Reflection on Open Letter Draft

For the peer revision process I revised Clay and Lauren's drafts of their letter. 

1. Did you demonstrate an ability to think about your writing and yourself as a writer?
Yes, I reflected on my writing process and discussed what aspects were very helpful and what did not work for me. I shared how I can see myself as a writer in the future in the field of science when it comes to writing and publishing research papers. There were a couple significant moments during the semester where I had "moments" that really changed and improved my writing skills and these were also discussed in the letter.

2. Did you provide analysis of your experiences, writing assignments, or concepts you have learned?
Yes, I analyzed project 2 because this project was where I felt I learned the most and had the most impactful experiences during the project. I shared how this project pushed me to break away from the strict guidelines that were drilled into my head during high school. I learned how to be more creative and take risks with the help of Sean's advice during office hours and the hard work payed off. 

3. Did you provide concrete examples from your own writing?
For the project mentioned above, Project 2, I provided hyperlinks to my drafts as well as the assignment  sheet. I am also going to add hyperlinks to the post where I talked about my calendar reflection to give concrete examples when I discuss how I did a good job sticking to my plan for time management during the semester. Also, peer review was very helpful for me throughout the semester on all of the projects so I hyperlinked to an assignment that outlined the directions for peer review. 

4. Did you explain why you made certain choices and why these choices were effective?
This area could use some improvement in my letter, because I don't think I explained completely why the I made the choices I did. As far as time management, I did explain that I planned to work on assignments in the morning before my first class because I had the time and I don't mind getting up early. I also explained how it is important to understand how to analyze genres and determine conventions of a genre because I will need these skills when I have to write new forms of work like research publications. 

5. Did you use specific terms and concepts related to writing and the writing process?
Yes, I used specific terms and concepts related to writing and the writing process like genre, conventions, drafts, peer review, and rhetorical analysis. I can improve on this area and include more specific terms to talk about my writing process in my letter. 

Farthromi, Ramdlon"Writer." 20 Jan. 2015. via Pixabay. Creative Commons. 

Draft of Open Letter

Here is the draft of my letter! I would love feedback on whether or not I am even on the right track, I was confused what exactly to talk about in the letter. Other than that general comments are great, thanks!

"Writing Postcard." Nov. 2015 via Pixabay. Creative Commons. 

Reflecting More on My Writing Experiences

In this post I will be responding to questions that will help me reflect further on my writing experiences. 

1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?
My biggest challenge was breaking from the strict writing structure that was drilled into my head during high school english courses. The writing pieces and genres involved taking risks and breaking from traditional essay format writing. This was hard at first to change my writing style, but eventually I embraced it and learned how to write more effectively. 

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time managment, writing and editorial skills?
I learned that I have really good time management, I am good at getting things done early and not waiting until the last minute. My writing skills have definitely improved but I still have to work really hard to produce good work. 

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.
I have learned how to analyze pieces of work and determine the conventions of a genre. With this analyzing I can then write my own work in the genre. This is important in becoming a better writer because you can write more clearly and effectively if you follow the conventions of a genre. This is also important when I have to write in different genres in the future like in the field of science. 

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?
I am going to work on my research skills. This is especially important for me because the career I want to pursue is research. While I want to the laboratory research in the science field, this still involves outside research and writing and publishing papers. I will also have to learn the genre and conventions of publishing science research. Lastly, I hope that the revision process will become easier for me as I work on in. 

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H? 
My most effective moment was writing the rhetorical analysis essay. One aspect of this that was very effective was talking with Sean and realizing that I need to be pushed to take greater writing risks and deigning deeper into making connections between the information in the article and the way the author conveyed his message. This was my most successful piece because I put so much effort into both of these aspects that he wanted me to work on and it paid off. This was my greatest stride in developing my writing skills in this class. 

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H? 
I struggled with the quick reference guide. This was difficult for me because the topic that I chose was almost too broad. This made it difficult to analyze the groups and opinions involved in the stem cell controversy. I did my best in following the requirements in writing a QRG but I felt too restricted in the content. 

Sharma, Abhi. "Books HD." 27 Aug. 2007 via Flickr. Creative Commons. 

Revising My Writing Process

In this post I will be reflecting on two earlier posts, my writing process and calendar reflection, and I will be looking at how my writing and time management skills have changed or stayed the same. 

As far as my writing process, I am still not a very confident writer and this became more evident during the course. I would produce what I felt was a very solid draft and then when I would get peer review or help from Sean, I realized that I needed to redirect my ideas and change a lot of my work. This made my writing process very heavy on revising because I always had several drafts before I turned in a final project. I am glad I could utilize peer review because it helped me grasp the purpose of the projects better and improved my work. Also, the format of this course with writing blog posts augmented the fact that I am a heavy planner because all of these blog posts were essentially planing for the final project. So overall, my writing process that I discussed in my first blog post has been consistent throughout this semester. 

Now for my time management, I felt like I did a very good job staying on top of all of the coursework in this class. I always started working on the deadline early in the week and rarely had to cram on Saturday nights. I utilized office hours at least 2 times each month. I did stick to my plan when I said in my calendar reflection that I would work on english homework in the morning before my afternoon classes. This class was one of two that took up the most time out of my week in devoting time to study for it. This ended up being okay because my schedule was balanced with several Ogen-eds and this made it easier to keep up with work for the class.

I think I am very good at managing time and don't see myself struggling with this too much in the future. However, as classes get harder I will be more stressed and I might need to adopt different time manning and working processes. For now I am pleased with my work ethic this semester and hope it can continue this way for the next semester!

"Happy Sunshine." 2012 via Pixabay. Creative Commons.

Reflection on Project 3

In this post I will answer questions that will help me reflect on Project 3. 

1. I included more of my opinion and more personal pronouns to emphasize the fact that the article is an act of public speech. Also, I wanted to connect to the audience at a personal level and have a conversational tone. I had to make changes in my writing so it was clear that I was proposing a solution to the designer baby debate and that this solution is a good idea. 

2. I changed a lot of my paragraphs around so that the flow of the article made more sense. For example, I saved the rebuttal for the end after I gave my argument. Furthermore I made sure that the purpose of my article was clear at the beginning so I rearranged sentences to do this. I needed it to be clear that I was proposing a solution to the designer baby debate, but without getting too technical with science terms or getting too consumed in the controversy itself.

3. I made these changes because they were brought to my attention during peer review. Peer review was very helpful because it helped me focus on specific things that needed to be changed. I also changed my drafts several times because my purpose and audience both changed throughout the drafting process.

4. These changes strengthened my credibility. Because these changes improved my purpose, audience, and overall rhetorical strategies, my credibility as an authors also improved.

5. The audience that I ended up focusing on is directly related to the argument because they are the people that the solution effects. The audience is more likely to agree with my argument after these changes. 

6. As I read through my drafts I changed any sentence structure or word choice that seemed awkward. This helped the clarity of my article as a whole. Also, I had to change my title because it used humor and this was not consistent with the tone of the rest of my article. 

7.  The audience can focus in easier on the purpose of my argument with these changes and have an easier time siding with my opinion. With local sentence structure and style changes it will be easier to read and understand the article. 

8. I had a very strong sense of the genre of my article so this was one of the few things I did not have to change throughout the drafting process. I tried to replicate an op-ed article that I found on the New York Times online and I was happy with how it turned out. I had to make sure that my captions and citations were consistent with the conventions of the op-ed articles that I found online and had to make some small revisions. 

9. The process of reflection gives me clarity on my identity of a writer. This is not usually something that I put much thought into, so by sitting down and having to answer questions that force me to reflect on my writing is very helpful.

Russill, Nick. "Penguin Reflection." 16 Jan. 2007 via Flickr. Creative Commons.

Publishing Public Argument

You can access my Project 3 public argument though by blog. The following questions help outline the purpose, audience, genre, and rhetorical strategies of my argument. 

1. Mark with an "x" where you feel your target audience currently stands on the issue (before reading/watching/hearing your argument) below:

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

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                             Strongly  disagree

agree 

                                                                                                                  

2. Now mark with an "x" where you feel your target audience should be (after they've read/watched/heard your argument) below:

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

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                           Strongly disagree

agree 

                                                                                                                         

3. Check one (and only one) of the argument types below for your public argument:

         ___X____ My public argument proposes a solution 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:

Almost every article I have read on designer babies argues with a pro/con stance. My public argument is unique because I am proposing a solution to the debate that appeases both sides. Also, reproductive technology has been talked about in the context of designer babies but never as a solution. 

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

Ethical or credibility-establishing appeals

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

                    __X___ Establishing your own public image in an inviting way (using an appropriate images of yourself, if you appear on camera dressing in a warm or friendly or professional manner, appearing against a background that’s welcoming or credibility-establishing)

                    ___X__ Sharing any personal expertise you may possess about the subject (your identity as a student in your discipline affords you some authority here)

                    ___X__ Openly acknowledging counterarguments and refuting them intelligently

Emotional appeals

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

                    __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 attractive color palette that sets an appropriate emotional tone (no clashing or ‘ugly’ colors, no overuse of too many variant colors, etc.)

Logical or rational appeals

                    ___X__ Using expert opinions that help affirm your stance or position

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

6. Below, provide us with working hyperlinks to THREE good examples of the genre you've chosen to write in. These examples can come from Blog Post 11.3 or they can be new examples. But they should all come from the same specific website/platform and should demonstrate the conventions for your piece:

example 1

example 2

example 3

Magee, Alyssa. "Triplets." 2012 via WeHeartIt.

Reflection on Project 3 Draft

I peer reviewed two drafts and also had my draft reviewed,  so this post is about reflecting on both of these tasks. 

I reviewed Ann Emilie and Tom's project 3 drafts. 

• Ann Emilie's peer review sheet
• Tom's peer review sheet

1.My draft was reviewed by Mark Lubniewski.

2. Mark's feedback in the genre category was really helpful because it seemed like most of my formatting choices like pictures and graphics had the effect that I was hoping. He suggested changing the title so it fits the article better and is less ambiguous and I agree. I was concerned when he thought that my article was a refutation argument because it is supposed to be an evaluative argument. I will have to go back and edit certain sections to make it more explicit that I am proposing a solution to the designer baby debate. Some of his feedback was hard to understand because he seemed to be talking a lot about the topic of my article and a lot of his comments were not things I was trying to prove, this could possibly be because he already is knowledgeable about the subject.

3. My argumentation needs the most revision because I need it to be clear that I am providing a solution to an existing problem. I will do this by explicitly stating in my article that current reproductive technology is a good solution to calm fears over the designer baby debate and concerns about research in that technology.

4. I feel really good about where my article is right now. I have to make some changes to improve clarity and make sure my purpose is clear, but I have a really good base to go off of. The things that were brought up in the conferences align with the comments made on the peer review so I now I know what to work on.

Aneta Szpyrka. "Silver Reflection." 24 July 2006 via Flickr. Creative Commons.