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Hanh Duyen Nguyen

Professor Haas
Writing 37
11 March 2015
Final Refection of Writing 37
Since writing has always been one of my least favorite subjects in my entire education
career, I absolutely hated the fact that I have to take writing classes after I entered college. I
remember walking into Writing 37 dreading over the idea of having to write multiple essays for
the entire quarter. However, to my surprise, this course turned out to be extremely enjoyable. So
far, Writing 37 have been one of the most gratifying learning experiences Ive had throughout my
first year at UCI. Although I cannot say that Im a terrific writer now, I can say that I have
improved tremendously during these past ten weeks. Being in Writing 37 with Professor Haas
allowed me to read interesting scholarly sources as well as gave me skills to analyze, synthesize,
and interpret the rhetorical devices of all these sources. Not only did Writing 37 give me the
assets to become a better writer, but it also give skills and techniques to become a better
communicator and reader.
One area that was thoroughly covered in this course is critical reading. The class covered
several different types of texts including: scholarly texts, documentary film, and graphic novel.
One of the scholarly texts that we analyzed was Leslie Irvines If You Tame Me. Towards the
beginning of the quarter, we were given the task to critically read the first chapter of her book,
How and Why, the assignment opened my eyes to new effective ways to skim read. Before
taking Writing 37, I never thought of doing things like reviewing the sub-headers or highlighting
the first and last sentences of each paragraph; but by using these techniques I got a better

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understanding of the text because I was able find the main ideas faster and easier. Not only did
we study scholarly text, we also analyzed other genres of literature like the graphic novel, We3,
and the documentary film, Blackfish. Because Im accustomed to reading comic books and
watching documentaries for entertainment, I found it really difficult to focus on analyzing the
texts to find the rhetorical devices. Since it was impossible to utilize the same techniques I used
to analyze Leslie Irvines chapter, I had to search for new ways to improve my critical reading of
these type texts. Looking for ways to improve my reading helped me engaged in the habits of
curiosity. I wanted to know how rhetorical devices could be use in documentaries and comics,
and also how it can transform or mold the view of the audience. I was intrigued to find that there
are numerous ways that rhetorical appeals can be used in other media. For examples, in
documentary film rhetorical devices can be showcased through different background music,
graphics, anecdotes, or a collection of archival footage. As for graphic novels, rhetorical devices
can be exemplified through the organization of frames and the use of different gutters and angles.
Through all these conventions, the documentaries and graphic novels can appeal to all the
Aristotelian devices (pathos, logos, ethos). Learning this has help have a whole new outlook as
Im reading and has definitely help me while I was writing my essay.
To improve on our writing abilities, Professor Haas assigned a lot of assignments on
Connect, a platform designed to help student be more engage with the coursework. Some of the
most difficult modules for me were the Integrating Source Material into Text and
Paraphrasing & Summarizing to Understand a Text. I think this was difficult for me because I
have trouble finding the main idea of certain sources and in turn would chose the wrong answer.
These were definitely some of the module that I recharged on. On the other hand, modules such
as Commas, Using Pathos, Logos, and Ethos, and Reducing Wordiness are the ones where

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I have a good handle on. This came easily to me due to the fact that these were reviews from
materials that were already taught to me in high school. Overall, the use of Connect helps me
tremendously in this course.
As Im learning the process of writing and revision I employed the habit of openness
and persistence. By being more open to new techniques of writing, it allowed me to go
beyond the generic five-paragraphs essays that I wrote in high school. Also, it forced me to
incorporate new styles of writing and new ideas into my paper. The first essay that was assigned
to us was the literary review essay. Professor Haas gave several options as to what we could
write our review on, so I chose to write my literary review on my Wiki topic, the cattle food
industry. I had to find numerous scholarly sources, analyzed them, and put them into
conversation. Writing a literary essay was very challenging for me, mainly because I had
difficulty putting the sources into conversations. Then, I realized it was because I did not have a
full grasp of the main ideas of the sources, and the only way to have a better understanding is to
persistently reread. Using the techniques I learn from the skim reading assignments on Connect, I
was able to write the literary review with a full understanding of what the sources are conveying.
Although I did fully analyzed all the sources to the best of my abilities, I still felt uncomfortable
with the prompt, and decided to revise only one paragraph for my portfolio. I concluded that the
second body paragraph needed more revision because I feel that this is my weakest paragraph in
the whole essay. Based on the reviews I got from my peers and Professor Haas, I realize that this
paragraph needs to be restructured so that it would signal a literary review. Because my original
topic sentence seems more like a scientific report on the cattle food industry, I rewrote it so that
it would not only introduce the main idea of the paragraph but also included the sources that I
will be analyzing. Although I did put my sources into conversation, I only put them agreeing

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with each other, which lead the essay to be very monotone. After I reread the source, I noticed
that even though my sources messages were similar, they also have slight differences. I utilize
these slight differences to make the paragraph much more interesting. The second essay that was
assigned was the rhetorical analysis, and I decided to analyze the rhetorical appeal of Blackfish.
Gathering information as well as writing this essay help me developed the habit of
engagement and creativity. In contrast with the literary review essay, I felt much more
confident with the prompt for the rhetorical analysis; therefore, I decided to fully revised this
essay instead. My rhetorical analysis essay already has a lot of useful information that I can
tweak to make it an even stronger essay. Since there is no written text for Blackfish, I had to
rewatch the documentary as Im writing the essay to make sure my information was correct. Not
only that, but I also have to be fully engage in what the critics are saying about the movie to
properly introduce it in my introduction. One main aspect that I focused on during the revision is
making the essay more detailed and specific. Originally, my wordings as Im describing certain
scenes in Blackfish are either too vague or wordy; therefore, I have to approach the essay with
more creativity in order to make it precise without using superfluous diction. Another priority as
I revise this essay is to develop a clear organization so that the reader can follow my points
easily. To do this, I revised my topic sentences as well as include more anecdotes into my second
paragraph.
Being in Writing 37 definitely taught me the importance as well as benefits of
collaborations. Ive been put into three groups during the past ten weeks; within each group,
every member was very helpful, always ready to offer their insights. Since Im an introvert,
talking is not one of my strong suit; therefore, Im very grateful that Professor Haas put us into
groups. Compare to the beginning of the class, I feel much more comfortable voicing out my

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opinions to a group of people now. Through group work and presentations I was also able to
learn the habit of responsibility and flexibility. In order to get great final results, it is
necessary for each member of the group to be able to complete his or her work on time. One of
the many key elements of group work is communications as it allows groups members to
exchange and connect their ideas together. I felt that all my group mates were not only honest but
also very respectful with each other. Because of this, we were able to compromise with one
anothers ideas and were able to throw together wonderful presentations in the end. Not only
that, but we were also able to give each other critical criticisms rather than sugarcoated
comments during peer reviews that definitely benefitted our essay.
Overall, the most important thing that this class has taught me is metacognition, which is
ability reflect on my own learning. Im not a good writer or a good public speaker, but this class
certainly gave me skills to help me strive for improvement. I love that this class allows me to
embrace my mistakes and learn from it rather than holding it against me. I learned a great deal of
valuable skills that I could apply in the futurefrom public speaking to analyzing rhetorical
devices. Taking this class with Professor Haas has been one of the best decisions I have made,
and I wish I could do it again.