A Reflection on my Compositional Development

In the Spring semester of 2021, I feel I have learned so much about writing, composing,

and even presenting. In the past, I have never been a particularly strong writer, and as such

greatly preferred non-traditional methods of presenting writing such as PowerPoint, Prezi and

more. I also historically have struggled with both a lack of direction, and a lack of information to

draw from, both skills with which this course has helped immensely. The facets which I believe

helped me the most though were learning about and implementing planning, genre/medium, and

rhetorical devices.

Prior to this course, I was not a very avid planner when it comes to essays. Informative

essays I would create a very strict plan for, with a thesis for each paragraph and supporting

details I wanted to mention in each body paragraph. However, for investigative essays,

argumentative essays and more I would do little to no planning. The implementation of

brainstorm outlines in this class has helped that aspect of my writing immensely. For the first

project, I elected to write the first 1000 words instead of a brainstorm outline, thinking that it

would be much more helpful to me given my past writing style, and while that may have worked

for the investigative essay using a brainstorm outline for my rhetorical analysis (as included in

this portfolio) really opened my eyes to the positives of clear organization and how much it

helped planning my composition, especially one as multi-faceted as project 3.

Learning about various genres and forms of writing media was probably what broadened

my horizons the most out of all I learned in this class. In the past, I viewed writing entirely as

essays, scholarly articles, magazines/newspapers or more artistic forms such as poetry. However,

in learning about genre compositions I was surprised to realize that there is much more to writing

than words on paper. Written graphics such as infographics, PowerPoints and billboard
advertisements also use many of the same techniques and concepts as more “standard” writing,

and even speeches and presentations such as TED talks are a form of writing. With such a variety

of options available I felt I could much more accurately present information and target specific

audiences.

Learning about rhetorical devices paired extremely well with the insightful dive into

genre compositions and alternative forms of writing. Going into the course, I knew basic

rhetorical devices such as allegories, similes and metaphors but I had never heard of ethos, logos

or pathos before as well as many more rhetorical terms introduced in this course. Developing an

understanding of these devices and practicing implementing them into various genre

compositions left me feeling much more confident in my ability to write with a purpose,

something I had hardly considered in the past.

Developing skills in planning compositions, what genre to compose them in and what

rhetorical devices could help with this goal helped me make a significant amount of progress as a

writer, which I think will serve me will in not only the rest of my degree but also in my future

career. Some of the highest-demanded skills in the computer science field include project

management and communication, both of which this course helps with in many different ways.

These two especially are something I don’t think I will ever stop using.