Emily contemplates her Experience in English 102

 

 

English: A stack of copy paper. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rhetorical Knowledge

Focus on a purpose: The first few weeks of this class proved that this would be unlike any other reading class I’d ever taken. Our second writing assignment was to write a paper on the syllabus. First reaction by the class: HUH?? This assignment was my first introduction to really needing to focus on a purpose for writing. Should I compliment the syllabus so my new teacher likes me? Do I complain about assignments with a chance she may change them? Should I use this paper as a disclaimer, illustrating my heavy workload with other classes and a near full-time job? I decided to focus on starting an honest relationship with my teacher and told Dr. Vassett exactly how I felt about all of these questions swirling in my head. First sentence: “After reviewing the syllabus at length, I expect this class to be challenging.” (I was right.) The syllabus outlined an extensive list of assignments, with writing due almost every class period. So I let Dr. Vassett know, “There is definitely going to be more writing required in this course than any other I have taken in college so far.” (Right, again!) My last comment was my hope for this class. “I hope my writing process will be revamped and greatly improved.” I believe that starting this class with a paper focused on honest questions and concerns, I set the foundation for a successful a great semester and a new, more effective writing process.

 

Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations: In the past, I have just sat down at the computer and started writing. I never took into consideration the main six questions that need to be answered in any document: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? I learned that these questions are mostly the basis for addressing rhetorical situations. The very first chapter of The McGraw-Hill Guide addresses this very thing. As I writer, I must adopt the tone that will be most effective in addressing my audience. Choosing an audience is of utmost importance in itself. Then I must know why I’m writing and what my purpose is. I must have a clear understanding of the topic and know whether I am writing an academic, professional, civic, or personal paper. The annotated bibliography I did for paper one helped me to focus on these five elements of rhetorical situations. They carried through to the rest of my papers as well. My “Writing to Convince” paper focused on Adderall Abuse by College Students in America. I convinced my audience, college students, that Adderall abuse was harmful to their well-being and took a more formal tone to get my serious point across. This was different from my “Writing to Solve Problems” paper where I wrote to the Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Phoenix. In that instance, the rhetorical situation required me to appeal to her background of Christianity and nurturing tendencies. This, while formal in addressing an authority, called for a friendlier, “I’m on your side” – voice.

 

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluation, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources: We jumped right into finding sources for our first paper. We had to find not only 15 sources, but 15 scholarly sources. Not an easy task! This was eventually lowered to ten but was still a struggle. I believe having to buckle down and learn the difference between legitimate sources helped me throughout the rest of the semester. I learned what exactly a scholarly source was. It must be a peer-reviewed, thoroughly researched document.  I found that the majority of these sources came from scholarly journals and took some work to dissect and digest. I learned how to find these types of sources in our online Library catalog and was then able to differentiate between scholarly and popular sources for the rest of the papers in this class, boosting my credibility as a writer.

Integrate their own ideas with those of others: The first experience I had of integrating my ideas with others was during my first one-on-one meeting with Dr. Vassett. We were able to go over my ideas and work up to that point and bounce ideas off of one another. She helped me to focus on exactly what group and issue I would address, resulting in my paper “Adderall Abuse Among College Students in the United States.” This is the most detailed title to a paper I’ve ever had. I continued to use the ideas of my classmates through peer reviews of each draft and paper we all struggled through together. I value the opinions and points of view of others more now than ever.

 

Processes

Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text: In the past, my writing process was this: sit down at the computer, stare at a digital blank piece of paper for an hour, drink some coffee, stress, then throw some words on the screen and call it a day. I felt that my first draft needed to be “the one.” It had to be perfect, smoothly flowing, and good enough to turn in. The article “Shitty First Drafts” was my savior! I learned that it’s ok to write a ridiculous, twisting, turning, awkward first draft. It’s also ok that much of this writing won’t even make my final draft. I now use my first draft to get my creative juices flowing and to put out some ideas that I may have. In our second paper “Writing to Convince,” my first draft was loaded with information on chemicals in marijuana and how they affect the body. These facts never saw the light of day in my final draft, but they didn’t need to. My second draft allows some information to move forward with me and leaves other sentences behind. My third draft brings in the opinions of others, where they can see mistakes I have overlooked as well as bring in an outsiders point of view. My final draft ends up being a well-crafted, rhetorical masterpiece. (I like to think so, at least.) I proved this new process was effective when my grade from paper one to paper two increased by 16 points. It also makes writing much less stressful and even enjoyable at times.

Learn to critique their own and others’ works: We did a great deal of peer reviewing over the course of this semester. I learned how to be an effective reviewer and how to handle the critiques of others. Dr. Vassett went over proper language to use like “This part is really great, but you might think about tweaking this…” and “You have great ideas but maybe if you back them with more sources the reader will be more apt to buy into your work.” Using peer review sheets, I was able to answer the questions that each writer needs to have addressed when looking for input from others. I found that our class collaborated well and helped each other to produce the best document possible for each paper.

Knowledge of Conventions

 

From primary source librarian

Practice appropriate means of documenting their work: I learned that I had been documenting my work entirely wrong for my entire learning career. I had never had a teacher be so clear as to how information from others must be cited. It is imperative to give credit to the writers we get our information from. As the saying goes, “Give credit where credit is due.” I did not put in the long hours to gather statistics and information that I find in my research, so I must pay a tribute to those who did. I learned that I must put a citation after EVERY SENTENCE if the information did not come from my own thinking. Citations have always been intimidating to me because I never knew exactly how to do it. There’s no such thing as over-citing, and this helped take pressure off me in choosing where to place citations and when.

Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling: I have always been a language-oriented learner. I love to read and write and have been doing so since I was a kid. I feel that I have a great understanding of syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. My mom always said it’s from reading so many books from a wide range of authors with a wide range of writing styles. I believe controlling these aspects of a paper can be a simple task. With technology these days, word programs often times point out mistakes in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Help with syntax can come from peer reviews and simply allowing a large range of people read your work. Often times, others can point out unclear sentences, helping to clarify something that you may have thought was fine. The most important part of controlling syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling comes merely from reviewing your own work, reading through it multiple times, and editing anything that is incorrect.

Composing in electronic environments

Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts: I find technology these days to be one of the most helpful resources available to writers. Throughout this semester, I exchanged emails about my paper with classmates and Dr. Vassett. I was able to get a quick, personalized response without needing to schedule meetings that interrupt everyone’s busy lives outside of class. Not only can we communicate through emails, but I have been able to revise and input information to other students’ actual documents, highlighting what areas I though needed improvement. My classmates were able to do the same for me. I also used text messaging with my peers to keep up to date on assignments and to ask questions about anything that was unclear to me.

Locate, evaluate, organize, and use research material collected from electronic sources: Our class had multiple class periods dedicated to located resource from our school library’s online resource catalog. Dr. Vassett and the library technicians taught us how to access the loads of articles covering any topic we wanted to write about. I combined this source with articles found on Google Scholar as well as “.gov” and “.org” websites to give my papers the credibility they needed to convince my readers that I knew what I was talking about. The internet is a rich source of information that should be used to a writer’s advantage.

-Emily R.

 

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