Daniel Zhang

12/10/2014
English 120
Ms. Larson
Reflective Argument
Walking into the classroom the first day of college was like walking to your first day of elementary
school. Butterflies in your stomach make you nauseous. You look around and see that other students
have that same look on their face, the look of agony, especially after hearing of all the horror stories of
the course work from upperclassmen. We knew that it was time to get serious; it was college. And
English 120 was my first ever university-level class.
Our professor went over our course work for the semester, and it seemed overwhelming at first.
However, we would soon realize that each assignment was unique in its own way and each targeted a
different part of literature. And thus, our semester took off.
As a motivated student, I went ahead and read the course outcomes for the semester. It stood out to
me as a list of everything I was expected to improve on throughout the semester. Course outcome A
read analyze rhetorical situations in terms of audience, context, purpose, and medium in order to
improve your reading and writing. This objective was incredibly apparent though out the entire
semester, and was probably one of the most stressed objectives of the semester. In fact, our first
sequence covered exactly that, which included two LSAs and one MWA. The first LSA was an essay
explaining why we selected our certain video, in other words what made it different. We had to
compare and contrast that one, and our second LSA had each student dig into their video and uncover
the different rhetorical strategies that was in it. In each LSA, we had to mention that different forms of
rhetoric and context. All this tied in to our final project for sequence one, which was the MWA 1. In the
memo, we basically summed up everything in course outcome A. Taken right out of the memo, I wrote
Although there are references to each strategy, three of them stood out the most in his video; they
were cause/effect, comparison/contrast, and description I was able to analyze rhetorical strategies
and really utilize them in my writing. It was the first time I had ever done that. In other word, course
outcome A was a success.
Jumping right into course outcome F, it states: use multiple approaches for planning, researching,
prewriting, composing, assessing, revising, editing, proofreading, collaborating, and incorporating
feedback in order to make your writing stronger. The two projects that fall under this category the best
is MWA 2 and MWA 3. In MWA 2, the student was expected to create a documentary about an urban
legend. That was the only description for the assignment for several weeks, and so the student was
offered incredible flexibility with his/her research and, planning. Then, when it was time to make the
documentary, the student had to revise the script, edit the clips, proofread the dialogue, collaborate
with his/her partner, and incorporate outside sources such as interviews to make a solid, fact-oriented
documentary. MWA 3 was very similar in that the student had endless flexibility with the assignment
that was expected to present a problem and come up with a solution. There were so many ways to go
about each assignment, but they all had the same thing in common that was to plan, research, prewrite,

compose, assess, revise, proofread, collaborate, and incorporate feedback to make the purpose of our
project more defined.
The last mandatory course outcome that I must cover is course outcome J, which is conduct primary
and secondary research, and incorporate the acquired information into your writing using appropriate
means of attribution and documentation. This course outcome was apparent in every single
assignment that we did. The reason for that was because each assignment had to make a point, and we
students needed to back up our points with credibility. In other words, for our arguments that we made,
we had to prove it using resources that we researched. So we would conduct primary and secondary
research. One example of when we conducted primary research was in LSA 4 when my partner and I
went around campus looking for people to interview about our urban legend. We recorded the people
we were interviewing, and they became our primary resource because we went ahead and received the
information directly from them. We then incorporated the clips of the footage into our documentary to
support our claim wherever needed. Examples of secondary research is found in most other
assignments when we cited the work of other author or professional. One example was in LSA 5 when
we had to report a problem. I chose the decreasing water quantity and quality of the Rio Grande River.
In order to gather my research to prove that it was a problem, I and to go on the internet and look up
studies that supported the claim I was making. This was conducting secondary research, and then I went
and incorporated what I found into my claim. I cited the sources in MLA format, so I met the
requirement of using appropriate means of attribution and documentation.
One outcome that I have made immense progress on is course outcome C. It states: use research and
writing as a means of discovery, to examine your personal beliefs in the context of multiple
perspectives, and to explore focused research questions. The one assignment that took me incredibly
far in this outcome was LSA 5. LSA 5 was a means of discovery because it educated me on a huge
magnitude regarding the decreasing water quality and quantity of the Rio Grande River. I had no idea
that population changes was such a huge impact on the quality, or the legislation that caused these
population changes. I had no idea of the efficiency and reliability of wastewater treatment plants, or the
effects of global warming on the water. And all this lead me to question my personal beliefs about not
only our river, but regarding policies our society favors. I started to realize that effects of global
warming, and even the effects that politicians have on our river. I learned about the environmental
opinions of each major political party, and makes me question my own personal values. For example,
right-handed voters usually deny the existence of global warming. Left-handed voters typically accept
that its going on. Based on the numbers and statistics I saw while researching the effects of global
warming on the river, I started noticing that I am more liberal toward the matter of environmental
policies.
The course outcome that I have made the lease improvement on was course outcome I which states
recognize and describe the value of different languages, dialects, and registers in your own and others
texts. The reason why I did not improve much on this field is because none of the projects had us target
a certain group or audience. We were only told to write for the joy of writing, as enforced by our first
reflection assignment where we had to read an essay about writing without a specific audience to
please. Then our instructor ensured us that she wouldnt be looking that we fulfill the requirement of
satisfying her, because her opinion shouldnt matter. With that, I never tried to please any audience, so I
never tried to implement a certain style or genre to suit an audience. When that happens, I- as a writer-

fail to appreciate the value of different languages, dialects and registers in my own and others texts,
because I dont focus on pleasing a certain group wanting to read my text.
However, Im sitting here at 4 oclock in the morning at Zimmerman library, and the one thing that I
notice is that as I am writing this conclusion, everything from the start of the essay to the finish has
flowed very simply from my brain, through my fingers, and onto the screen. The class has taught me so
much about literature, and especially on essay writing that I am able to flow one out on the spot. It is
quite evident that I have learned so much not only in my rhetoric skills and identifying different
strategies and genres, but a lot about the ethics of writing. I am no longer concerned in writing to please
an instructor. I am writing for the enjoyment of it, and how I really feel. I believe this is the backbone in
why writing has because much easier for myself. And because of that, I would like to thank Ms. Larson
and the English department at the University of New Mexico for a successful program.