Alia Dahlan

Bret Zawilski
RC 2001
December 4, 2016
Portfolio Reflection
Throughout this semester, I have thought and written in ways I have never before. In the
rhetorical analysis I learned what pathos, logos, ethos, kairos, exigence, audience, constraints,
and the canons are. I also learned how to interpret them and utilize them. In the miniethnography, I finally had the chance to explore what different people call different color guard
moves. In the major issues essay, I explored a topic I am very familiar with while looking at it
from another perspective and organizing my writing differently. It was very interesting to learn
about the rhetorical concepts because it seemed like everyone else knew of them except for me. I
had never thought about why people write other than just to write, but the concept of exigence
gave me a broader perspective on the purpose of writing and intentions of the writer.
At Owen High School, I was taught how to write. I learned how to use proper grammar
and citations and how to make my writing coherent and cohesive. At the North Carolina School
of Science and Math, I was taught how to be a good writer who expands upon her ideas and
does good research. At Appalachian, RC 2001 has been my only writing class thus far. During
this class, I have learned why we write, how we can make good writing better, and how to think
in different ways. I relearned how much I hate the physical act of writing, but the people and the
discussion in this class has made it enjoyable. Being able to choose topics and make my writing
personal has also made the class more enjoyable. I learned that my first draft is not going to be
similar to my final draft. I used to be very attached to my work and not want to change it because
I know how much work I put into it, but now I have let myself make large changes to my writing
and I know that my first draft will always be there to come back to. I have realized that I am
horrible at critiquing myself and I need other people to tell me how I could change my writing.
I believe everything I have learned about writing has made me a better writer. Two of the
topics I chose to write about pertain to my field of study. Writing these pieces have contributed to
my knowledge of business and economics, and they have helped me to become more of a
member of the discourse community because I now have more experience writing in it. In
college, I have one more writing class to take that involves writing resumes, cover letters,
memos, and things of that nature. My biggest challenge with writing is physically writing
because I tend to procrastinate my writing assignments, even if that means doing more difficult
and less pressing assignments first. This reflection is a good example because I am
procrastinating writing a twelve-page paper by doing this assignment instead because it is
shorter.
The rhetorical analysis was an introduction to rhetoric for me, which shaped my learning
throughout the course because I made sure my later writings included and appealed to the
rhetorical components. The assignment helped me to understand why people write how they
write. The multimodal mini-ethnography was my favorite assignment because I chose a topic
that I am knowledgeable about and a medium that did not involve as much writing as a

traditional essay. I learned how to design a Weebly website and combine video, images, and text
into a user-friendly interface. The major issues essay was different for me because I was not
adamantly arguing a side like I have with research papers in the past, nor was I conducting firsthand research. Although each assignment taught me different things, they all required multiple
drafts, which I am not used to. Usually, when I ask a teacher to read a draft of my essay I feel
that it is almost complete. The drafting process we used in this class suggested that writing is
never complete and can always be improved upon.
Dr. Zawilski has evaluated every draft of every assignment, with the exception of Draft
Five of the Major Issues Essay. This grading system has been an incredible resource for me
because it has allowed me more time for learning, which is my goal in school, rather than
worrying about grades, which is what I have spent the majority of my time in school doing.
For the goals and outcome of the course, I believe our class achieved the goals in
increasingly complex rhetorical situations through the rhetorical analysis, discussions in class
about rhetorical concepts, and through the discussions/activities. The activity that stood out to me
the most in terms of rhetorical situations was taking pictures of things around campus and
conducting mini-rhetorical analyses on therm. Also, the mini rhetorical analysis we did with the
biology papers was helpful.
The second goal toincrease disciplinary awareness I believe we accomplished by
through our readings, discussions, and QQCs. There were a lot of discussions where classmates
in different fields all had different opinions based on their knowledge and experience. I learned a
lot by listening to everyone else and I hope I helped to provoke thought from my classmates as
well.
Two of my three assignments had to do with business and economics, so I feel that I
gained more knowledge in my field. Primary and secondary sources were important especially in
the Major Issues Essay because the other two assignments could have been completed using only
secondary sources. The Multi-Modal Mini Ethnography was the assignment with the most mixed
media and formats because there was a lot of room for creativity.
I believe I developed more metacognition through having multiple drafts for each
assignment. It helped me to reflect, in addition to the reflection papers. Also, the readings and
discussions about how to critique writing were helpful in that aspect.
For the last goal, I think that we were exposed to different types of information than
typical writing classes. There was a larger variety of topics to discuss because everyone brought
their own major discipline to the class. We also had to use research skills for all three
assignments.
I know I still have room to grow in every goal, but I feel I have learned a lot from this
course and grown as a student.