Z. K.

De Piero
ENG 015 – Rhetoric and Composition

Revision Matrix (for any/all Work)

● Lead me through the changes you’ve made to your written work over the semester. Create a
“revision matrix” that clearly details some of your writerly decisions. Consider these
questions: (1) what changes did I make?, (2) why did I make those changes?, and (3) how have those
changes impacted/improved my work? A tip: chip away at the revision matrix while you’re revising
each WP. You can also create it after you’ve revised each WP, you could compare your work
to your first drafts, or you can use a combination. Bottom line? Demonstrate the most
important habit we’ve been trying to cultivate all semester: writing is a process.

● Feel free to display the revision matrix however you’d like, but please feel free to use this 4-
column matrix, below, as a template. Please examine 10-20 total changes that you’ve made
in substantial depth. I’d like you to balance higher-order concerns (such as argument and
organization) with lower-order concerns (word choice and punctuation). For instance,
explain 8 changes that you made for WP1, 6 changes that you made for WP3, and 5 changes
you made while writing your metacognitive reflection essay.

Text from my initial A comment or question I The change(s) I made How this
assignment: received from De Piero to what I initially change impacts
(a phrase, sentence, or a classmate: wrote: my piece:
paragraph, idea, (or a thought that you had
punctuation, piece of on your own) (i.e. the change I made
evidence, etc.) to column 1)

These things are very “Things”? Can you think These conventions are It brings more
important when you of a more precise noun to very important when specificity +
think about genre. describe what, exactly, you think about genre. uyses the
you’re talking about. languafkapspaosi
dadm[oMZ]pom
,

Metacognitive Reflection (5-6 pages)

● Take me through your personal ENG 015 journey. What was the experience like for you—
from lesson to lesson, assigned reading to assigned reading, WP to WP? How has your
approach to writing, thinking, and/or researching evolved? What did studying this stuff mean
to you? Has your stance towards “writing” shifted or changed, and if so, how? And why?
A successful metacognitive reflection will draw upon your current thoughts, in-class
freewrites and journal responses, and/or conversations with classmates. As always, be
specific and use textual evidence for your claims (i.e. from your written work) whenever
possible.
● Here are some additional questions that can guide your reflection essay:

o Think back to a previous time (last month, last quarter, high school, etc.): has your
perspective on what writing is changed at all? If so, how? Do you now see anything
differently? (Including yourself as a writer?) If so, what? Explain!

o What have you learned in ENG 015 about the study of and practice with genres? About
rhetoric? About the writing process(es)? How, exactly, did you learn what you
learned? What “worked” for you, and why?

o Did you have any “ah ha!” moments? If so, what were they? Explain!

o How might you be able to apply what you’ve learned in ENG 015 to future writing,
thinking, and/or researching contexts? How do you foresee this course extending to
other course contexts? How has this course extended to (your) other course
contexts?

o What does “genre awareness” mean to you?

o “Rhetoric” is the study of communication in contexts. As rhetoricians in our ENG

015 course, we’ve explored how writers try to tailor language to particular audiences
through distinct genres. Think about our assignments and activities: what have you
learned about rhetoric?

o Did your approach(es) to reading change at all over/throughout this course? If so,
how? Why?

o What are some of your favorite strategies, tips, or tricks? Why? Can you
demonstrate your understanding of them?

o Did you have any difficulty processing any of our course concepts? If so, could you
speculate on how or why?

o What questions are you left with? What didn’t quite “sit right” with you? What
hasn’t processed?

● A note about integrating our course readings/resources: although this metacognitive

reflection essay is ultimately about you, your writing, your learning, and your thinking, you need to
integrate some of our course readings. This is a skill we’ve been working on all semester,
and I want to see evidence that you can seamlessly include assigned readings in your work.
Please integrate direct citations (“quotes”) and paraphrases from at least four different
sources.

● One more note: this metacognitive reflection essay is a significantly different genre than the
thesis-driven, research-based arguments you wrote in WP1 (i.e. a “research paper”).
Although you’re still technically making an argument—you’re making an argument about
your learning development throughout ENG 015—how you make express that argument can be
quite different. I encourage you to utilize your personal “writing voice” in this paper,
especially if you feel like you weren’t able to do so in the WPs or PBs. Now, listen, that
doesn’t mean you shouldn’t proofread or revise your work—you should always proofread
and revise your work before submitting it—but I want you to “be yourself” in this reflective
essay.