Cota 1

Claudia Cota
Dr, Lynda Hass
Writing 37
3/14/2015
Reflection Essay
Writing 37 was my first college writing class, needless to say, I was nervous and did not
know what to expect. But throughout the quarter I have learned a lot and have seen my skill as a
writer, rhetorician, presenter, and analytical reader improve with the class. The focus of the class
is rhetoric and the class used many different projects, essays, presentations, and other types of
mediums to help the students both understand and also be able to practice rhetoric better. While
rhetoric was the focus, the class also practiced the habits of mind. The habits of mind include:
curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, flexibility, and
metacognition. All of this were used at some point during the class. The work in the class can
reflect these habits of mind as the work helped me to become a better writer and critical thinker
through use of the habits of mind.
The first project I did in the class was the animal topic group collaborative presentation.
My groups animal topic was canine cognition and the sub-topic I researched and presented was
human-dog communication. The habit of the mind that I practiced the most in this project was
responsibility. Responsibility is the one habit of the mind that I used the most in this project
because it was the first project that we worked with a group and had to each do our own research,
but still contributed to the presentation we were all working together. The other collaborative
project was the wiki. I contributed to the presentation by conducting research and making the

Cota 2
slides for the sub-topic I researched as well as talked about it during the presentation to the class.
I contributed to the wiki by adding citations to the works cited. The collaboration process was
different from other projects in the past in that we each had our own sub-topic but still all
contributed to the final presentation. I learned that communication is important and for the future
I will try to find a better communicative mean and also be sure that everyone is happy with their
work or that they are able to do it or know how. This are two of the collaborative projects the
class had, but we also had a PSA that we worked on as a group.
The video PSA we created about cosmetic animal testing used a lot of rhetoric. The
rhetorical devices we used to appeal to the audience, especially the UCI students, were logos,
pathos, and ethos. I learned that rhetoric is the elements you used in a medium to persuade your
audience, or portray better your message to them with a rhetorical device that helps you convey
it better. Rhetoric can be used to create a greater impact on the audience by appealing to a certain
thing that the audience can relate to or that creates trust with the rhetor. Rhetoric can be used by
appealing to the common sense of the audience, this can be done with logos by making your
argument logical to the point where the audience cannot deny it. Appealing to the audiences
emotions is used by the rhetorical device pathos; you can make the audience smile, laugh, fear,
or feel sad. Ethos is what creates credibility with the rhetor, it makes the audience trust the rhetor
to be able to believe him or her. I used all of this rhetorical devices in our groups PSA. We used
pathos by putting sad pictures of bunnies and rats that were hurt in our video, this showed that
cosmetic testing was hurting the animals and made the audience feel sorry for them. Logos was
used in the video by putting information about cosmetic testing throughout the video; we placed
many facts that proved our point. We also used ethos by stating the rhetor which was PETA,
since the rhetor is creditable it gives the PSA credibility that the information is trustworthy. Our

Cota 3
call to action, which was stated at the end, was to buy products that do not use animal testing. In
this project I used the habit of mind curiosity by conducting research on the topic. I was very
curious about cosmetic testing so I offered to do the research and find the facts that were used in
the video. I also practiced the habit of mind flexibility since we had to adapt to the expectations
and demands of the project. We added the UCI appeal to fit the requirements of the PSA project.
We had many group projects but we also had a lot of texts to read throughout the class.
In writing 37 we read a lot of scholarly articles, this is different from previous classes
where we focused more on novels. I have had to develop a different reading process in order to
understand them, I do this by writing notes on margins or highlighting. I think I have done well
in understanding the texts, but I still think I am better at reading novels. Blackfish is a
documentary that we closely analyze instead of just watching for enjoyment. I learned that in
order to analyze it, you need to write notes so that you can tie in all the main points at the end
and remember. Reading We3, which is a graphic novel, was different and harder since we
focused on the art elements as well as the text. In We3 while we had to focus on the art elements,
in the scholarly articles, like Leslie Irvines book chapters, we had to pay more attention to the
information and the rhetorical devices of ethos and logos. While reading the novel, The Jungle
Book, we had to focus more on pathos and anthropomorphism. I have learned that for every
medium and genre, the way you analyze and understand the text is different. It all depends on the
author, the audience it was intended for, the rhetorical devices they used, and many other
elements in their work. The class has helped me to see the rhetorical devices used in texts more,
and also help me understand their rhetorical appeals while used in many different texts. I have
learned to identify them and also be able to analyze them. While reading all the different texts, I
have also practiced the habit of mind flexibility, since the texts mediums were sometimes

Cota 4
different from each other and you had to adapt to each situation. Persistence was another habit of
the mind I practiced with all the texts, since learning how to read each different medium takes
persistence and time. You need to learn each way and sustain attention in order to be able to learn
how to understand each medium. Reading the texts and understanding them is one thing, but
writing about them is different.
For the literature review essay, I revised the thesis and the first body paragraph. I chose
this paragraph because it was the one that had the most information and the one that tied better
with the thesis. I revised it because it was not developing the main point and it did not flow and
was not clear. I made it more concise, changed the order of the sentences so that it made more
sense and flowed, and also made it tie better with the thesis. I worked on the controlling idea so
that is was more specific. The places were the source quotations were used in the paragraph were
changed to introduce the material better. I also improved on the conventions of organization by
making sure it flowed and the structure is coherent. With the literature review essay I learned
how to choose the right sources and cite them correctly. I learned to analyze the text by using
other sources and then addressing what the sources said about the text I was analyzing. The
literature review was about taking what other sources said about a specific text, and then
analyzing that in regards to the text. The habit of mind I used while writing the literature review
is openness. I practiced openness by considering a new way of writing an essay. The literature
review essay was something totally different from what I had ever written before. I had never
written an essay about analyzing and writing about sources that were about the main text but at
the same time tying it all back to the main text. It was confusing and very difficult for me to
write the essay but I learned a lot while I did it. Although the literature review essay was

Cota 5
different, we also wrote a rhetorical analysis essay that I had already experienced a similar form
of writing before.
In the rhetorical analysis essay, the passage that I revised significantly between the first
and final draft was the second body paragraph. I chose this passage because it is the paragraph
that I had to change the most. I had to revise it because the explanations of the quotes and their
meaning were not good and insightful enough. I had to add more to the paragraph and explain
what the quote is teaching the children audience. I worked on the source integration and the
analysis of the quotes. The habits of the mind that I practiced while writing the rhetorical
analysis essay were creativity and engagement. I practiced creativity by the way I wrote the
essay, instead of taking one story and then in another paragraph analyze the other story, I took a
sub-topic and analyze an example from both stories in the same paragraph regarding the same
sub-topic. Engagement is the habit of mind I practiced by being invested in the essay, I was fully
engaged in the essay since I understood what I was writing about. You can tell by reading the
essay that I really knew the rhetorical device and I analyze the texts very well. Since I have
written this type of essays before, it is to no surprise that I did so well in writing it.
Aside from the collaborative projects, reading, and writing essays, the class also provided
the students with peer reviews from each essay as well as the Connect assignments. This two
tasks were the ones I believe helped me the most with becoming a better writer. The peer review
helped me by getting feedback on my essays. The peer reviews gave me comments on the essays
and suggestions on what to change or add. I noticed that helping others and giving them peer
reviews on their essays helped me as well. By critiquing their work, I got ideas on what I could
add or work on mine. The Connect assignments helped me with topics that are not commonly
taught by teachers or that sometimes go under the radar. Things like grammar and punctuation

Cota 6
that without lessons, you might not get the hang of. One thing is being told what to do and
another is learning why or how it works. Understanding the fundamentals is really what helps
you understand so that in the future you do not make the same mistakes. Based on my data from
Connect, the topic that was the most challenging for me was research process. The topics I have
a good handle on now are punctuation and mechanics, and grammar and common sentence
problems. The topics I need to practice more on are writing process and research process.
The blog entries and the portfolio as well as this reflection essay, are all assignments were
I have used the habit of mind metacognition. In the blogs I used metacognition by reflecting on
different assignments, analyzing my past work, reflected on what I have learned and what to
revise to make my assignments better. In the portfolio I have placed everything together to show
what I have learned throughout the class and also implemented this essay to tell the audience my
experiences in Writing 37 and what I have gotten out of it.
Overall I think the most important lessons I have learned as a result of my work for this
class are the habits of mind, understanding and analyzing rhetoric, and being able to use rhetoric
effectively in any medium. The habits of mind basically tie the whole class together and sum up
the point of taking this class. I think the one habit of mind that I need to keep on working in the
future is persistence. But all the habits of mind as well as how to use rhetoric effectively, are
lessons that I have learned and can transfer to my future classes and life in general. This are just
the most important lessons I have learn in Writing 37, but there are many more such as working
in a group, and improving both my critical thinking and writing skills. Although the class was
challenging, I know Ill be able to take all those skills into my future.