Reflection on Open Letter Draft

This is the last official blog post of this semester! Went by really fast! For the last peer review I conducted in this course, I looked over the drafts of Victoria and Alex.
On an unrelated note here's a cute little otter waving hello.

Michel, Christopher "Sea Otters: Monterey Bay Aquarium" January 2nd, 2015
Generic License 

Did you demonstrate an ability to think about your writing and yourself as a writer?

• I tend to have a more difficult time writing about myself than any other topic. I always feel as though it's somewhat disingenuous when I write about myself and my skills, which isn't really a good thing because for papers such as resumes you need to be able to discuss you strengths and weaknesses. I believe I did a pretty good job basically explaining how I have grown and changed as a writer this semester, but it definitely needs expansion.

Did you provide analysis of your experiences, writing assignments, or concepts you have learned?

• I gave a basic analysis. I talked about writing in high school and how I felt I had evolved from those specific styles of writing. I briefly discussed the major projects we had in this class, but they definitely need to be expanded upon and discussed in greater depth. Concepts would include my shift away from being such a Heavy Reviser, but again needs more depth. 

Did you provide concrete examples from your own writing (either quotes from your writing or rich descriptions of your writing process)?

• Like I said above, I need more depth in my examples. I need to flesh out the writing of this letter as it stands right now, including quotes, links to examples, or better descriptions of my writing process.

Did you explain why you made certain choices and whether those choices were effective?

• In some areas, yes. I explained my high school experience and why the choices I made then grew to be different from the choices I needed to make in college. Again, I'll go back and explain a bit more as to why my choices as a freshman in college were different and more effective. 

Did you use specific terms and concepts related to writing and the writing process?

• I touched upon several specific terms and concepts related to the writing process we developed and discussed this semester. I discussed peer reviewing, the concept of a genre, deadlines, and what "type" of writer I began as and ended as. 

Draft of Open Letter

This blog post will have a link to my open letter.

NOTE: This is going to be really really rough. I had my laptop stolen from my car Tuesday night of Thanksgiving and have been unable to access a computer until Saturday (11/24). I'm behind in a lot of classes because of this, and I'll be doing my best to progress in this class. Because I didn't really know the specific conventions of a semi-formal letter, I copied a "rubric" I found online and wrote within those sections so I could feel more clear in how to write. I didn't have much time to quote myself or anything so be honest and specific but also a little sympathetic maybe? :)

Bosner, Richard "Winter Sunset in Tucson" December 29th, 2005
Non Commericial Generic 

Access my draft HERE

Reflecting More on My Writing Experiences

This blog post will review some more reflection about my writing process this semester.

1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?

It's always a little difficult transitioning to a new teacher, especially because they all have different expectations and guidelines for what level they believe their students to be writing at. I feel as though in high school I was writing more to the bare minimum expected for the teachers, but rarely really pushed my writing. I feel as though being challenged with new forms of writing was probably the biggest challenge this semester.

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time managment, writing and editorial skills?

Overall, I feel as though I've actually been fairly successful in time management.  I was concerned that I would continue the habit of awful procrastination from high school, but I've actually done quite well at keeping on top of my work (excepting this week, which was not as relaxing as a break as I had hoped). As I said in this blog post, I've enjoyed getting things done early. However it does seem as though I taper off in motivation as soon as winter rolls around. I also think my writing has improved. I spend a lot more time preparing drafts and researching than I used to, and I think that's really improved my writing. In conferences regarding papers, they've generally been more nit-pit-picky rather than have an overall negative tone.

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.

It's always sort of been difficult for me to identify a "genre". I used to think that a paper is a paper, and that it seemed kind of silly to have to identify a genre rather than just have the conventions placed in front of me. As college has progressed, it's made more sense to me that you're not always going to have a rubric or something that'll be straight forward for writing. Working by looking at genres in depth and picking them apart by convention has helped me learn how to understand and learn about genres.

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?

Helping to understand how to write for a genre, learning how to adjust writing for different teachers, learning how to write and research for myself as well as for school, etc.

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H?

I would say that writing the last paper was an effective moment for me. It was a culmination of all the different skills I have picked up on this year. I had an very well written draft, was very well researched, and spent a long time writing a paper I was quite proud of. I feel like this was just a good moment for me, even if the paper isn't perfect.

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H?

I would probably say the first paper. It felt like a research paper but it wasn't, I wanted to write in my high school sort of style and it didn't match, I didn't always understand the QRG genre and everything that it entailed. I felt frustrated and while I still feel like the paper came out okay, I still wish I had been more flexible in considering the writing.

Revising my Writing Process

This blog post will look over how my writing process and time management skills have evolved over the course of this first semester.

Alan, "Sleepy Time for the Ein Puppy", December 19, 2009
Attribution no-derivs, generic.

In blog posts 1.10, I wrote that I most considered myself a Heavy Reviser. I'd still say this is true, as a large chunk of my writing gets devoted to reading, re-reading, and editing my papers until I'm satisfied with them. I also said I wanted to be more of a Heavy Planner. I think I actually did become more of a Planner this year as well. As our blog posts typically require quite a bit of structure, I've noticed my rough drafts and outlines becoming more progressively outlined and detailed over time. I'm actually pretty happy with this, because it's made the transition from outline to full paper much easier. The clearest example would be project 3, where my outline was really intensely detailed and writing my paper was fairly smooth.

 In post 1.12, I said I was only going to have a couple free hours a day max. It ended up being more than I realized. Admittedly, I do spend quite a lot of time on homework, but have still managed to earn free time. I don't have as much time as I'd like to meet up with friends but I still manage to go out and get coffee with them from time to time, be a bum watching Netflix, and get some physical activity weekly (though my gym schedule is shall I say...nonexistent?). I've been really pretty good about not procrastinating this semester for the most part. I think the weekly structure of the posts helped a lot with that; I enjoy getting them done early because it's a large chunk of time I dedicate, and I like to enjoy my weekends (after I'm done working, of course). I'm pretty proud of myself actually in the fact that I get things done mostly early or at least on time.

Reflection on Project 3

This blog post will provide answers to a short list of bulleted questions provided in Writing Public Lives, page 520. It will also be a reflection on the final project that was just published and submitted (yay!).

Waits, Chris "Tuckered Out," May 7th, 2011
Generic License 

1) What was specifically revised from one draft to another? 
Between drafts I did general revisions. Fixing irregular quotations, general grammatical errors, smoothing out some of the more choppy writing. I re-wrote the subheading under the title, narrowed my focus more specifically to Rome and Pompeii in my introduction, and added more opinionated commentary to ensure my paper clearly made an argument.

2) How did you reconsider your thesis or organization?
I didn't necessarily change my thesis, but I narrowed down what I would be more specifically discussing as examples. This meant I narrowed down some pieces of my organization and expanded further on other pieces of evidence.

3) What led to these changes?
Partially my own revisions where I realized there were some areas that my ideas were not clear, but mostly from peer reviews and conference meetings. As a writer, you can maybe get attached to a work you've written and miss some flaws within it. Speaking and hearing comments from other writers helped me see the areas that needed work.

4) How do these changes effect your credibility as an author?
 I believe they make me more credible. The more feedback I get on a paper, the more aware of the flaws that may exist. Even when looking over several papers. If the same sort of comments generally re-appear, then I have a consistent flaw in my  writing that needs to be addressed and make me a better writer.

5) How will these changes better address the audience?
Laurence, in his comments on my draft, actually suggested a stronger appeal to my audience. I carefully tried to appeal to the generally upper middle-class and intelligent audience without seeming too preachy. There was one point where it felt as though I was pressuring the audience to donate to the sites, and I was unsure if this was the tone I wanted.

6)How did you consider sentence structure or style?
I tried to make sure my language was generally formal and made it more or less structured in my revisions. I tried to vary the structure of my sentences a little more, but I mostly did general edits for my paper.

7)How will these changes assist your audience in understanding purpose?
The more clear my writing is, the better my audience is going to understand my argument. Revisions are helpful to do that and allows me as the author to help clarify to my audience what exactly I am arguing.

8) Did you have to reconsider the conventions of your genre?
In all of my revisions and edits from other people, my conventions were described as generally in line. It had the right amount of photos, about the right length, and had the appropriate formality in writing. I adjusted the size of the photos a little, but otherwise I did not reconsider my conventions.

9)How does reflection help you consider your identity as a writer? 
Revision is an important part of the writing process, and helps authors learn about who they are as writers as well. Seeing your strengths and weaknesses pointed out can help an author really grow and figure out how they write. Reflecting upon how your revision process works can see where you should be revising more and what you revised successfully. It's an important part of the process.

Publishing Public Argument

The last project is done! I am linking it to right HERE for viewing purposes! Enjoy :)
The rest of this blog post will be a personal analysis of how I did on this paper, and what rhetoric I used to strengthen it.

Before Issue 

                                                                 X

←----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

After Argument

                   X

←----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

      

         ____X__ My public argument clarifies the causes for a problem that is being debated.

4. Briefly explain how your public argument doesn’t simply restate information from other sources, but provides original context and insight into the situation:

--My argument was a little tricky, due to my genre's requirement of fact-heavy writing that generally remains fairly neutral. However, I added personal commentary to the information I presented. I argued that Italy had failed to do something specific and then gave X,Y, and Z reasons why my argument should be believed. Rather than just create a time line of things progressing in my issue,  argued reasons why things have gotten the way they are. 

5. Identify the specific rhetorical appeals you believe you've employed in your public argument below:

Ethical or credibility-establishing appeals

                

                    __X__ Referring to credible sources (established journalism, credentialed experts, etc.)

                    __X__ Employing carefully chosen key words or phrases that demonstrate you are credible (proper terminology, strong but clear vocabulary, etc.)

                    __X__ Adopting a tone that is inviting and trustworthy rather than distancing or alienating

                    __X__ Arranging visual elements properly (not employing watermarked images, cropping images carefully, avoiding sloppy presentation)

                    _____ Openly acknowledging counterarguments and refuting them intelligently

                    

                  

Emotional appeals

                   

                    ___X__ Employing the repetition of key words or phrases that create an appropriate emotional impact

                    ___X__ Employing an appropriate level of formality for the subject matter (through appearance, formatting, style of language, etc.)

                    _____ Appropriate use of humor for subject matter, platform/website, audience

                    ___X__ Use of “shocking” statistics in order to underline a specific point

                    __X__ Use of imagery to create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    ___X_ Employing an engaging and appropriate tone of voice for the debate

                    

Logical or rational appeals

                    __X___ Using historical records from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    ___X__ Using statistics from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    ___X__ Using interviews from stakeholders that help affirm your stance or position

                    ___X__ Using expert opinions that help affirm your stance or position

                    ___X__ Effective organization of elements, images, text, etc.

                    ___X__ Clear transitions between different sections of the argument (by using title cards, interstitial music, voiceover, etc.)

                    ___X__ Crafted sequencing of images/text/content in order to make linear arguments

                    ___X__ Intentional emphasis on specific images/text/content in order to strengthen argument

6. Examples of the genre

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3 

                 

Reflection of Project 3 Draft

For this blog post I will be reflecting the two peer reviews for my draft I have received, as well as linking my own peer reviews. I have attached the peer review sheet I used for each draft.  One was Isaak's paper on obesity and the other was Chelsea's on geo engineering. 

Petful, "Easter Bunny Puppy", February 25th, 2007
Generic License 

1. Who reviewed your Project 3 rough draft?
Both Laurence and Chelsea reviewed my project three draft. You can find Laurence's review here and Chelsea's here.

2. What did you think and/or feel about the feedback you received? Be explicit and clear. Tell me what helped or what confused you about the feedback you got.
I feel like both of their reviews were very helpful! They generally had the same sort of comments on my draft. Chelsea specifically recommended I re-word my title and to review my paper for general errors (I was sure I had my paper in 'comment' mode but I she said I didn't! oops). She also recommended I revise some quotation because I used too many ellipses, and I agreed and changed it to a paraphrase. Laurence also recommended general revisions for clarity and to maybe more strongly appeal to my audience. I agree a revisions of the draft is probably a good idea.

3. What aspects of Project 3 need to most work going forward [Audience, Purpose, Argumentation, or Genre]? How do you plan on addressing these areas? 
Based on these peer reviews, I would probably say addressing my audience. Laurence said I was perhaps making a jab at the likely wealthier audience I would have to donate to my cause. I'm deciding if this is something I want to come across, since this is more of a "causal" argument than a "call to action" piece of writing. Just adjusting a little of my writing to appeal to my audience would do.

4. How are you feeling overall about the direction of your project after peer review and/or instructor conferences this week?
After conferences and the peer review, I'm feeling pretty strong about my project! The general consensus is to do a general revision to put some polish on the paper. I tend to review a few times before I submit a final project anyway, so I feel confident about how my project is turning out.