Kris Carlile

ENG 2010
Reflection Paper
WOW!!!

I have really learned a lot about the writing process this semester. The definition of reflection is

to look back to think and ponder. As I reflect on how my thinking was challenged, I remember

how quickly it all went. I remember the struggled to come to grips with a topic and to develop

my ideas on the page so that others could understand what I was trying to say. A very

challenging process indeed.

As the graphic above summarizes in English 2010 I was exposed to the six elements of writing

and my challenge was to engage each of these elements to capture an audience and express

my ideas clearly with substance and power.

Look at the six elements of writing and one key principle jumps out. All the elements are

interconnected. To ignore one reduces the effectiveness of all the other and ultimately

diminishes the strength of the idea trying to be expressed.

Let’s review two elements to gain a better understanding of the writing process.

Deliberation was the one element that I feel I had a strong understand of before the semester

began. I have had many opportunities to write technically so I have learned that when others

are relying on your writing in a professional setting that is imperative to think through your

message and be very clear about the point you are trying to make before you begin writing.

This is fundamental to successful writing. Some of the elements that were added in the class

that I found developed me as a writer was the peer review process. When I first went over the

lecture material, I was very confused as to how peer review would work in class. I was pleased

to find that it was an easy and very effective process. In practice we sat in a circle in class and

would pass our papers around the circle for a peer to review. We would read with a specific

goal in mind which helped me relax and focus on that goal but still allowed me to enjoy reading

the work of others. The process was so fast and furious that I didn’t have time to get tired or

bogged down in the review process. At the end of peer review the professor would have us put

key areas of our papers on the board and as a class we would work through the effectiveness

and everyone could provide feedback. I received several great suggestions during peer review
that greatly improved my writing on assignments. I really loved that area of deliberation and

hope to recapture that as I continue to develop as a writer.

If Deliberation was one of my strengths and something, I enjoyed then its fitting to end on what

I struggled with.

Contingency; to plan for future events which can’t be totally predicted. We have many very

dynamic problems in our world today. With the raise of the internet and digital

communications it can feel that there are a million voices trying to speak all at once. I have

struggled all semester with managing the needs of my audience with my own feelings about

many of the topics we have discussed in our class and in our writing. One of the questions that I

have tried to ask all semester is “how do I understand the viewpoint of that writer and relate to

there subject even through my own opinion?” As a contingency I choose a subject that was

more technical and that was less controversial because I didn’t want to be in constant

argument with others. Was this a retreat on my part to want to engage with dissenting

perspectives. I know that as I continue to develop as a writer, I will have to prepare myself to

deal with those feelings and be willing to enter the arena of public opinion in order to become

the best writer possible.

With everything I learned this semester it is always bitter to close a semester and move to new

academic subjects. It is like closing a good book and putting back on the shelf after finishing the

final line. Life may allow you to return to that book again, but it will never be the same as that

first time reading it.