As Writ 101 comes to an end, I am thankful for this class and what it has taught me. I set a goal at the beginning of the semester to become a better writer in general. I wanted to specifically focus on my introductions and conclusions. Introductions and conclusions were something that I had struggled with coming into Writ 101. I think I have accomplished this goal. Being able to understand that a piece of writing shouldn’t be a thesis statement with 3 parts and each part will have its paragraph, followed by the conclusion being a restatement of the thesis, is very helpful in writing the intros and outros. I think I can continue to work on this but I have a better understanding of how to write these parts.  Something that this class taught me that I didn’t even know I needed was confidence in my writing. I’ve never felt like I was a “good writer” but I would always still make high grades on the essays I would write in high school. But now when I write, I can feel confident in my writing because I’ve developed a better understanding of HOW TO write. 

My writing process has improved. I still hold on to some aspects of my past writing process but I’ve learned different ways to prevent myself from waiting till the last minute to write. I used to wait till the very last minute and would just write as if I were speaking and then go back and find sources that supported what I said. Now I find it easier to write when I find good, reliable sources before writing. Being able to read sources from others and then forming my own words while incorporating the sources as background, makes my writing more concise and clear. I still wait till the last minute to start my writing process but now that I know what I have to do it makes it easier to know what I’m going to say and write about. I think when I wait till it gets closer to the due date, my writing can honestly be better because I’m pressed for time and under pressure. And sometimes working under pressure is when I do my best work.

The small groups were an epic failure in my opinion. I was appointed as the leader for my group which I was thankful for. I have a natural leadership attitude and felt like I accomplished my role in my group extremely well. For me, it was very frustrating because I would reach out to my group at the beginning of the week to let them know what we had due at the end, and wouldn’t get any response until Saturday night or even Sunday. I think because we all probably had so many different schedules, where doing the group work at the beginning of the week was better for some, the end of the week might’ve suited others better. Regardless, I still think that the members of my group could’ve contributed more. I’m glad that we had the option to be a part of a group or not and we weren’t stuck with the group for the rest of the semester, especially when no one in my group was doing their work.

I’ve learned a lot in this class about my writing style and process. I’m going to take what I have learned in this class to my future writing and English classes. I will also utilize the things I have learned when I have to write a paper or essay for another class that might not be English or writing specifically. I want to continue to grow as a writer and learn about different ways to write. I think if I were to learn and practice different ways of writing, my writing skills would improve tremendously because I wouldn’t be stuck in only writing one specific way. I hope to continue to learn about different writing techniques in my future classes. As much as I’ve grown as a writer, I definitely couldn’t capitalize on writing to be included in my major. I think it is a very useful skill that we should start teaching from a younger age and be taught the right way. I will have to write a paper or essay for multiple classes so having the necessary skills to do this is very important to me. But I’m not passionate enough about it to continue learning about it and ultimately focus on it as my major. 

Dear Carol,

I hope by the time you read this again, Coronvirus is no longer an issue in the world. Right now, you look at the world as a pretty awful place. I hope your idea of the world has grown a little and you don’t feel as unsafe and can look at the world in a more positive way. I hope the two things you continue to take with you as you get older is that 1.) love will always prevail, and 2.) you grow through what you go through. These are definitely two things you are living by today, and I hope you continue to hold on to these truths and remind yourself of them, daily. I hope that you are happy with where you are in life and can reflect on the time of your past self and say that it was all worth it. I hope you have finally settled down with lots of babies that make you happy. And that your favorite color is still pink.

Love you girl,

You got this and I am proud of you!!

XOXO, Carol

What changes did you make to purpose when creating your multimodal? Why?

I tried making my purpose for the project a combination of all of the problems and then attractive enough for the audience to go slightly further to help create the solution.

What audience did you choose, and what changes and/or choices did you make for that audience? Why?

I made my audience more specific with students at the University of Mississippi. I was able to take pictures of the actual laundry rooms and make it more attractive to the younger generation.

What other changes did you make in order to use images in addition to words to convey meaning?

I used emojis as well to attract my audience to influence them to take action to bring attention to the necessary people for a solution.

What do you think went well with the multimodal project?

I think my multimodal is very attractive for my necessary audience and I think it would definitely do the job to get them to take the extra step in going to Instagram to help with a solution. Also, because I used my own pictures, I think that would draw the attention of the students that I’ve in residence halls with the same laundry rooms. Because they see a picture of their laundry room on a flyer, they would automatically be interested and wonder why.

What would you like to have done differently?

I wish I could have used even fewer words or my words were more drawing. I think the pictures are very drawing to the naked eye but I wish the words were more persuasive. I also wish I was passionate enough (and staying at Ole Miss) to actually make the Instagram page and follow through with it and try to make a real change within my community.

1. “Stop crying before I give you a reason to cry”

On the surface, this can sound like a very harsh thing to say to someone. This is something my dad used to say to me all the time and still does. Normally, when he would say this, it would just make me cry more. I used to hate when he would say this to me and I thought it was the worst thing you could say to someone when they were crying. But I’ve come to realized him saying this to me has made me a stronger person. Now, I realize that some things and people aren’t worth my tears. And I don’t let everything get to me and I don’t let a lot of people see me cry.

2. “Pray about it”

This is something my mom ALWAYS says to me and my siblings about EVERYTHING. This used to annoy me because sometimes I wanted action done right then and there. But as I have grown older and wiser, I’ve realized that I can only control what I can. That sounds very simple but it is a hard lesson to learn. It’s hard to be able to sit and not take action against something that is bothersome, or worrisome. This is something, I also hope to take into my future.

The goal I set for myself at the beginning of the semester is to become an overall better writer, specifically at introductions and conclusions.

I think I have accomplished this. I’ve learned a lot about writing this semester. I think I had a hard time writing conclusions because it was always supposed to be a reiteration of a statement thesis and the 3 reasons why. It makes it a lot easier when you are supposed to relay a plan of action for your audience and what you want them to do after they read your essay. I think I have gotten better at writing introductions because of the writing style I have learned and how your papers should flow more rather than a thesis statement with 3 reasons and each paragraph be one of those reasons. I’ve also learned that it is much easier to get sources before you write your paper than as you write it.

I think I’ve accomplished these goals in a way but I think I can always improve and continue to become a better writer.

At first, I had a very hard time finding sources to use for my essay. Normally, I start writing and find sources as I go but I did find it way easier to write my essay once I found good sources.

I really appreciated Professor Bunde helping me with those sources and looking into editorials, something I hadn’t thought of.

I felt really good about my essay after I finished it. My topic of laundry here at Ole Miss, I felt very passionate about which definitely made it easier to write about. I felt way more confident about this essay than I did our last one.

It was interesting to find out that other people felt so strongly about the laundry at their colleges. Because it was so hard to find sources at first, I was happily surprised to find sources written by other college students that felt the same way.

I think having the meeting with Professor Bunde at this time, was very helpful and resourceful. Because this essay is a large part of our grade, it was perfect timing to be able to ask questions to help improve my writing skills for this assignment. It was definitely a large help and made me feel more confident about what I wrote.

I feel like my personal strengths include confidence, self-assurance, and being understanding. I’m very confident in myself and I know who I am and what I want to be. I also have a very high moral compass so this definitely brings me to be self-assured and I never sway from my morals no matter what the situation or circumstances are. I also take pride in being an understanding person. I always remind myself of the saying “it is better to be understanding than understood”. I think it very important to have this because in everyday life you face challenges and disagreements where if you are trying to understand where someone else is coming from and their situation instead of trying to prove your point, you can learn a lot more.

My strengths academically include having good time management (even though it might not reflect well in this class) and forming good study habits through organizing. In high school, I developed good time management skills because I always wanted to be able to hang out with my friends but also stay on top of my studies. So I learned ways where I was able to do both. But also, I have no problem saying no to going out if I do have school needs. I feel like I have good study habits which I formed from being organized. Keeping a planner with everything I need to do is very helpful and helps me to know

Bokat-lindell, Spencer. “Valentine’s Day: A Festival of Love or a Giant Scam?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/opinion/valentines-day-galentines.html.

Finding ways to make the online learning process easier and more adaptable by having more leniency on due dates, etc. Also, creating a standard way for lessons to be given more efficiently. For example, I really like how for this class, each week we can see clearly what we need to do and when we need to turn it in and all of the given information. It is not confusing at all and is very straightforward and easy to find. Whereas, I have other classes that make it extremely difficult to follow along with the curriculum as well as keeping up with assignments and due dates. So by possibly having a standard structure that professors can follow would make the learning change easier.

My audience would be any student participating in online instruction as well as any teachers providing the instruction. Possible hierarchy of institutions, schools, etc. Anyone that has a part in online schooling.

I chose this topic because this is something that I have experienced, and according to my GroupMe’s that other students struggle with this as well. Even halfway through the semester, this is still something I struggle with. But I think there is a way that professors can make it easier on the students, as well as students being able to develop skills such as time management, organization, flexibility, etc.

Personally, I have always tried to ask myself these questions when watching commercials, especially political ones. With it being an election year it is really easy to believe everything you hear on these ads and not take into consideration what they are really telling you. These candidates are still trying to “sell” you something. It may not be a product but it is still an idea and a platform. Even if there is a statistic behind a commercial, an appeal to logos, you still need to do your own research to find out if those numbers are true and on what scale. I think these messages reinforce how easy it is to persuade an audience which can lead to a dangerous situation. For example, remembering how Hitler got a nation behind him and to point him as the head dictator was through propaganda which used RHETORICAL APPEALS. So it is very important for us to recognize these and to be able to make our own reasonable decisions with further information that just what we hear and see in an ad.