Tag Archives: Writing Growth

Unit Reflections, Weekly Reflections

Commonplace Blog Reflection

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Using a blog as a reflective tool for my writing class was very effective. The blog offers a space where I can go to write my thoughts and reflections about the assignments given to us in Writing 101. It also gives me a space where I can collect and organize my writing process, as well as who I am as a writer. Keeping a blog for the entire semester has given me something that I can use to reflect upon my own learning. I will be able to learn from this blog not only now, but any time I choose to go back and look at my writing. It is fascinating to see my growth as a writer in such a short amount of time. Although the quality of my blog may not be top-of-the-line, it does do great job of explaining what all I went through and what all I learned about this semester.

Keeping a blog for this semester made me an exponentially better writer. We were given quite a few assignments that instructed us to go find a piece of writing and analyze it. On the surface, this may seem simple. However, I came to find out that there was much more beneath the surface of writing than I had previously thought. Knowing about your audience is one of the strongest tools available in writing. Being able to shape and mold a piece of writing so that it better reaches an audience will improve one’s writing extremely. When writing reaches the intended audience, the readers are able to clearly read exactly what point the author is trying to make. Keeping in mind the intended audience while writing my blog helped to reinforce the idea that all of my writings should have a target audience, and they should all address said audience appropriately.  I plan to use this concept of intended audience to strengthen all of my writings.
Another important benefit I gained by keeping a blog was the ability to read more effectively. Now that I have a clearer understanding about why authors make the choices they do, I am better able to decipher what the authors main point is. This allows me to “trim the fat” off of any piece of writing and study the main points. I feel that this makes me not only a better reader, but also someone who can learn easier. Now that I understand how to look for and identify a writer’s (or speaker’s) purpose, I am better able to respond in a manner that is beneficial. I plan to use this skill not only when I write and when I read, but also when I speak to people. The ability to identify an intended purpose or main idea will be extremely helpful in all of my future writings and readings.

I feel that the area I grew the most in by keeping this blog was my ability to critically think. I feel that keeping a blog helped me to organize my thoughts and to become a clearer writer. Throughout my blog, I analyze many different articles from the NY Times. This analysis helped my critical thinking skills immensely. Because of keeping my blog, I now feel that I am a much stronger thinker as well as a much stronger do-er.

One thing I wish I had more of in my blog is personal reflections that have nothing to do with academia. I wish I had taken the time to write more about my every-day life. It would be very beneficial for me to be able to look back at some of the struggles I was facing in my personal life and see how I grew from them and how I overcame them. I also think it would be a fun way to look back and reflect upon my life a few years from now.

In my blog, I mention a lot about tools to strengthen your writing. I like to imagine that people as writers have a sort of “tool belt.” This tool belt is filled with all the different strategies and techniques one can use in his or her writing to make it more effective. One example would be the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. Using these three different tools can do a lot to strengthen or shape one’s writing. Pathos is used to draw out an emotional response from your audience. This will cause the reader to connect the emotion with the writing in his or her brain. This causes one’s writing to be memorable and impactful. Ethos can be used to strengthen the credibility of one’s writing. By making statements or by drawing upon credible sources, one makes his or her writing much more credible and reliable. Logos can be used to add details and statistics to your writing. When invoking the use of logos, a writer can effectively describe situations more clearly because of the use of data and statistics. Using logos will also help to strengthen the credibility of one’s writing, because well-organized facts and data help to add to the overall credibility of the argument.

After careful revising and completion, I have added tags to my blog. Tags are short words or phrases that are used to sum up or categorize my posts. For example, one of my tags is “Purpose.” If you click on a post with the Purpose tag, it will take you to all of my other posts that are related to purpose.  The tags that I have chosen to organize my posts, as well as the blog posts that I created are a representation of my understanding of what it means to be an educated person.

Unit Reflections

Problem Solution Essay First Draft

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This paper is a doozy. A real big doozy. I have struggled with this paper since the start. It was hard for me to find a topic that I was interested in as well as one I felt I could effectively write about. Eventually I settled in on Education Funding. So far, it’s been quite easy to find sources about my topic, just not ones that specifically address fixing the problem. I feel like one tough challenge I will face going forward will be forming a solid argument to fix the problem. I think this may have been easier if I chose a different topic, but I’m sticking with my guns.

Unit Reflections

Reflection of Analysis Paper

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I thoroughly  enjoyed writing the Analysis paper. Writing this paper felt much more natural to me than a standard academic paper. I enjoyed it because it gave me the opportunity to find a topic I enjoy and to analyze the “why” and “what” of said topic. I remember feeling nervous when I first began writing this paper because I was unsure if I could form ideas that would be interesting to read about. However, after studying the Op-Doc and pulling out as many rhetorical strategies as I could, I was able to pull together my paper. I felt like my paper did a great job of analyzing why the creators of my Op-Doc made the choices they did. I feel my paper also did a great job of explaining to the reader why they chose those things. I made sure to write in a way that would convince the audience that I was sure about what I was talking.

Daily Writes, Other Writing

Using Descriptive Language in My Reflection

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When I created the draft of my analysis paper, I began by thinking to myself and sort of internally brainstorming. I thought about what I wished to reflect upon. After forming a sort of thesis for my topic, I decided to do a bit of free writing. I remember feeling very excited about writing this paper because it was a topic I am passionate about. Being excited about and enjoying the source material for my papers makes them extremely easier.

One tough spot for me in writing this paper was figuring out how I wanted to relay the message to my audience. I had to make specific rhetorical choices, such as including things about the emotions tied in to politics. Using the right strategy helped make my paper much more cohesive and effective.

 

Daily Writes, Other Writing

How to Survive Writing a Problem/Solution Argument Paper

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Writing the problem/solution argument essay was a challenge. I began my writing process by finding a topic that interested me. After I found my topic, I began to search the internet for articles relating to my topic. This proved to be much more challenging than I had expected. It took me quite some time to find articles I could use to help my argument. I realized this probably meant my argument was too narrow. I then decided to expand my topic a bit in order to help find more materials to use. This helped me find more sources that supported my argument, and helped my paper deliver a stronger message.

My audience for this paper was an academic, well-educated audience that was interested in my topic. I chose to write in a way that helped my paper seem more credible and convincing, in order to help “convince” my audience. I made specific rhetorical choices while writing to help increase the attractiveness of my solution. This helped make my paper seem more credible and interesting.

Balancing this paper with my other course work was extremely difficult. However, it did not have to be. The professor gave us plenty of time to do this project. It would be extremely beneficial to use all of the given time wisely. I failed to do this. This resulted in me having to write a paper in the middle of one of the busiest weeks in my semester. My advice would be to use all of your time wisely so that you do not have to cram to do this project. Allow yourself plenty of time to find a topic that you can write about clearly and effectively. Do not be afraid to change topics if you are not finding the information you want.

Daily Writes, Other Writing

Comparing Reflections

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I much prefer to write a reflection as homework instead of as a timed writing. Writing at home allows me to take time to organize my thoughts and give an accurate reflection of how I feel about an assignment or a topic. When I do a reflection as a timed writing in class, I feel rushed, and I feel as if I am not expressing myself clearly. I absolutely believe my reflections I write as homework are stronger than the ones that I write in class.  I like the homework ones much more. The only positive about in class timed reflections is that they force me to think on me feet and my response is normally much more straight forward and descriptive.

Unit Reflections

Reflection on Multi-Modal Project

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“A Reflection on Creating a Website”
When we were first assigned the Multi-Modal project in writing 101, I was a bit nervous. I had zero experience creating or designing a website, and was worried this assignment would involve hours of working to create a not-so-spectacular website. However, after being taught in class and viewing some videos on Youtube, I felt much more confident in my ability to create the website. Working on this project taught me that one of the most important steps in finishing a difficult assignment is to jump in and get to work. Although I was initially afraid of how much work this would involve, I soon came to realize that this would be one of the more entertaining assignments I would do in my writing class.
Working with Jimdo.com was an amazing experience because Jimdo is extremely user-friendly and easy to pick up. I really enjoyed all of the tools and editing styles one can achieve using Jimdo. It makes designing a website extremely easy and enjoyable. I enjoyed the website so much because of how worried I was that this would be a difficult assignment. I was worried it would be extremely complex to create a website that had a great visual appeal as well as getting my message across. With Jimdo, however, it turned out to be an extremely fun and easy task.
Building a website is an extremely rewarding experience. People spend most of their lives searching the internet without a clue about what goes into creating and designing the webpages they view. After this assignment, I feel that I have a much better perspective on how much work people put into designing a website, as well as how many intentional choices are made by the designers in order to make the website more efficient. I enjoyed this project because it helped solidify in my mind that one of the hardest parts of doing an assignment is just getting started. And, I would wager that most of the time, once I do start, the assignment becomes much more enjoyable and informative.

Other Writing, Weekly Reflections

Connecting Your “Real Life” to Writing

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During this spring break,  I spent most of my time resting and relaxing, as most students do. I did, however, find time to think about the wonderful world of Writing 101 and the glorious tool that is rhetoric. I began reading a book titled A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin. The book is a fiction novel, but it is filled with brilliant writing. Martin’s style and word choice create an extremely gorgeous style. His language choice helps to create different tones and moods that make me as a reader feel as if I’m a part of the story. He does an amazing job of describing places, weather, people, and the actions people make. His writing paints a picture so easily it makes it difficult to put down the book. The things we’ve been learning in Writ101 have helped me to better recognize and appreciate the tools Martin uses to create such a wonderful story.