I believe the first course outcome focuses on tailoring your composition to appeal to a

specific audience, whether the audience is at the University of Washington or not. One can adjust

the style, genre, content or other rhetorical aspect of their composition to fit the preferences of

their audience. I believe the most important part of this outcome is actually the prerequisite, in

which the composer must identify a target audience. This requires careful consideration of both

the implications and content of your text. In order to be effective, each rhetorical choice has to be

made deliberately with a clear reason behind the decision. Overall, this outcome is simply the

author adjusting to their audience’s preferences.

The second course outcome deals with synthesizing multiple ideas into a cohesive

argument. Despite contextual differences, a common thread can be found that stretches across

each text. This exploration of a variety of sources ultimately leads to a well-rounded argument,

research question, or other statement that fits within a specific theme. I view this outcome as the

most time intensive, because a common theme can be found between a large amount of texts if

one invests the proper amount of time into reading and re-reading. Often these connections are

hidden at first, but then revealed after careful consideration of the text. However, this outcome

also recognizes that some texts may not be appropriate to use or are otherwise unreliable.

Recognizing various complexities within a single argument is the purpose of the third

outcome. These complexities include opinions or evidence that may conflict with your own

argument, as they are essential for understanding the full scope of the topic. The stakes of the

argument are also considered, as well as potential implications or other action. I believe this

outcome is about understanding the full context in which your claim exists, and the multiple

points of view that require consideration. This outcome should not only consider ideas within the
discipline of the composition, but also the views of potential readers and the many ways they

may interpret the text.

Finally, outcome four is about the totality of the writing process. Composition cannot be

a one-and-done task, otherwise the elements listed in the first three outcomes will be incomplete.

Arguments and other texts must be continually revisited, in order to gain a deeper understanding

of how you can improve upon your work. I believe this outcome demonstrates how fluid

composition must be, as new perspectives and ideas are considered and incorporated into a piece

of work.

At the beginning of fall quarter, I was very apprehensive about taking a college English

class. My English classes in high school were a bit unconventional, and I had largely forgotten

the technicalities of writing. I was fairly confident in my composition skills overall, but

intentional rhetorical techniques were a foreign concept. As a result, learning about the reasons

behind specific composition strategies was a major part of my development as a writer this

quarter.

One example of this is composing with a target audience in mind. Previously, my writing

had simply been for a general audience, and I saw no reason to specify further. Identifying a

target audience for major project 1 proved to be difficult. I narrowed down my audience to

University of Washington students, but it wasn’t until I was writing the composer’s memo that I

identified a solid reason for doing this. This definitely hindered my project, as the styles that I

employed were not purposeful choices directed at my target audience. Later in the quarter, I felt

very confident identifying a target audience for major project 2. Before I started writing my

podcast, I considered the stylistic choices I needed to make to appeal to my chosen audience.

This was a big step for me, because the composition choices I made were purposeful, instead of
just “good”. As a result of this skill development, my revisions for major project 1 included

specific choices for my target audience. I believe that learning how to identify my target

audience and compose with them in mind is the most important skill I developed in this class.

One “failure” that I encountered in this course relates to the synthesis of different texts as

described in outcome two. This was especially evident in my major project one. During the early

stages of the project, when I was deciding which texts to use, I decided to focus on the readings I

felt most comfortable with. These were “Recommended for You” and “Return of the Author”,

and I identified multiple themes present in both of these texts. However, I had a very difficult

time making a strong connection between these two texts and my main claim. This was

particularly true for “Return of the Author”. Despite this difficulty, I believed these two texts

were the best fit for my argument. After turning in this project, the feedback I received also

noted this lack of connection.

This weakness in my analysis was a focal point of my revisions for major project one. I

tried to first find another thread that connected “Return of the Author” to my claim, but this was

difficult to find. The solution I chose was to make the connection between the texts more

specific. Instead of saying “author background”, I would elaborate on how reputation and

identity impact ethos. This results in shifts in culture because readers respond in a variety of

ways to author ethos. Overall, this frustration with connecting a variety of texts taught me that

specificity is key. Without clearly identifying a pattern or theme, your argument will appear

disconnected and ultimately irrelevant.

Throughout this course, I felt very confident when preparing the outline for my projects.

When I read an essay or other text, organization plays a major factor in my comprehension. I

love papers that clearly delineate the different sections of the text, what each section is, and why
it served a purpose. Because I enjoy reading papers and projects that are extremely organized, I

take care to ensure that my compositions are very structured. This structure may change as I go

through the composition process, as research often reveals information essential for

understanding my project, and therefore needs to be added into a section or paragraph. This

organization also includes the flow of my project, as I want my audience to both learn about my

topic and be persuaded by my claim. Overall, I believe that creating a well-organized paper is

one of my strengths as a composer.

One area I can, and need to, improve on as a composer relates to outcome four. I often

revisit my papers and projects to make small changes, but time-intensive revisions do not happen

often. My writing process usually begins with a detailed outline that has been changed several

times, and I then write my paper based off this. When composing, I dedicate a lot of time to my

first draft and then rarely revisit it once finished. The one exception to this is peer feedback,

which I find extremely helpful. However, revisions done by myself do not happen often. This

bad habit has been mitigated a bit by the structure of this class. Assignments such as major

project two, in which we were required to submit both a draft and a finished product, forced

myself to spend a solid amount of time editing my work. However, I need to get in the habit of

not only dedicating lots of time to my first draft, but also to block out time later to do revisions. I

believe that once I get in the habit of doing this, my papers and projects will overall be better

quality.

When I began this course, I was honestly unsure what multimodality was. After the first

few weeks of class, I began to realize that I have incorporated multimodality into many of my

previous assignments for school, but I was unaware what these techniques were called. As a

result, understanding what multimodality actually entails is my biggest takeaway from this
course. This class taught me how to make purposeful choices in my composition in order to be

persuasive and reach my target audience. Previously, I would just write an essay or complete a

project without thinking about the design, style, or other rhetorical elements that I used. Learning

the intentions behind each composition choice will be extremely helpful for the rest of my

academic career.

The most obvious connection between this class and the rest of my academic career is the

implications for my intended major, which is communications. This field requires effective

interpersonal and persuasive skills, and it is vital that the communication strategies I am using

are purposeful. I believe that all of the aspects of composing listed under outcome one (genre,

style, media, etc) are going to be essential parts of my major.

In addition to studying communication, I am planning on minoring in Law, Societies, and

Justice. Like any other liberal arts education, this minor requires a vast amount of writing. I am

taking an LSJ class right now, and many assignments have required me to analyze a group of

court cases and find a common argument extending through all of them. When completing these

assignments, I have already drawn on the ideas in outcome two. This outcome also focuses on

questions and claims related to complex scenarios, and that is almost exactly what the study of

law is all about.

In the future, I would like to conduct undergraduate research within my field of study.

This class has shown me a variety of ways in which research can be presented and tailored to

your specific audience. In another class I am currently taking, we discussed how persuasion is

essential to “hard sciences” because the way information is presented determines if people will

even pay attention to your research. I believe this class has taught me how to make people pay

attention to my future research or other project, because I understand how to format my

information in the most appealing manner to my target audience. Overall, the various projects

and course outcomes have taught me how to make intentional composition choices that result in

an engaging display of a well-crafted argument.