Isela Pena

Professor Doutherd
English 5M
12 December 2017
Theory of Writing
In this course students were required to write multiple essays and reading responses that
allowed me to complete all of the learning outcomes required for this course. These assignments
required me to write multiple drafts throughout the semester that was shared to many professors,
peer, or anyone considering this course. After doing all of the work required for this course, my
theory of writing is a way to communicate with the audience by either persuading, informing,
arguing, entertaining, and being able to express ones own opinion.
The first goal in this course is to develop awareness of how communities shape reading,
writing, and research. This goal was met by doing all of the reading responses and following a
format. The format required for the reading responses: writing a short summary, stating a claim,
collecting data, and analyzing it is a strategy that allowed me to analyze articles and persuade the
audience with the most important claim of a reading. These assignments were very helpful and is
a format that will be very beneficial for my field since writing in my field will require me to
collect and analyze data.
The second goal explore a writers identity in relation to the politics of language was
met by completing the literacy narrative. Doing this assignment allowed me to remember how I
became literate and who my sponsors were. By doing this assignment I learned that my sponsors
were my family and community who had a big impact on my literacy. Due to this, I also learned
how one's culture and being multilingual has its limitations and requires students to work harder.
Even though being multilingual can be more challenging, it allows more work opportunities and
will be beneficial for any field or work environment. Furthermore, doing this assignment allowed
me to learn and inform the audience the effect sponsors have on ones literacy.
The third goal engage in reflective and metacognitive processes was met by
completing all drafts for each essay; the Literacy Narrative, Rhetorical Analysis, and the
Research Paper. For each of these essays, we engaged with our peers by providing and receiving
feedback for all of our first drafts. Furthermore, we also received feedback from our profesor and
allowed us to improve on our writing. After doing all of my drafts I learned the importance of
writing many drafts and perfecting each writing. This is an important concept that will be useful
in my field of study since it requires me to collect data, analyze, and write reflections as well as
working with others.
The fourth goal Compose rhetorically effective texts, informally and formally, in a
variety of mediums or genres was met by doing both the reading responses and the essay
assignments. By doing multiple drafts for each essay and submitting it to my ePortfolio, it
displays evidence of editing, control of grammar,[and] sentence variation. In addition, the
reading responses required me to summarize, analyze, evaluate, integrate, and cite sources.
 Overall, doing the assignments for this course has led me to a specific theory of writing.
For example, doing the reading responses allowed me inform the audience, the research paper
allowed me to persuade and Literacy Narrative allowed me to reflect and share my opinions.
These are some example of how every writing has a purpose for the audience and has led me to
believe that writing is meant to either persuade, inform, or entertain the audience.
Throughout the semester I have developed as a reader, writer, and critical thinking.
Taking this course showed me the importance of managing time and writing multiple
drafts for any essay. I learned that any shitty first draft can be improved with the help of peers
and other. Getting feedback from others is something I was not accustomed to; however, after
getting help from, peers, professors, and friends, it has led me to see the importance of reaching
out for help and helping others as well. This course also taught me many reading and writing
skills that can be transferred to other courses. For example, annotating is something I started
doing as a suggestion from the professor. Doing this for my reading responses was a strategy that
has helped me better understand the readings and is something that I started uses for all of my
other courses. This is something that will prepare me for my future and better understand
readings. Another thing that I learned from this course was the importance of writing with
authority. Writing with authority is important for student to learn and practice. After writing
most of the reading responses and essays with the detached personal style, it has served as
practice and has helped me write differently.