Sarah Montesclaros

Professor Thomas
UWRT 1102
April 22, 2016
Final Reflection
1. Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience with writing and
UWRT 1102. Consider including a video of the song. Explain your choice.
A song that would describe my experience in UWRT 1102 would by Work Hard, Play Hard by
Wiz Khalifa because it tells that you should work diligently then enjoy yourself. As a freshman, I
see many students struggle with balancing a social life and their schoolwork. I feel that students
often forget that the reason why you go to college is to be educated and work hard to create a
better future for yourself. College teaches you to prioritize and manage your time wisely.
The song I chose teaches me to take care of my responsibilities and focus on academics, then
have fun afterwards. There were times when I wouldnt want to go to UWRT because I wanted to
nap or hangout with friends, but then I would overcome that temptation by thinking of how
disappointed my parents would be if they knew and how Im only making my life harder by
skipping class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ctW9ZNcbM
2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasis?
If I were to teach this class, I would emphasize how critical it is to manage your time wisely and
the significance of peer critique. In this class, its extremely important to submit your
assignments on time. I hate to admit, but Im pretty good at procrastinating. Its stressful, but I
think I enjoy procrastinating because it pressures me to get my assignments done. Unfortunately,

this method doesnt work with everyone. If you spend more time on your assignments, you can
exert more effort into your work and make it really quality rather than when someone rushes
through an assignment. In addition, peer critique was especially helpful throughout this course. I
can be a bit stubborn when it comes to editing my paper, but listening to different suggestions
and views helped me immensely. Its critical for your peers to give quality feedback that will
make your writing improve.
3.

Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the course of

the semester using at least three examples from your writing. Ex. Did you shift an assignment to
better fit a particular genre like a proposal?
Prior to this class, I was so accustomed to writing the typical five paragraph essay with an intro,
three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This class taught me that its okay to use variety with
the way I write and not follow standardized rules.In the beginning of the semester, most of my
writing was really boring and followed the five paragraph structure. For example, when I
submitted my first draft of my inquiry proposal I still followed that five paragraph structure. It
sounded like an essay rather than proposal. During my first peer critique, I was able to see
others writing and understood that I dont need to write like how I did in high school. Another
example was writing the daybook entries, specifically the first day book entry when we had to
analyze three essays, Seven Ways to be More Curious by Jonathan Wai, Innovation: Five
Keys to Educating the Next Generation of Leaders by Henry Doss, and Innovation Leadership:
The Revolution Starts With Words by Henry Doss. When I wrote my response to the essays, I
merely summarized what each essay said rather than actually investigating the text. I put a lot of
quotes and rephrased what the writers stated instead of interpreting the meaning. Another
example was when I wrote my annotated bibliography. Over the semester, I had a bit of trouble

responding and explaining quotes. When it came to write my annotated bibliography, I used the
They Say/I Say book to help me evaluate quotes rather than repeating what the writers stated.
This class has brought me a deeper understanding of rhetorical knowledge. Ive developed my
own writing style and have become a better writer. I learned and accepted that it is okay to not
follow strict outlines.
4.

Explain how your critical reading has improved during the semester. Ex. In what ways did

you read across texts for connections and patterns in your inquiry?
My critical reading has improved greatly over the semester. I used to read a text then summarize
what I wrote. Now, I can analyze writing and look further into texts. Throughout the semester,
weve read many texts and that has helped me become better at interpreting texts. Ive learned
that it is important to question the validity of writers rather than just accepting that what they
have written is true. This was especially helpful when it came to writing my inquiry because I
had to find reliable sources. By becoming better at critical reading, it had improved my writing.
5.

Discuss your composing processes. Ex. Did you conduct additional research while revising

or after consulting a colleague? Provide at least three examples to support your assertion.
My composing processes have improved because of UWRT 1102. Throughout high school, I
rarely wrote rough drafts. I used to solely write the final copy and submit that. This class has
taught me that its important to have multiple drafts of your work in order to make it better
because even if you think your work if perfect, thats typically not the case. There is always room
for improvement. The peer critiques allowed me to revise my work multiple times and see my
work from someone elses eyes. My peers helped me add more things to my thesis, such as a
personal story or further reasoning to why I chose the topic.

6.

Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions Ex. sentence level

changes, MLA citations.

1. By peer critiquing, I feel that my knowledge of conventions has improved
because my peers have been able to point out any grammatical errors or changes I should
make to improve the flow of my writing. I have also been able to give useful feedback to
improve the sentence structure in my peers work.
2. After going to peer review and having my work looked over by Mrs. Thomas, she
was able to point out that I wasnt citing my work in MLA correctly. When I would state I
quote, I would put the entire article or book name in quotations. I thought I was quoting
the text correctly, but Mrs. Thomas taught me the proper way to have MLA in-text
citations.
3. An issue I had for a while was not explaining my quotes properly, but through
peer critique and reading They Say/I Say it has improved my writing. I know how to
respond and evaluate quotes on a deeper level now.
7.

Critical Reflection: A) Explain the importance of reflection in learning processes. B)

Explain what you think is important in providing commentary on others work and receiving
commentary on your own. C) Provide at least three examples of your nuanced use of
commentary in your writing projects.
A) Its important to reflect over your writing because it displays your growth as a
writer. You have to be able to look over your work and realize that it is not perfect.
Theres always room for improvement, so you have to be able to look at your work in a
critical way rather than thinking its totally perfect.
B) Its definitely important to provide effective commentary on others work and be
able to receive commentary on my own work. Honestly, prior to my first peer critique I
was fairly nervous because I thought my peers would bash my work. Fortunately they

didnt do that. Instead, they stated the good aspects of my writing, but also places where I
could improve such as adding more or revising certain parts. When it came to critiquing
others work, I enjoyed it because it allowed them to see things that could assist in
improving their work. Im a bit of a grammar-Nazi, so I think that was quite helpful to
my peers. I also told my peers things to add to make their writing better, such as adding
in historical context or further explaining quotes.
C) The critique I received from my peers was extremely useful in writing and
revising my thesis. When I initially wrote my inquiry proposal, I wrote it in essay form
because I was so accustomed to that form of writing. After that first peer critique, I aimed
to make my writing more personal. In high school, I was taught not to use I in my
papers. In this class, I learned that I should put my input and opinions into my writing. I
had to retrain myself how to write using first person point of view. I had to learn how to
make my writing more personal. My peers suggested I put a story of people who found
love through the internet or dating apps, so I decided to add my own story when I wrote
my thesis. Another issue I had while writing was having proper in-text MLA citations, but
Mrs. Thomas taught me the correct way.