Semester Reflection Paper

Danielle Barlow
English 2010- May 5, 2014
During this semester I have learned so much about the logic and process of writing. In
past classes I had never used the logos, ethos and pathos ideas, and the addition of these in my
writing process has greatly improved my skill. In my ePortfolio, I have included a slideshow of
images that show a small portion of the process I used to do my work, and the final drafts of
three of my papers that show my best writing from the semester. In these papers, you can see that
I have used different mediums, writing styles and genres as well as using proper citation.
Because most of our projects were based on researching a single topic, the writing
process was lengthy and detailed for each assignment. First, I chose the food industry in the U.S.
as my topic, but had to narrow the topic down to a more precise one- so I chose artificial food
additives and their associated health risks. I began with a basic Google search to find sites,
images and video clips with credible information and used the Canvas reference page to find
criteria to validate sources and authors.
From there I used those credible sites to gather information and ideas for further research.
Once I had all of my research in one place, I began the initial drafts for; first, my position
argument paper, second, a proposal and finally my collaborative project PSA, which used a
different topic. After the first draft, the paper was submitted for peer review where my peer read
and commented on the paper (see image of comments in slideshow) and I could use those
comments to improve my writing. Once I had revised each paper, read through it and had a
friend proofread it, I submitted it.
Each of the mediums was its own challenge, because I had to push myself outside of the
genre I have always written in. However, using the textbook I was able to see examples of the
new styles and use them to guide me in my own writing. The multimedia aspect of the projects
was also new to me, and initially frustrating to figure out.
As difficult as it was to initially begin each paper, I was able to find a lot of guidance in
the textbook as well as use feedback from peers and reference pages to get started. I am very
glad I learned how to use the genres and mediums of presenting my ideas that I did this semester
as they will be very helpful in my future education as well as in my career.