Writing and composition have never been a strong suit for me, quite frankly I’m more of a numbers girl. So, when it came to analyzing, revising, and dissecting a piece to understand it thoroughly I struggled a lot in this course. At the beginning of the semester, I was interested in the topic of writing about social justice issues but, I have left with so much more than inception into different social justice issues. Throughout this course, I was challenged in many ways, and looking back at my struggles I can distinguish how I’ve grown, and where I need to continue to develop.   

To begin, in acknowledging the range of the author’s artistic/ rhetorical situations, I find that I have struggled with this course outcome a lot, and I still must develop in this aspect. In this aspect of the course, I many times found it hard to recognize the point that the author was trying to develop for the reader. I believe that my struggle with the acknowledgment aspect is shown in my critical analysis final draft 1. In this piece, one was tasked with identifying the author’s argument and further develop it by using other pieces. I found researching and finding supporting articles very straightforward, but in the sense of articulating my ideas and the connection to the author, I struggled. I believe this conflict is evident in the entire Critical Analysis page being that from the paper proposal all the way until the final draft you can see my understanding of the original piece get lost, and my ideas just mixed in with the rest of the sources. I find that I was able to work on this skill through the semester by really having to sit and break down a piece sentence by sentence (so to speak). Although sitting and annotating and going over the same text isn’t exactly the most interesting thing to do, I have found that in doing that I am able to really understand the author, their perspective, and the point they are trying to portray to the reader. I was able to establish that this was the most effective way; being that it helped me understand the smaller pieces in this course. I was able to establish this because I had done this for smaller assignments, more specifically the discussion boards (Lebron Discussion). In giving myself enough time to really sit and digest the work, I was able to recognize more than when I would just complete an assignment a few days or hours before the due date.   

Throughout the entire semester, one of the courses learning objects that I believed I completed, and I have a solid understanding of it were the ideas of reading, drafting, revising, and editing. I believe that these aspects are shown in my Visual Essay Rough Draft and the Final draft. In these two samples of the same piece; when editing the piece, I pulled from the reviews of peers to strengthen but, I made sure that my point was easily understood by the reader. I have found throughout this course that the further you develop your thesis and writing altogether, the easier it is for the reader to understand what you as the author. The rough drafts allowed me to lay the placement for my ideas in the piece that is still slightly messy.  The revising and editing aspects allowed me to clean up my ideas and make them as clear as possible for the reader to understand. The strategies of revision and drafting were enhanced in the major pieces of the course, the reading aspect was enhanced in the discussion board aspects of the course. When writing the discussion boards many times I had to read an article that wasn’t interesting or wasn’t what I would normally read. Although I wasn’t drawn to all the articles, I had to read them to participate in class and receive a good grade. In reading these articles I was also exposed to how some of the assignments should look. Similarly, in reading these articles I was also able to establish different ways of evoking emotion or establishing my message to my intended audience. I was also able to pull ideas from the author’s work that was being assigned in class.    

Similarly, I feel that in the course learning outcome of collaborating and engaging in the social aspect of the writing process was a very straightforward outcome. From the very first discussion board, we had to comment on our peer’s discussion boards and review their work for major assignments. In doing this we all were able to participate in the social aspects of the writing process but, we also were able to better develop our writing. In a similar way, in having a group chat for the class we were able to discuss major assignments and help each other dissect what every assignment called for. These social aspects allowed us to build a sense of fellowship in our small class, while also pushing us to help each other put out our best work. This social aspect altogether allowed for us as writers to see how our peers and our intended audience receive our work, and what they were able to take away from our work as a whole. From receiving and giving our peer reviews we were also able to develop the course outcome of formulating and articulating a stance in our writing. In formulating and articulating I believe I started at a 3/10 at the beginning of the course and I am now at an 8/10. This wasn’t necessarily a concept that I found difficult to understand or develop but rather, it is something that one must practice to truly execute it well. In the visual essay, I find that I was able to effectively develop my stance to my readers, in comparison to my opinion editorial where my point is made but isn’t as clearly developed in my writing. 

The course outcome of strengthening my sources I believe that I understand to an extent. I say to an extent because the objective seems simple, yet when it comes down to executing it can easily become a hit or a miss. I find that in the first part of the critical analysis essay, specifically the annotated bibliography I was able to find the best sources that would support my piece (this being the evaluating and analyzing aspect of this course outcome). Then, when it came down to connecting the researched articles to the original article (this being the integrating and synthesizing aspect), I lost the original objective. In other aspects of strengthening sources such as paraphrasing, quoting, and citing I don’t believe that I didn’t struggle much at all. I don’t struggle with these aspects because I was introduced to them long before starting this course and because in most writing pieces this is a necessary aspects that can’t be excluded. Another course outcome that essentially leads to this one is researching, using online databases, and the internet to locate sources appropriate to our writing pieces. I find that this aspect was very straightforward as well, the only potential struggle that I have found with this course outcome was not finding a strong source. When faced with this struggle one can easily overcome it by changing the vocabulary used to locate the sources or use a different database. I find that I applied this outcome in the opinion-editorial piece and the critical analysis. In the critical analysis paper, the annotated bibliography shows all the different articles and sources I researched for the piece. In the opinion editorial, the research aspect applied in this piece because I had to develop some background information on my social justice issue, and I had to look at other opinion editorials from BuzzFeed. In having to develop some background information of the chosen social justice issues and on the publication, I wanted to post my editorial I applied the research aspect and I find that this is proven in the final reflection of the opinion editorial.   

Likewise, in the course objective of negotiating my writing in terms of the rhetorical situation, medium, and genre I have found that I was challenged with this aspect throughout the entire course. Unlike the other course objectives, I have been able to pinpoint where this can be applied and identified in the work but, this is one that I believe has evolved as my writing evolved. In negotiating my writing goals, I find that after receiving feedback from the professor in my opinion editorial, I was able to identify how a change in my rhetorical situation would have helped make my point clearer or more cohesive. Although I was able to identify this, I still wasn’t sure how I could apply this change to the writing.  Similarly, I learned from the visual essay that messages can be conveyed to the reader through any medium if the creator/ author makes it clear for them. In the visual essay when peer-reviewing, after watching Shyanne Raghoonanan’s video for these assignments I was exposed to a different kind of literary piece, that effectively developed and conveyed the message to the reader. To the extents of the medium, I believe that after taking this course I can manipulate my medium as writing to portray the message that I want the reader to receive.  In the contexts of genre, I find that in the different discussion boards I saw how different writers delivered their message. Through these different aspects, I was able to identify the importance of using different methods to develop or further manifest a point to the reader but, I don’t think that I can branch out the way many of my peers were able to change their genres to better enable the reader to understand the author’s ideas. In this course objective, I would give myself a 4/10 being that I fully understand the medium aspect but, in terms of the rhetorical situation and genre, I still must practice before I can negotiate them to strengthen my writing.   

Lastly, in participating in genre analysis and multimodal composing I find that this course was my first exposure to this concept. In the past, I have been able to identify different genres and be able to determine why that genre is placed in a certain category, but this course took it to another level. I was exposed to this in the opinion editorial and the critical analysis mostly. In the opinion editorial, I had to determine what genre I wanted my piece to be and how I was going to effectively display that for my readers. In doing this I was exposed to the different ways my peers and other authors write their editorials for their publications. Similarly, in the critical analysis essay, the idea of multimodal composing came into play when I was exposed to the different types of sources and pieces used to elaborate or distinguish the same social justice issue. In being exposed to these different aspects I was also able to implement them into my understanding of certain sources; if an abstract was harder for me to understand, I would go to an article about the same topic, and then refer to the abstract to see if I could further analyze it. In doing this I was able to broaden my understanding of writing and see the different ways I could manifest my ideas. I would give myself a 6/10 in this course outcome simply because I’m not yet comfortable with writing in the different ways some of the authors. I am confident that I understand the course concept, but I still have a long way to go before I can master this skill.  

Throughout this course, I was exposed to many ways of developing and establishing my ideas as a writer. Although I favor math and science, I believe that I have taken my writing a step forward as a writer. I still have a long way to go in being able to manipulate certain aspects of my writing and in developing my ideas more concisely. Although I struggled, I do believe that the major takeaway I had from this class was learning that the only way to improve is to continue to practice.