Final Reflection

1.

Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience with writing and

UWRT 1102. Consider including a video of the song. Explain your choice.
The Middle: Jimmy Eat World
I chose this song because of what it has meant to me since I first heard it on the radio when I was little.
Lyrically, the song is about a man telling his presumed daughter, or younger loved one that everything
will eventually fall into place. To me, this song has always been my cushion for when I am most stressed.
Throughout this course I have encountered a lot of stress. Between submitting drafts and procrastinating
like most students, it has been a bumpy ride. This stress has forced me to grow as an individual.
Whenever id hear this song in hard times. Id think about the transformation of a coal into a diamond
when it is under pressure. This thought still comforts me today. In connection to the course, this song
emphasizes running after your goals, even when theyre down the road less traveled. As an instructor,
Mrs. Thomas always pushed us to ask more questions and to look into ideas that were not as mainstream,
she encouraged us to take the road less traveled. I have personally always related to this song, and I
believe it has been relevant to the course.

2.

If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasize?

If I were to teach this class, I would place most of my emphasis on exploration and development. I
believe that college is a canvas for exploring new things and developing ourselves. As students, we often
get caught up in the same routine: class, work, homework, sleep. Moreover, we barely make time to enjoy
recreational activities like reading and writing, unless it is for a homework assignment. If I were to teach
UWRT 1102 I would encourage my students to explore their deepest desires, through which they would
naturally begin to develop as writers. I would attempt to tie in some artistic activities like a class day of
painting or making collages about our inquiry.

3.

Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the course of the

semester using at least three examples from your writing. Ex. Did you shift an assignment to better
fit a particular genre like a proposal?
When I first started to write for this class, I did not have any formal knowledge on composing processes
in general. I thought that I would need to write formally for my thesis, boy was I wrong. Although we did
practice some formal, objective writing, the majority of this class was based off of us putting our voices
into our writing, informally.
As children we are taught to hold ourselves accountable for our decisions. We are taught the
basic functions of causation and effect, action and consequence. As individuals we are generally aware of
what is right, what is wrong, and what is just. But what happens when you are punished for an action that
you are not responsible for?
This is an example of my writing in a formal tone. I kept my voice out of this section, and I
approached writing my proposal in a detached manner.
Before this class, most of my professors forced us to write in the most formal way possible, the
bigger the words, the better our grades got. I found it amazing that my college professor was allowing me
to write in first person! As the semester went on, I began to get comfortable with this mode of writing.
As I was researching my topic, I found that more conservative individuals like Michael Barone,
conservative political analyst, and senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner are likely to speak
out against the movement
This is an example of my writing in a more informal and first person tone.Unlike other writing intensive
classes, this class actually taught me how to be creative and practice being artistic with my writing. I
found that as the semester went on, I began to use more rhetorical devices in my work. This transformed
the overall tone of my writing to a more relaxed, comfortable but also well thought out tone. This
inquiry question is an enormous monster that has been floating around in my head since the Freddie Gray
murder. This is an example of my usage of metaphor in my writing.

4.

Explain how your critical reading has improved during the semester. Ex. In what ways did you

read across texts for connections and patterns in your inquiry?

At the beginning of the semester I found that I was skimming most of the articles I read just to get
through them and understand the gist. Looking back, I now know that this way of reading is incredibly
ineffective and that I missed out on a lot of key details. By reading like this I also missed out on rhetorical
devices and probably a lot of key points in the writing that would have been helpful for my thesis. Now I
have begun to annotate and close read everything
5.

Discuss your composing processes. Ex. Did you conduct additional research while revising or

after consulting a colleague? Provide at least three examples to support your assertion.
As I was writing I found that I did a lot of internal reflection as well as written out reflections. Although
these were required for my class, they were incredibly helpful when drafting my writing. With each
reflection I was taking note of the things that I needed to fix in my writing.
I am so in love with writing. I get this feeling of monumental accomplishment when I begin to
see my work come together in large assignments like this one. I am so proud of myself. With that said,
there is a lot that this paper is lacking in as well.
Throughout the entire project I was doing more and more research. Although all of this research may have
not been included in my thesis, I used it to learn more about my topic. During the peer review meetings I
was given the advice from one of my peers to take my inquiry in a completely different direction than the
way I was going. She recommended that I should change the framing of my inquiry to be centered more
towards the existence of racism in America and how American leaders perpetuate this. I decided to not
take my inquiry in this direction because I felt as though it would be too much information to cover and
that I would not do the inquiry any justice. As I was writing and researching, I would wonder if I was
putting too much of my voice into my writing, or not enough. This has been one of the things I worried
about throughout the whole writing process. I did not want my writing to seem too objective but I also did
not want to be heavy handed with my opinions. I believe that I did well with finding a medium. As I was
researching my topic, I found that more conservative individuals like Michael Barone, conservative

political analyst, and senior political analyst for the Washington Examiner are likely to speak out against
the movement. I feel like I added my voice in by insinuating my beliefs into my writing.
6.

Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions Ex. sentence level changes,

MLA citations.
In this course I learned how to properly cite a source in MLA format, which is a little sad. Before, I would
type a link into a citation creator and use that, but now I have learned how to pay more attention to the
components of a proper MLA cited source, like the authors title and name etc.
Proper Citation:
Cullors, Patrise, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. "About Black Lives Matter."Black Lives Matter RSS2.
Haki Creatives, 03 Mar. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

Previously Used Citation:

"AboutBlack Lives Matter." Black Lives Matter RSS2. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2016.

In UWRT I also learned about what rhetoric really is. Previously I thought that it was just when
politicians use words to persuade their listeners to follow them, but it is not. I learned that rhetoric is just
the art of writing. I used rhetoric a lot in my assignments this semester. I would adjust my tone to
fit the assignment I was writing on which made it easier on myself because I would not have to
worry about my language fitting the audience after I did this. An example of me using rhetoric
would be evident in my annotated bibliographies. I was told that these would be formal but you
could also put your voice in the writing if you wanted to. Well, to keep my readers entertained I
would make little comments about the authors and their work. For example, I commented, No
wonder racism leads to death in those it is perpetuated against. in one of my bibs, to emphasize
that racism has always led to the deaths of those who it is perpetuated against.

Another example of my use of conventions throughout the semester is composing processes. This is
evident in my several drafts of my thesis and proposal. It is hard for me to put into words how
many times I rehashed over my work before turning it in. I spent hours reviewing each text until I
thought that it fit my standards. The several drafts that I wrote taught me to appreciate the writing
of any individual, good or bad. It taught me that writing is not easy but it is still enjoyable. I
experienced great amounts of pride and accomplishment as I completed each final draft, and I
hope that my peers did as well.

7.

Critical Reflection: A) Explain the importance of reflection in learning processes. B) Explain

what you think is important in providing commentary on others work and receiving
commentary on your own. C) Provide at least three examples of your nuanced use of
commentary in your writing projects.

A: When writing I always find myself reading over my writing and then fixing the pieces that I do not
think flow well together. Before taking this class I would read over my pieces and then I would reflect in
my mind. Id pick out the parts of my writing that I thought needed work done on them and id continue
my composing. This class taught me to stop and reflect on each of my drafts (in written text) so that I
could go back and analyze what I did not like about my writing and then fix it. Having this documented
reflection made it so that I could have something to look reflect on when I was creating a second or third
draft.
B: Peer editing was not a first to me this semester. I had done it in high school a few times and I found
that it was incredibly helpful even back then. I feel like when it comes to peer review, it is important that
an individual puts meaningful thought into reflecting on the work. It is also important that you are open to
feedback on your own work. I thought that a lot of my pieces were nearly perfect before peer editing, but
afterwards I felt differently because my peers had brought up valid fallacies in my writing. This helped
me grow as a writer and it gave me a more uniform idea of what needed to be fixed in my essays.

C: I believe that adding your voice into your writing is a vital component to creating a well written essay.
I would comment on each of my sources and add my opinions into the mix. I added comments like: No

wonder racism leads to death in those it is perpetuated against. , Depending on the individual
you are speaking to, one may believe that BLM is an excuse for the cultivation of violence, while
others believe that it is spreading the valuable message that racism is no longer tolerable. , and
Based off of the evidence proposed in the piece, I support the conclusions and stand firmly
against the continuation of racism in any form, for it is costing the lives of individuals. adding
my voice into my thesis like this made my opinions obvious to the reader.