Rebeca Rodriguez

UWRT 1102
Fran Voltz
December 8, 2015

Course Reflection Essay

Reflective writing is much more personal than plain academic writing that focuses solely
on structure and formality. Creativity is more prevalent in the text of reflective pieces because
the writer has to dig deep into their thoughts and beliefs on the topic they are evaluating. I feel it
is very important to expose young writers to reflective writing techniques so they can develop
their own unique voice as a writer. Reflection is a highly active mental process that can help a
person learn more about himself. The more practice a young writer has at dissecting his own
thoughts and transferring them to paper, the clearer his ideas become to everyone else.
I believe that this course included an inquiry project instead of a research project in
order to inspire us to choose a topic we are genuinely interested in. Asking the class to inquire
about a topic takes the research portion a step further. Semantically a much stronger verb than
research, inquiry requires the complete submersion into the unknown. For my EIP, I bounced
around between several topics before I settled on the dangers of chemicals in common
household products. But once I got the ball rolling, my final paper basically wrote itself.
Information came pouring from documentaries, articles and medical sites. All the research I
conducted was on the computer. Occasionally Id call my mom in Florida and talk to her about

the progression of my EIP project and subsequently all the horrors I uncovered. I dont care for
brainstorming charts or anything of that nature. I prefer to write a first draft (a shitty one at that)
and let the weekly revisions I made time for correct the hiccups in my writing.
Procrastination is a very large sore in my writing process. What I once thought was
writers block was just pure laziness. I see that I often leave assignment to the last minute.
Although I do work well under pressure, my better work is completed in reasonable timeframes
(not the night before). I am happy to announce that toward the end of the class I did start to give
myself more time for my journals and blog posts. My EIP project has been a work in progress for
some time now so I hope you find it interesting and slightly unsettling.
My best piece of writing is my short blog post acknowledging National World Ballet
Day! I feel like it was my best piece of writing because my passion for the art transcended the
screen. I get really excited talking about ballet because it was an integral part of my life for 14
years. I grew up standing at the ballet barre and understand the discipline needed to be a ballet
dancer. Though I am but an eighth of what principle ballet dancer Misty Copeland is, I feel a sort
of connection because of the love we both share for the beauty that is ballet. I am always left in
awe when I watch her videos and couldnt help but jump at the chance to share it an open topic
blog post. I hoped that someone in class would google National World Ballet Day and watch
live rehearsals of some of the best professional ballet companies in the world. The probability
that it occurred is slim, but then again, maybe someone did and got a glimpse of the magic.
The most useful tip I have learned about reading and writing from this class is to
continuously question. From the isolation facilitated by social media, to the lack of privacy from
our smart phones -this course prompted me to really question my use of technology. Before

reading some of the articles or watching some of the videos on these topics, I didnt think twice
about answering a poll on facebook or tagging my location in an instagram picture. I now know
just how intrusive and frankly creepy this technological revolution is.With all of the discovering
I have done in this course it seems to me that I have ventured out of platos cave.
I truly feel like I deserve an A on my final portfolio. I put a significant amount of work
into each part in the hopes that it would come together nicely. I tried to pay attention to detail and
meet every requirement on the rubric. I feel proud of the work I have produced over the course
of the semester and I am really happy the topics have been as interesting as they have been.
However, it is fair to take points off of my EIP essay because its a bit too short -even though I
covered all the points I wanted to make in 4 pages.