Katherine Sparks

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1104-037

8 May, 2017

Final Reflection

During my time in UWRT 1104, I learned what Student Learning Outcomes were.

Student Learning Outcomes include Rhetorical Knowledge, Critical Reading, Knowledge of

Conventions, Composing Processes, and Critical Reflection. Below are examples of each

Student Learning Outcome from assignments throughout the semester and explanations about the

changes that were made to them. Each section is written in different colors to separate them to

make it easier to read.

Rhetorical Knowledge:

Rhetorical Knowledge is the ability for a writer to change their style of writing based on

their subject and situation. The first image is the introductory paragraph from my inquiry
proposal. Its shorter and to the point making it more formal. With this assignment, I had to

steer away from being opinionated and biased because the proposals purpose is to be open

ended to leave more room for research if the writer or reader chooses. The second image is the

introductory paragraph of my literacy narrative. It is much longer and more casual than the

proposal because the subjects and objectives are different. With my literacy narrative, the

objective was to inform my readers as to why The Beatles were my favorite band so it was a very

personal piece. The objective of the inquiry proposal was to make my readers curious as to why

being called a snowflake is an issue and hopefully urge them to come up with solutions.

Doing these assignments was very helpful in understanding the meaning of Rhetorical

Knowledge because I learned how to switch up my writing style to fit the particular purpose and

I know it will help me in the future depending on what type of papers I will be assigned.

Critical Reading:
 Critical Reading is the ability to read a piece and be able to understand and interpret the

text. The first image is of a source that I chose to use for the Annotated Bib assignment and the

second image is my response to it. I chose not to use this article to contribute to my inquiry

thesis because I decided to go in a different direction with it and try not to get too political, even

though I agreed with many of the authors points. With the direction I decided to go in for my

thesis, this article would have been off topic with the main idea; however, it would be on the

verge of the idea as to why people are being called snowflakes. I was able to use my skill in
critical reading to sift through the information to decide if it would contribute to my thesis and

came to the conclusion that it would not based on the context.

Knowledge of Conventions:
 Knowledge of Conventions is the ability to use grammar, punctuation, and the rules of

writing and apply them. For the first image, the introductory paragraph from my literacy

narrative, I used the I a lot to make it more personal. I wanted my reader to get to know a

piece of the real me by making it more casual. Throughout the paragraph, I used a lot of periods

when listing what you might see at one of The Beatles' concerts. I wrote this assignment as if I

were speaking to someone and not typing it on a computer for someone to read. I wanted to do it

this way to introduce the reader to my style of writing, which tends to be very casual and very

personal. In the last sentence, I used commas in the sentence the pushing and shoving to get

closer to the stage, to get closer to the band, to hear Paul belt out the words to add more

emphasis. For me, it made the sentence more passionate and more emotional to help the reader

understand how much the band means to me.

In the second and third image, from my inquiry thesis and inquiry proposal, I used I

and we to make myself more relatable to my audience. My goal was make myself equal to my

readers letting them know that I was also a college student and I wanted to let them know that we

are in this together, whether they agreed or not. The purpose of using we in my questions was

to put myself in the same category as my target audience: current college students and recent

graduates. By doing this, I feel like my paper was more effective in relating to my audience

because I also included myself in the blame instead of putting it off on my peers.
Composing Processes:

Composing processes are the processes taken by a writer to improve each draft to get the final

product. In the first image, I highlighted that particular part of the sentence to see if I wanted to

elaborate or not. I chose not to because I didnt want to mention why she was fired because its a

very touchy subject and I didnt want that reason to take the importance away from my main

idea. When making my decision, I felt as though if my readers didnt know why she was fired,

they should look it up for themselves. In the second image, The Blaze was highlighted because

someone who read my thesis didnt know what it was so I took the opportunity to elaborate so

my audience who doesnt know what The Blaze is can get an idea of what its about. In the third

image, novel was highlighted because I didnt mention the name of the book in the right place

which could potentially cause confusion or just leave my audience in the dark. It would leave

the author of my source without a book to write about which doesnt give him any credibility so

for my final draft I replaced novel with the name of Lukianoffs book.
Critical Reflection:

Critical Reflection is the ability for a writer to be able to look at their work and

understand what they are writing about. Its being able to compose for a reason and be able to
reflect on these reasons. For my first image, I used an excerpt of my response to studio #1. This

Studio was an assignment we had to do at the very beginning of the semester in which we had to

watch a certain video and answer a few questions. The video was a TED Talk segment called 3

Ways to Speak English with Jamila Lyiscott. In the video, she discusses her definition of being

articulate in the classroom, the streets, and at home. I used this studio because it made me really

think about what being articulate meant. When I finished this studio, I came away with a better

understanding on what the word meant and the ideas that surround it. Being articulate is the idea

of being able to express your ideas clearly and fluently to your audience so they can also

understand the purpose behind your writing. I believe my studio #5 is a good example of critical

reflection because I was able to broaden my understanding of the word articulate and turn it into

an idea instead of a straight definition.

I chose an excerpt of my concluding paragraph of my thesis as my second example. At

the end of my thesis, I took all of my ideas and questions and put them at the end so I could

reflect on the rest of my thesis. I asked myself if I was right to ask these questions and if these

are the questions I wanted to ask or if these questions fit along with my ideas. I also wanted my

audience to be able to understand where I was coming from. With my audience having a better

understanding of my topic while reading the body of my thesis, theyll hopefully be able to get

an idea of why I asked those questions and the ideas that made me ask them. While reflecting on

my thesis, I knew I had a better understanding of my topic and I knew that my audience would

too.