Ben Seasly

Dr. McLaughlin
WR 13300-11
28 April 2015
Reflective Writers Statement
This portfolio demonstrates my understanding of writing as a process in numerous ways.
While it does not necessarily include my different drafts, since I saved over my older versions in
Microsoft Word, it includes my new and revised versions of my Rhetorical Analysis Essay and
my Research Paper. These new versions take those papers criticisms, such as the Selma papers
need to include what emotions are illicited from the audience, and the Research papers need to
expound upon the views of opponents of analytics. In addition, my process-oriented skills are
shown especially in my Research paper. If one were to look at my Research proposal and
compare it to my final draft, they would definitely notice how my topic changed significantly. I
wanted to help the casual fan understand the processes behind front office decision-making, an
expose on what really goes on behind the scenes. However, as my research went on, I found that
not a lot of current GMs will reveal that information, understandably wanting to hold an edge
over their competitors. Instead, I decided to focus on analytics themselves, and how everyone
can see that they are benefitting the game. My process has evolved throughout the term by
involving a lot more planning. When I performed my Audio Essay, it took a long time to execute
simply because I had not considered a lot of the logistics behind an essay of that caliber. With my
TED talk, however, I came in as prepared as I could be, having practiced and rehearsed my paper
numerous times.

The principle of rhetoric and argumentation that is most evident in my portfolio is logos,
or proofs based in logic and reasoning. This is shown especially in my Research Paper, as I lay
out the situations of Joe Johnson and Rudy Gay as their value quickly depreciated from max
players to overvalued assets over the course of a couple years. This emphasis on logos is shown
everywhere from my Audio Narrative to my TED talk. My Research Paper and Rhetorical
Analysis essay both demonstrate my critical research and reading ability. For my Research Paper,
I had to sift through numerous different types of sources, from newspaper articles, to academic
journals of basketball statistics, to data websites. Crafting a cohesive claim from so many sources
and types of sources offered a unique challenge, but also a fun one. Critically analyzing a film
for my Rhetorical Analysis Essay also presented a unique challenge. An analysis of a film was
something I have relatively little experience with. It being in theatres at the time also made it
difficult, but looking at quotes on IMDB really helped me recall specific scenes and how the
characters were portrayed. It also helped that my topic, the humanization of characters, was
narrow enough that I could really delve into the depths of critical analysis on it.
Multimedia played a significant role in my development as a writer this semester.
Learning to navigate different platforms such as Garage Band, Scribd, Piktochart, SoundCloud,
and WordPress greatly aided my technological savviness, while giving me experience in many
different forms of media. But more than that, they opened my mind to different forms and
limitations of media. Audio media, while more engaging than the written word, can be difficult
to go back and reference. TED Talks, while stimulating on multiple levels, can only fit so much
information. The argument about the effectiveness of TED Talks really highlighted what we
talked about on the first day with crayons, different media have different purposes and

limitations. By using numerous different media, I could expand my purposes for writing, and
therefore learn to think more critically about how I write and why I write.
Building off of the different purposes of different media, it is interesting to think about
the different projects we had to complete for this course. The Audio Essay focused on narrative
more than anything, and while it had an argument behind it, that was not the main goal for the
essay. This made it especially difficult for me, since I had only ever worked with logical,
argumentative forms of writing before, and building a narrative on top of an argument was hard
for me. But I found this essay and its purpose, to be freeing and allowed me to play with a story,
rather than build an argument structure. This was a good first assignment, since we had not
learned the terminology and ideas behind rhetoric and argumentation yet, as it just allowed us to
be us. The Rhetorical Analysis essay was after learning these concepts, and as such it became a
much more rigid structural essay, fulfilling definitions and ideas of rhetoric. However, since we
were analyzing a film, instead of something like a novel, it was able to lighten the burden we
were carrying and bring some whimsicality into the assignment. The Research Essay could have
been the culmination of all of these heavy ideas and concepts of rhetoric, except since we were
able to pick our topics, I was much more engaged than I would be in my typical research paper.
Researching something like basketball energized me to continue to delve into the research,
pulling out ideas I had no idea even existed. This made integrating concepts of rhetoric
somewhat fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed finishing my paper and knowing I had done as much
research as I could. As an extension of that paper, I found doing the TED Talk somewhat
stressful, but altogether enjoyable, since I knew so much about my topic from all of the research
on my paper. The real challenge for the TED Talk was condensing my long-winded paper into a,
now looking back on it, very short amount of time: 7-10 minutes. My outline for my talk shows a

section about the detractors of analytics that, after rehearsing, I simply did not have time for, and
had to cut out of my paper entirely. Even after cutting this whole section, going up there I felt
rushed through my last point, as I was running out of time. However, I really tried in my talk to
convey some pathos and ethos about myself, and in doing so get the audience on my side.
Although I probably enjoyed the TED Talk most of all, I think that I am most proud of
my Audio Narrative, Chubbahontas. I had never done anything like that before, and to be honest,
crafting a story was a lot more nerve-wracking than building an argument. After writing my
shitty rough draft, I was very disheartened. However, in the shower the morning before that draft
was due, I stumbled upon the one key sentence from that paper that I wanted to build my paper
around. Using that sentence, I was able to change my entire narrative to fit the metaphor, and I
felt that I did a pretty good job of it. I really enjoyed the process of recording it, and, while it was
pretty stressful, it was worth it in the end. This work highlights my growth as a writer into new
and somewhat scary forms of writing. It forced me to think about how I wanted to present it, who
the intended audience was, what I should do to gear it toward that audience, and lots of other
nuances that I took for granted writing 5 paragraph essays. It definitely broadened my scope as a
writer, and helped me think more about the people experiencing my works, rather than the person
writing them,