Gretchen Gilbert

Mrs. Kusinitz

Writing 104

24 January 2018

Reflection

As E. Shelley Reid wisely stated, “writing is hard” (Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric

Musings for College Writing Students 3). The ability to effectively convey information that adheres to the

writer’s intended purpose or message is often more complex than what is initially thought. Humans have

recognized the infinite powers in good writing and placed importance on this skill. This is why “challeng[ing]

one’s knowledge and practice of writing, as well as your understanding of yourself as a writer” is the intended

goal of this course (Writing 104: Writing to Inform and Explain, Course Description). Through this course, the

hope is to be able to master multiple skills involving writing. I feel as if my demonstration of these

improvements has been shown throughout my writing and knowledge in this course and others. Therefore, I

have established appropriate command in regards to writing effectively and aquiring information literacy as

deemed necesarry.

By completing the four major projects in a manner that met “expectations for focus, development,

organization, and coherence,” it enabled me to exhibit my enhanced ability to effectivly write. Specifically

within my memoir, I took the initial feedback from my teacher and peers, in order to clarify my intended

purpose within the story by reorganizing, and revising. In an introductory activity, I assessed my areas of need

in effectively meeting all the requirements of the rhetorical situation. One that I listed was, “making sure my

purpose is clear and has meaning. I often get lost in a piece and need to make sure my purpose is evident”

(Gilbert, Personal Learning Plan). As I accurately recognized, the reflective aspect within my memoir was

unclear to the reader as Mrs. Kusinitz stated, “Are you feeling pressured by your parents or by your own
uncertainty (both)?” I clarified this by revising my piece and adding internal dialogue; “​I really just don’t know.

Am I supposed to believe in God?” ​(Gilbert 2). Through the addition of these subtle lines within my memoir, I

was able to make my purpose transparent and sharpen my skills. From this process of peer-feedback, I was able

to revise and rework the peice to ultimately create a well-developed memoir.

Also involved in the process of peer-feedback was editing. From multiple of my classmates I recieved

some kind of indicator that the word “Wednesday” needed to be capitalized in my memoir. I was ignorant to the

fact that the names of days were in fact proper nouns and needed their rightful capitalization. Accordingly, I

stated in my Personal Learning Plan from the beginning of the year; “I have never been very proficient in the

use of grammar or punctuation” (Gilbert, Personal Learning Plan). While seemingly insignificant to the entireity

of the piece, I learned that this is minor detail does matter to a reader as it may distract from the meaning of my

writing or diminish the ethos that I am trying to establish as the writer. However, through the process of

peer-feedback I avoided this ghastly mistake and am now more cautious and attentive to these minor

discrepencies.

Correspondingly, I have met the reader’s needs for “citation” within in each of my pieces (URI Learning

Outcome 1). In my investigative report, when addressing a study done by the American Psychological

Association, I not only is it listed in the works cited in proper MLA format, but the study was further discussed

with factual information and people involved in the study. This exspanisive citation contributed to the reader’s

comprehension of where the information came from, and applied to the genre of the writing while maintaing

proper English conventions. These same skills were applied throughout the investigative report and the

remaining projects as well. In the past, not all of these boxes may have been ticked for me when adressing one

reference. Often times I did not provide such an extensive citation nor elaborated on the source of information

and would merely state the fact. By providing much more information on a source, it further establishes ethos

between reader and writer.

 In my profile, I was tasked with creating it on one of my classmates, Alivia. Initially, the task began by

conducting research. Some of my initial interview questions were not on par with the task that I needed to meet.

Questions such as, “What was your experience in Celf like?” did not invoke the insight that I needed to gain

about my subject. So I began exploring the unknown aspects of Alivia by prompting question such as, “What

approach would you take to solving the hatred in the world?” and “How would you describe the state of our

nation?” By asking these types of questions, I was able to understand her perspective, which is ultimately the

most telling about a person. Through this research, I synthesized and analyzed Alivia and made the deduction

that she was a “silent leader” in our school community. Through this, I was able to create a holistic piece of

writing that provided an explanation to an unexplored side of Alivia. I was able to take this lesson I learned in

conducting research to the investigative report project which also required gathering of primary research such as

interviews.

Besides gathering research, another requirement of the investigative report was that it had to be

collaboratively written with two other partners. This meant that even chosing the topic we would write about

had to be chosen as a group. The task was to identify a problem within our school community. As a group, we

pondered many topics yet finally decided to focus on stress in teenagers (with a focus on juniors and seniors)

and the various causes/effects of it. We found this topic to be relevant in all of our lives, and from our own

experiences knew that it was a laregly an unaddressed problem occurring at our school. We figured that we

could bring some insight to our peers and to ourselves of where exactly our stress is coming from and why it is

happening so much. But we also wanted to know the ways in which it effected the body and mind for teenagers

as well. In our conclusion we even posed ways in which to relieve stress which could enlighten readers ways to

manage their stress properly. Arguably now more than ever our peers needed to here this topic being talked

about because stress reaches unhealthy levels in teenagers and they are unaware of the effects.

While writing the investigative report, it was during the revising and editing phase that I recognized a

claim that was made in our writing that needed added support. The statment in our report reads, “In order for a
student to pay for their education, it is almost impossible to avoid taking out loans and having to pay back their

student debt later on in life, when they have other expenses such as a house or family.” This mentioned topic

was not the focus of our piece, merely a source of enhancement or support to bring to light the amounts of stress

in teens lives. Yet when I read this sentence over in a reader’s perspective, it appeared that this claim needed

more substance to it in order to resignate and make the intended point. So I conducted more secondary research

and found evidence to support the claim. I added to the report: “As reported by ​Forbes​, in the United States

alone, the total combined student loan debt is 1.31 trillion dollars.” In my Personal Learning Plan, I listed being

able to identify where support is needed for their claim as a strength of mine as exemplified. However, I think in

this situation helped further my knowledge and practice of this skill because this particular project was

collaborative and I did not write that claim. Because of this, I was able to take the perspective of the reader and

identify it in other’s writing, not just my own, which is something that is often much harder to do for me.

Throughout this process of writing the investigative report and profile, many times I used phrases that

identified attribution. For example in my profile, I attrubted Alivia’s opinions to herself with phrases such as,

“she stated”, “she explained” , “Alivia believes” and many more. Also within my investigative report, phrases

such as “as reported by” and “Alexandra Ossola from ​The Atlantic​ stated” were used to attribute these words or

pieces of information to the correct people/places. This is something I did not understand coming into the

course. In regards to idenifying attribution, in my Personal Learning Plan I stated, “I’m not sure what this

means or what context this is in.” Now, I fully understand the importance of identifying attribtuion in good

jounralism and am able to employ it within my own writing.

Additionally, through this same report, tons of secondary research had to be done on our chosen topic.

For me, all of my research was solely aquired online. This meant I had to navigate databases and search

engines. Some databases that I found particularly useful were ​Askri ​and the URI database provided to students.

Both of these allowed you to type in whatever topic and would provide scholarly and worthy reponses in forms

of letters, articles, stories, or any medium of writing. This is a tool that I learned was available and used
indefinitey more times than imagined during this course and many others. I also learned through this course that

databases are a great tool because of their the quality and legitamacy of information provdied from them and the

ease in using one.

While databases are undoubtly a reliable source, I learned ways to ensure that other web pages found

through search engines are legitimant and safe to use in writing. Before entering the Writing 104 course, I had

never heard of the CRAAP test. In my intial statement made in my Personal Learning Plan, I stated, “I have

never done this before.” Through this course I was not only able to learn what it is about, but was able to apply

it to sources I was using for my reports. By applying the CRAAP test to any source, it ensures the validity of the

information being provided. I did this to each of my sources that I chose for my annotated bibliography and

investigative report. This is a skill that I have already began applying to other areas of subject when gathering

research and will continue to use in my future classes.

Once I got the sources I needed for the report, I had to cite them properly. As shown in my annotated

bibliography, I learned how to produce works cited pages in the two most common formats; MLA and APA.

Prior to beginning this course, I was vaugley aware of other formats besides MLA. MLA has been the format

that has been taught to me since freshman year of high school. So learning that APA is predominately used in

college was surprsing. However, I am now prepared to meet this task in the future as I am now aware and able

to produce a citation in APA format. Through this course I also succesfully completed my first annotated

bibliography. In the past I have only made works cited pages but with the addition of the annotations, it

provides insight into the usefulness of the source and what it is providing towards your report which becomes

even more essential when conducting more extensive research projects.

Throughout the course of this class, I have provided sufficient evidence of my growth as a writer. By

completeing these four projects, I have learned and obtained innumerable skills that I did not have before. As

outlined by URI, the ability to write effectively allows me to reach the minds of readers as I intend to in a

concise matter. Additionally, the appropaute usage of information within writing is essential to establishing
ethos with the reader while upholding proper writing etiquette. By mastering these essential skills designated by

this course, I ultimately gain the power for others to better understand my cognition and my character. In

gaining this, I make it easier for shared meaning in our society and which is essential to living in harmony and

not always easy. Although “writing is hard”, it is something that is proven to be necessary in our evolving

society.