Kevin Phong

Prof. Thomas
UWRT 1103
Final Reflection
1. Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience with
writing and UWRT 1103. Consider including a video of the song. Explain your choice.
A song that I believe to be the best representation of my experience in UWRT would have to be
Jump by Mac Miller. Although his music was deemed childish when he first became a blip on the
radar, Macs work has matured exponentially in his newest album G0:0D AM. The overall theme
of this song is to live life to its fullest and to take risks. This is comparable to writing in the fact
that writing is a free form of art in which the method in which you approach your statement is
entirely up to your free will. In the song, Mac also states, ... wish I knew back then all the things
that I know now emphasizing his regret for his failure to open up to new information. This
can directly relate to me as I am quite stubborn when it comes to receiving advice on a topic in
which I believe I know oh so much about.
2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasis?
If I were to teach this class, the ideas that I would put the most emphasis on are the derivatives
from the They Say, I Say text, peer reviews, the reflecting process, and most importantly the
small group conferences. This has proven to be the most useful and effective methods for me in
this class and has allowed me to better understand the concepts and advice from others, therefore
causing significant improvements to my papers. I found that the small group conferences
provided the most thought-provoking of conversations because of the constant bouncing of ideas

off of one another. In times in which I was imaginatively stuck, this granted me the most spark
for ideas to add onto my paper.
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?
My understanding of rhetorical knowledge has significantly changed over the course of the
semester mainly because of what we learned from the They Say, I Say text. My writings changed
based upon the signified audience that I was pertaining to. For example, for the first two major
writing pieces in our class, the Five Childhood Texts and the Literacy Narrative, commended a
more leisure-like form of writing as opposed to the Thesis paper or Inquiry Proposal that
required a more formal tone.
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 skills have vastly improved throughout the semester mostly in part due
to our annotations of They Say, I Say as well as breaking down the articles provided to us during
our class sessions. Although at first I had a substantially difficult time finding linking transitions
between points within my topic, my ability to find a method into flowing the points together
strengthened due to the small group conferences as I said before.
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 process consisted of conducting additional research after consulting a
colleague more so than during the revising stage. The action of having critiques and advice from

others aids in my thought process more so than trying to interpret what I need to revise on my
own. The the literacy narrative and thesis sessions in particular were the most helpful in my
papers because of the method in which we were able to comment on one anothers papers proved
to be extremely beneficial.
6. Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions. Ex. sentence level
changes, MLA citations.
Although most has been already been covered throughout out my writing career, this class
still provided valuable information when it came to knowledge of conventions. During my senior
exit project last year in high school, I struggled with properly adhering to the MLA format since I
had witnessed many others writing their papers in different methods. Another example is that I
can now properly cite my sources in my papers. This is extremely important since plagiarism is
by all means unacceptable as credit should go to where it is due. Previously, I cited my papers by
putting the citations at the bottoms of each page as well as creating the required works cited
page. Due to this course, I have realized my mistake and now cite my sources by parenthesizing
the names of the authors after I am done restating their information.
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.
The reflection process is a vital piece in the learning process as it allows for one to signal out
their flaws as well as their strengths in their work. Although deemed useless by some, just as I
have in the past, reflecting creates a stronger path moving forwards as one is less likely to make
the same mishaps within their papers. The act in providing commentary on others work and

receiving commentary on your own work is just as, if not more, important as the individual
reflection process. This provides outside views towards your topic that you may or may not have
thought of whilst writing the paper. Writing is a community in itself and this is only possible if
all writers critique one anothers work. For example, thanks to the small group conferences and
Google Docs ability to allow others to comment on works, I have instilled numerous advice
from comments for my papers whether it be going more in depth into a certain sentence or even
omitting it completely.