For the last year, writing has been something that I have been trying to improve on.

The

art of writing has caught my interest and is now something I enjoy. From writing articles and

projects, I have worked very hard in this craft. By participating in writing, things such as stories,

articles, movies, shows, and books have become much more enjoyable. When I am viewing one

of these activities, I appreciate it more because with the little experience I have I can recognize

the skill other writers who are better and more experienced than me have. Taking ENC 1101 at

Daytona State College taught me a lot about literacy. Now, taking this course, ENC 1102, at the

University of Central Florida expanded my knowledge and skills in writing, research, rhetoric,

literacy, and discussion.

The assignments and projects during this online course strengthened my ability to write.

Although it was intense in some weeks, it pushed me to try to write as best as I could, spending

quite a bit of time and putting much energy into my work. While it was difficult in some areas,

overall, it benefited me. ENC 1102 was a good kickstart for me to develop my writing even

further, which was a goal of mine.

When I view this entire course as whole, the words and/or themes that come to my mind

are “conversation” and “discussion.” Throughout this class, other students and I were given the

privilege to take place and contribute in the discussion of ideas, literacy, and community. All the

assignments, the three main projects, and the interactive discussion posts were all ways of taking

place in a great conversation whether it was with each other or academically.

The assignments that allowed me to take place in a discussion were the responses and

summaries. The Jenkins response let me have a conversation about community and the behaviors

within them. The Grant-Davie response showed me the importance of rhetorical situation and

allowed me to discuss my view and summary of that reading. Last but not least, the Stuart
Greene response showed the existence of argument and ongoing conversation. These

assignments gave me the opportunity to contribute to the discussions and conversations of

writing, literacy, and rhetoric.

The discussion posts gave me the space to communicate with other fellow students. With

these posts, we were able to engage in a more personal conversation, compared to an academic

one. The discussion posts helped me formulate ideas for this ePortfolio, main projects, and any

additional writing I had to do. I liked how this course gave us students the area to socialize and

build upon each other’s work and writing. By responding to different students’ writing, whether

in the peer reviews or discussion posts, we were able examine and kindly suggest ways of

improvement. This practice both helped me with my work and hopefully helped the other

students’ work.

Finally, the main projects of this course threw me into an ongoing discussion. The

research proposal, annotated bibliography, and analytical research essay were all a piece of a big

puzzle of conversation. A conversation that involved literacy, rhetorical situation and analysis,

forms of communication, and diverse techniques of writing. My three main projects are

displayed in this ePortfolio for your viewing. The three central projects all tied into one single

undertaking of research and analysis. Each student had to choose an online community and study

the literacy within that community. The community I chose was the U.S. Democratic Socialists

Facebook page. After reviewing many primary and secondary sources, I made an analysis of the

rhetoric, writing, and communication in my chosen online community.

Conversation and/or discussion can take place in many ways. The way the main projects

used discussion was through an academic and/or scholarly atmosphere. While it may have felt

that I was just writing a paper to be graded, in reality, it was my contribution to a world of
scholarly discussion and categories of ideas. Although my addition to the conversation was

small, it was still a meaningful action to be a part in. Through formulating my own strategies of

research, and carefully examining my sources, I was able to come to my own conclusion for my

community. Now, my opinions, analysis, and results are out there for a greater discussion.

This course immensely expanded my writing skills and showed me the importance of

discussion and even invited me into it. An outcome I’ve obtained from this class is formulating

and carrying out research and analysis. This class gave me strategies for research that I will

utilize. A personal goal of mine for this course was to get faster at writing. By budgeting my time

and orienting myself on the work I achieved this goal. I noticed how much faster I could write by

the end of the class. A course goal I had was submitting good work early or on time. While there

was some improvement needed in some area of my writing, I still submitted everything on time.

From the main projects to additional assignments, the teachings were expressed to me in

a way I could grasp them. This class brought to light the vastness of scholarly and academic

conversation. This vastness is what I hope to expose and explore in my ePortfolio. To conclude,

the lessons taught in this class and the experiences I’ve had in it will be one I always will

remember when writing.