Vetelino 1

Rachel Vetelino
College Writing Period 6
Mrs. Oliveira
23 January 2017
Word Count: 3554
The Reward of a Challenging Semester
Throughout the past semester, the University of Rhode Island WRT 104 class endured
many challenges while still undertaking enjoyable work. These past few months included a total
of four writing projects: the senior research paper, the profile essay, the collaborative
investigative report, and the literacy narrative. By taking this course, the teachings which I
absorbed about the writing process involved the various stages incorporated. The popular
Broadway playwright, Lin-Manuel Miranda describes the process as this: Anytime you write
something, you go through so many phases. You go through the 'I'm a Fraud' phase. You go
through the 'I'll Never Finish' phase. And every once in a while you think, 'What if I actually
have created what I set out to create, and it's received as such? Reflecting back on this year, I
find that these words hold true. The year proved difficult and challenging, however, the pieces I
produced became ones which I am most proud of.
The first paper which I tackled this semester was the Senior Paper. This paper not only
filled a requirement to graduate, but it also counted towards the research paper task of this class.
The process which I took to write my senior paper proved long and tedious. The very first day
my instructor assigned this project, I knew I needed to put an immense amount of work into the
paper.

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The very first step of the project included the decision of a topic for the paper. In terms of
school requirements, the senior paper must connect in some way my senior project. My topic for
my senior project included aspects of dance, though I knew that I did not want to focus solely on
dance for my paper since I have written papers on dance in the past. Instead, I wanted to take
musical theater, more specifically Broadway, and research some aspect of it. At first, I found this
topic difficult to work with because I experienced a difficult time finding reliable resources for
the topic. Also, anything that I did find proved difficult to spin into a position on an argument.
Until I visited URIs library, I found the researching process difficult. Then, with the guidance
and tips from a URI librarian, the process became easier. I received the tools and advice on how
to find credible sources which I used within my paper. Once my research progressed nicely, I
found myself in the position to start outlining my paper. This outline provided a bare skeleton for
what my paper would look like. Though, I found a challenge when it came to writing my outline.
The week before the due date, I traveled on a cruise vacation with my family. Unfortunately, the
internet access on the ship was nonexistent. For one whole week, I could not work on any of my
paper, which felt overwhelming when I came back to the United States. Though with the help of
Mrs. Oliveira, I overcame the stress. Eventually, I finished my outline and progressed to the final
stages of the preliminary part of the writing project.
When it came to actually writing my paper, I found ease because of the careful and
thoughtful planning of my outline. The actual writing of my paper included forming coherent
sentences with transitions to enhance the flow of the paper. Once I finished writing, I went back
and looked for all of the passive voice which I incorporated the first time around. I realized how
many times I used the words was or had in the paper. Therefore, in order to make it sound

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better, I went through the entire paper and tried to delete as much as possible (3A). It was a
tedious process but it made my paper better than before. For example, one of my original
sentences, which included two different forms of passive voice read There have been many
different shows which have graced the stages of the great white way. Then, after editing it, it
transformed into Many different shows grace the stages of Broadway, year after year. Not only
does eliminating passive voice give my paper a maturity, but it also allowed me to try to expand
my vocabulary.
Surprisingly, the most difficult aspect of writing my research paper included writing the
thesis statement. My thesis statement went through a journey to become one which perfectly
complimented my paper. My first attempt at writing my thesis ended with Broadway musicals
have become a long-standing tradition in American culture and have a heavy impact on todays
society. Then, after looking more at my paper and at the wording of my thesis, I edited it into
With a long-standing tradition in American culture, Broadway musicals positively impact and
educate people in todays society. I felt as though my final thesis statement represented what I
wanted to present in my paper without going too much into detail about what discussed. With
this aspect of my paper completed I was ready to hand it in for the first time.
The revision process for the paper proved longer than I expected. Not only did I have to
make small edits to grammar and conventions, but parts of my paper were completely moved
around (2A). I feel as though I learned from this. The major issue I encountered included the
organization. Initially, my paper felt out of order to my instructor. Though after revisions, it
made more logical sense. It helped me notice that for the future I needed to pay more attention to
the way the paper flows. Along with that, the revisions especially made me more confident that I

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encompassed the skills to effectively research sources to use for a paper such as this. They
helped to keep my paper on track and all connected.
Through this specific project, I learned that I still needed to grow in terms of my diction.
There are more words which I could have incorporated to make my paper stronger than its
original draft. I plan to continue to make growth in this area by ensuring that I take time to think
of elaborate words in the first place instead of making it come second. It will help me build my
vocabulary for the future.
After the senior paper came to an end, the class directly started a new project. This
second project of the semester, called the profile essay, proved in the end one of my favorites to
write. This dabbled into the creative writing style, which I find can dance on the line of
enjoyable to write. For this project, I needed to find a person who I did not know, interview
them, and write a paper based on the interview. I found this intriguing but scary at the same time
because it meant I was expected to travel outside of my comfort zone to speak to people who I
do not know.
At the beginning of this project, since most of the class had little to no experience with
interviewing another human, Mrs. Oliveira made the class partner with someone we barely
communicated with, and interview them. For this assignment, I got paired with Matthew Lynch.
Through this activity, not only did I learn immensely about a fellow classmate, but also about
skills which I could use to formulate and ask questions to my interviewee.
For my interview subject, I, in the beginning, was set on having Robin Blier to interview.
I knew who she was since she is the mother of my best friend, and I wanted to know more about
her. However, when I started to formulate questions for her to answer, I found it difficult because

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I realized I already knew more about her than I thought. I remembered back to when my friend
told me stories about her and her life. Therefore, I ultimately decided she was not the best
candidate for my project. With having to switch gears abruptly, I quickly brainstormed who else
I could interview on such a short notice. That is when I discovered the perfect interviewee. There
is one girl who I dance with who I find really quiet in class. Her name is Morgan Rizzo. She
always seemed like such a sweet girl. Once I decided, I messaged her over social media to make
sure she would be okay with me interviewing her and she eventually agreed. A few days later,
we met at Savoy, a popular bookstore and coffee house in downtown Westerly, and I asked her
questions. The answers, I recorded with my phone to ensure I did not miss any aspect of the
response in order to incorporate them into my paper. She turned out very sweet, as I felt that she
would be, and surprisingly very talkative.
Using my new information from the interview, I started to write the paper. I feel as
though with any creative writing piece, it is difficult to start the paper. This accompanied the fact
that a guideline for the stepup did not exist (1B). I knew that I had to write in a way that
accurately represented Morgan as a person. I knew what I wanted to write about, but how to
organize it became the issue which I encountered. However, I feel as though not having the
outline of what exactly I needed to write helped me to strengthen my writing skills. It gave me
the opportunity to figure out the way I wanted to structure without it being incorrect. Once I
found the way that I wanted to write the paper, it came easily to myself. It did not take a long
time to write, but revising and editing is something that took a while.
When I received my paper back from my instructor, I needed to make edits and revisions
to it. This was especially important because Mrs. Oliveira expected me to give the paper to my

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interviewee. Therefore, I closely examined the suggestions which she made. One of the most
prominent suggestions which I needed to pay close attention to included my varying of words.
For example, in one sentence, I used the word class at least twice and then used it again in the
following sentence. It read, The melodious sound of classical music swirls around the room as
class begins...Morgan Rizzo stands at the barre just like any other student, patiently awaiting the
start of class. During class she is a very respectful student. In these lines, I overuse one word.
Once I edited the paper, the lines read, The melodious sound of classical music swirls around
the room as ballet begins. Students rush over to the barre. With pointe shoes on their feet and
standing in fifth position, the students of Michelle Lecole de Danse wait for the exercises to
begin. Morgan stands at the barre just like any other student, patiently awaiting her teachers cue.
During class she is a very respectful student. In this version, the use of the word class is only
used once, which makes for a smoother read of the essay. Once I finished polishing the essay, I
felt pride in the work that I accomplished (3C). Along with a Thank-You note, I gave the essay
to Morgan to read and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
Once I finished my Profile essay, I directly switched gears to the third project of the
semester. This one, known as the Investigative Report, was one which I most dreaded. This
project involved collaboration with either one or two other people. For me, I found this difficult
at first, but grew easier as time progressed. Also, this project experienced roadblocks along the
way when events in my personal life took a turn for the worst. Though, with the support of my
teacher and my group mates, we were able to pull through and produce a well written paper.
At the beginning of the project, the class explored what exactly investigative reporting
consisted of. By doing so, we were assigned a reading which explained investigative reporting

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and gave examples of work produced. After looking at these materials, I needed to form a group
with people I felt as though would have similar interests with as well as ones who I would work
well with together. Ultimately, my group consisted of Aiden Chen, Makenzie OClaire and
myself. The next task which we needed to accomplish including deciding on a topic of study.
Since medicine and the field of medicine intrigues me, I knew I wanted to investigate something
related to that. My partners agreed to this topic, but the challenge became deciding what exactly
we wanted to focus on in medicine. My idea included researching the concern of how medical
professionals treat each other and how it correlated to the decreasing numbers of medical
personnel. However, my groupmates wanted to focus more on the obesity crisis, especially in
school systems. At first, I honestly was a little apprehensive about the topic because it was not
really something that I was too interested in. Though After consideration about what the group
wanted, I decided to go along with the plan. Not only did it prove to be an easier, researchable
topic, but it also was quite interesting. With the topic decided, the next step involved gathering
research to incorporate into the paper.
The research that we needed to incorporate into the paper necessarily did not all come
from resources online. Instead, the group went one step further to incorporated our own research
we conducted (2B). For example, my group made a two different surveys and sent them to the
entire student body via email. One survey consisted of questions regarding food they eat for
lunch. We tried to deduce about how many high school students ate school lunch compared to
home brought lunch. Then in the other survey, we asked students questions on their physical
activity and the stress which they encounter in a normal day. Both of these surveys brought real,
tangible evidence into our paper which allowed for the connection of our topic with our own

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community (2C). Another form of research which we used included making an appointment with
one of the lunch ladies in the cafeteria and interviewing her about the school food. With the new
knowledge of interviewing skills from the previous project, the profile essay, the group was able
to effectively ask questions to use in the writing of the paper. Once the research phase of the
project finished, the group moved on the writing the paper.
I found this paper one of the more difficult ones to write. It did not help that during the
writing stages of this paper, my grandmother unexpectedly passed away. This took myself out of
class for an extended period of time, in addition to not having anytime out of class to work on the
project due to arrangements for her. Therefore, we were a little behind on the paper. Luckily, my
collaborators knew what occurred and let me finish my part of the paper slightly later than the
rest of the class. I knew I needed to eventually get it finished since it did not only affect myself,
but also two other people in the class. When I eventually finished my part of the essay, my group
was ready to hand it in.
The one aspect of this project that I regret the most includes not thoroughly reading
through my other partners works before handing it in. If I took a closer look at the writing of the
other people in our group, possibly more mistakes would have stood out. In retrospect, if my
group payed more attention to these details, the grade we received could have increased by a few
points. This aspect of paying closer attention to partners work is definately one part that I feel as
though I grew during the process of this task. Learning from the past mistake from our original
final draft, when the group went to revise and edit it, I made sure to look at my partners writings
to ensure it made sense. Also, I feel as though moving on from this project, I can continue to
work on blending writing styles with other people in order to create a cohesive paper. I expect

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that I will have to work collaboratively on papers with others in the future. Therefore, if I
continue to hone and practice my skills of writing with others, then writing collaboratively could
become easier and more fluent in the future. I can always continue to build my skills in order to
make myself a better writer than before.
When the collaboration of the Investigative report finished, time approached to settle down into
the fourth and final major writing project of the semester. The literacy narrative, by far one of the
easier ones to write, focused on how a piece of literature helped to influence an aspect of my life.
The only difficult part included thinking of the literature to tie into my story. However, well
written, past examples helped to deduce my ideas.
The start of this project did not involve an extensive introduction on how to write a
literacy narrative. Some of the activities which Mrs. Oliveira assigned in order to get our minds
into the frame of literacy narrative included a Ted Talk by Adichie, a reading by a past student
and piece by Amy Tan. All of these helped greatly, as they all eased my thoughts into the
direction that this project needed to go. After looking into all of the examples, I realized that this
piece must incorporate a more creative style of writing in order to reach my intended audience
(1A). Therefore, even before I started to write the paper, I assured myself that I needed to write
with language which showed, not told the reader.
Once the concept of this project stuck in my head, I needed to decide on the story which i
wanted to tell my audience. Thinking back in my memories, situations where literature and
words affected me were not easily recollected. As time progressed, I thought more and more
about different experiences I encountered. All of a sudden, I remembered how in Kindergarten, a
teacher of mine introduced me to a book which I still hold dear to my heart today. The book,

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Dodo Every Day, told of a story of a young girl who called her grandmother, Dodo. Since I
called my one of my grandmothers, Dodo, I remember the book as a great connecter between my
life and a piece of literature. It became something that provided meaning to me. Therefore, I
found it as the best subject to write my literacy narrative on.
During the process of writing, similar to the profile essay, I found great difficulty in
beginning the writing. I am unsure exactly why, but the difficulty came in describing the
situation. Although I can describe my experience through speaking words, when transferring
them to writing, and in a way which showed the reader rather than told, it automatically became
difficult. I needed to incorporate aspects such as ethos to make the reader understand and fully
understand my own personal connection to the literature through the experience (1C). Yet,
finding a way to write those emotions felt challenging. However, once I started to write the
paper, the story just flowed. It seemed as if the words came magically to me as I told the story
and connection of my Dodo to the book. I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak of my Dodo in
such a way that highlighted her.
After receiving my paper back, I realized that many of the mistakes which I made
included grammatical errors from not thoroughly checking my work. I understand now how I
could have easily avoided them, if only I had read my work out loud. I discovered that I tend to
write in fragments frequently. From the edits which my teacher suggested, I now understand how
some of the phrases that I use are fragments. In the future, I can continue to grow and develop
this skill in order to decrease my usage of fragments in formal papers.
Overall, I would tell lies if I did not admit that this semester included its challenges, but
in the end, it proved valuable. I learned lessons not only in writing, but also in other aspects of

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my life. I can proudly say that after completing this course, I am not only a stronger writer, but
also a better person. I learned the importance of writing and how words can influence and impact
people in such a touching way. With such a skill, I can use writing to continue to express myself
in words physically unspoken. Without the guidance from Mrs. Oliveira, my writing would not
reach the level which it has today. It will only continue to grow as I embrace all of the lessons
which she shared with me. My mind stretched not only academically but also personally
throughout the semester. Many of the life lessons I acquired through the projects, as well as
through Mrs. Oliveira, will continue to hold dear to my heart for the years to come. I can
honestly proclaim that this class, though challenging, proved surprisingly enjoyable. Overall, I
strengthened my love of writing and hope to continue my new appreciation in my future
endeavors.