science I used by presenting them with their credentials to establish their competency in
the field. Another [7] For example is[8] , in my first annotated bibliography, I introduced a science reviewer
by, Sonali Doke is currently a scientific reviewer for PubFacts, regarding Scientific Publication Data within
the School of Pharmacy. This skill helped with establishing a strong source presentation in both my HCP
and AP later on.
Since introducing a source by the persons credentials and writing a literature review that isnt opinion
or argumentative based, I feel that I really developed my habit of mind of flexibility. I feel this is the case
because I had to learn how to adapt to a new style of writing that is definitely beneficial to me beyond the
scope of this class. As a I continued to write my HCP on rat grief using the scientific research, I also
developed persistence in my writing and being able to continue to have motivation in the class to always
think about new ways to improve my essay. What definitely helped with this are the peer reviews and
feedback from Dr. Haas.

Academic Writing: Review and Revision [9]

My first draft of the HCP after learning how to conduct research was strong in the research aspect, but
lacking in the sense of staying organized. Upon submission, Dr. Haas and

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my peers were the first to give feedback, which all mentioned a common issue throughout my draft: my lack
of organization. Looking at the excerpt of my first draft below, one of the first things that I mentioned is that
a field that is studied is animal grief. While this is true, it strays away from what I am actually discussing,
which is rat grief, a more specific field. In addition to that, The last sentence gives a layout of what I will be
talking about, however my peers pointed out that they were not sure what these three scientists actually did to
better the field of rat grief. As a result, my revision process for the thesis focused primarily on being more
specific in my HCP, starting with making it clear that this is an essay about rat grief. Secondly, I wanted to
emphasize that this was a literature review, something that I did not mention earlier, which makes this no
different from an argumentative essay with my opinion. Lastly, I wanted to make the thesis clearer and more
focused to what I will be discussing.
Looking at the revised excerpt of my literature review, I immediately mention that this is a essay
regarding rat grief in the literature review. The scientists contribution to the field are mentioned by discussing
that they were the main factors into our understanding of rat grief, and lastly, I lay out the foundation of my
essay nicely by discussing what I will be talking about, and how I will be concluding.

The revision presented in my HCP would definitely not have been possible without learning how to
peer review, which is one of the most valuable skills that I developed over the course of Writing 39C. The
revision process was the biggest part of the process that pushed me to continue to strive to improve my essay.
This is because when I was receiving reviews, I noticed that the very specific feedback helped me to correct
the small errors, while the broad feedback helped me to critically think about my essay and where else this
feedback can be applied. In a sense, I think both of these types of feedback helped me throughout the quarter.

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More specifically regarding the revision process, while the advice was beneficial to me, I think what was
most beneficial was giving feedback. I learned that when I am giving feedback to others, it caused me to
actually reevaluate my own essay using the feedback that I gave to my peer. An example of this is when I
peer reviewed an essay where I wrote:

In my peers essay, I noticed that the oppositional claim was not supported with actual scientific
researchers. It could be viewed as an oppositional claim that was written up by the writer of the AP and not
one that is factually based from an organization that opposes the solution. When I went back to look at my
essay, my proposition to solve the number of rats disposed in the lab is to culture STEM cells, rather than use
a new rat. The oppositional claim that I presented was that there was STEM cells would take too long to
culture, but I didnt include any scientist or group who opposed the use of STEM cells. In a sense, I made the
exact error that my peer made, which I corrected and later noticed in my own. It was at this point in the
Advocacy Project revision that I realized giving peer review is one of the best ways to improve my own
writing.
The revision process is where I felt the most habit of minds were developed over the quarter. The
biggest development occurred in my engagement of the class because I really had to be invested and
involved in peer reviewing in order to enjoy it. I believe its one of the you get out what you put in acts,
where I had to invest a lot of time reviewing my peers essays in order to improve my own. I saw this
firsthand in my AP revision. I also felt I developed my metacognition because when I received broad
feedback, like a lack of organization comment, I Had to learn how to reflect on my own writing. This meant
taking a step back and looking at the essay as a whole, which is an extremely long process for me, but is one
that is the most beneficial. Lastly, my openness was really developed through both the HCP and AP peer
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review. This is where I reflected on how I take feedback from my peers and Dr. Haas, which I noticed was
very receptive form the start. It caused me to think about new ways of looking at feedback because usually I
only look at feedback I received, which Im receptive to, but I learned I also have to receptive and look at the
feedback I give to my peers to look at my own essay with.

Rhetoric, Argumentation, and Multi-modal Communication[10]

While it may seem that the only components of this class were the HCP and AP, a large part of the
class was also being able to maintain a portfolio and launch a social media campaign. From just analyzing the
two, I initially thought that they would be disconnected from my actual writing skills, however I later
[11] alter learned that they were actually extremely beneficial to my development as a persuasive and

engaging writer.
For the social media campaign, my group launched a campaign where we tried to advocate for stricter
Animal Welfare Act regulations in the laboratory. As a result, we used Twitter and Instagram to launch the
campaign and gain followers, and a signed petition as a call to action to show that people care. I felt that the
HCP and AP both built upon ethos, and logos, in addition to a bit more pathos is the HCP, however I had the
chance to really work on my pathos more throughout the campaign. This is because we targeted our
campaign to UCI students, whereas the HCP and AP were written to a scholarly audience. Because of the fact
college students are more receptive to emotional appeal and a scholarly scientific audience is more going to
be appealed by logic based proof and strong credibility, this aspect of the course helped me be a better well
rounded writer.
An example of where I had to work on my pathos to spark emotional appeal is where I posted a photo
of a monkey in the lab, waiting to be tested on. I made sure to spark the emotion by including an image on
Instagram that had a sad monkey, and a caption that dehumanized the monkey, making it more a slave by
pointing out the number, which can be seen in image 4. In addition to this, It was retweeted by a well known
vegan Instagram poster, which helped to get the word out as well. This would have not been possible without

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appealing emotionally.
I believe that this social media campaign helped me develop my habit of
mind of responsibility. A huge component of maintaining a campaign is being
able to be responsible by positing consistently. If a consistent stream of posts
were not there, it would not have been picked up, let alone be retweeted by
the_vegan_soldier. My creativity also was developed because I had to
continually think of new ways to phrase my posts. Switching from an ethos and
logos based writing in the HCP and AP to a pathos based style of writing in the
SMC has honed my creativity skills and is definitely beneficial to being a more
well rounded writer.
Maintaining a portfolio has also been a huge part of development of responsibility. This is because I
had to consistently post on the blog with as much detail as possible, which ended up making writing this
reflection a lot easier. In fact, the detail that I consistently added to my posts totaled a little under 39 pages of
writing with images included. Sitting down to write about what I did each week was hard, but definitely
worth it in the end. The blog can be found by clicking on this the hyperlink here.

Transfer of Knowledge and Skills[12]

Now that Im almost completed with my lower division writing sequence, I really had a chance to
reflect on myself as a writer in the beginning of my freshman year to the end of my sophomore year. In my
writing 39B course, I learned how to be an analytical writer, which helped tremendously with approaching
finding research in different ways and different sources for writing 39C. The carry over for writing 39B and
writing 39C is most evident in my ability to communicate in a clear and concise way. In writing 39C, I
believe that the greatest thing that I learned was how to communicate in different ways. This was apparent in
the opportunity for me to work on my ethos and logos in my HCP and AP, in addition to my pathos in my

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portfolio and my social media campaign. These different ways of writing has truly pushed me this quarter in
being one of the most academically rigorous classes in terms of staying on top of my assignments. It has truly
been beneficial because I am now comfortable writing and appealing to different styles of writing, and also
different audiences.
Where I can really foresee this skill being beneficial is in my lab courses and future education major
writing courses. In my lab courses, there needs to be a strong appeal to logos and with a lot of evidence.
Through my HCP, the skills that I applied there in providing evidence to back up my points will carry on to
my upper division biology labs next year. I noticed a couple of my education classes required me to back up
my stances on education reform and policy and convince the professor that my argument is worth it, like in
Education 50, Issues in Education. I realized that a strong way to persuade an audience is to appeal to pathos,
which I now have a lot more experience since doing the SMC.
Overall though, this class has build upon my habit of my of curiosity. I chose to save this for last
because I felt it was the least expected habit of mind I thought my lower division writing courses would
build, but ended up being the best. My curiosity in terms of desiring to know more about how to write to
different people and research everything to make sure there is proof has been developed this quarter. I knew
that animals grieve before this course, but I had no factual evidence. After researching, I noticed how much
my interest and curiosity sparked on the topic and truly feel that if I carry this on to my other classes, I will be
a much more focused and interested learner. This is a habit of mind that will carry on way beyond writing
39B and writing 39C and hopefully for the rest of my life.
All in all, my lower division writing courses has not only helped develop me as a writer, but also
myself a stronger student and person. In writing 39B, I had the opportunity to develop my analytical skills
that helped with writing 39C, a research based class. Through the HCP and AP, my ethos and logos appeal in
my writing style has been improved, and the SMC has improved my pathos style. Overall though, the
stronger of which has been developed are my habits of mind, which will carry on beyond this lower division
course series, into my upper division classes next year and the rest of my life.

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1. Introduce the three main assignments in your introduction

Nice job, make sure to cite your images and incorporating the habits of mind and what you learned into each
parts of the essay. Add a Works Cited page if you referenced any sources!
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