LEARNING LOG #7: 

Record two ah-hah moments: 2/16/21 

“. . . knowing that (more) orderly writing often emerges from a mess is actually, in a way, 
encouraging.” 
● For sure, knowing that writing comes from the messiest of drafts is 
encouraging, because then it shows how important the revision process is for all 
writers. 
“One way to say it is that an act of writing takes place not all at once but in stages.” 
● If we don’t stress about our best outcome on the rough draft, we can save that 
energy for when we have to revise it and make it take place in other places such 
as editing and revision. 
Use all eight subtopics in the article to reflect on your draft so far. Record short 
reflective paragraphs for each subtopic.  
For reverse outlining, I can review my draft in a way that scans for the flow of 
my outline. This is interesting because I am a huge fan of outlines in general, so being 
able to revise in this manner will help my draft be more structured. Even throughout 
my essay as I wrote it, I did make sure it kept in structure throughout, so I doubt 
there’s too much reverse outlining I need to do. 
Sequencing is most likely the place I need the most revision just because of how 
I always tend to spray my ideas onto a page without considering connecting them. I’d 
need to go through and make sure my evidence is being supported, that there is 
enough evidence for a claim, and that it all connects back together in a way that makes 
sense to those readers. 
Finding out what’s missing would be useful when I feel that there isn’t enough 
evidence for my claims. I could mark down the parts or that facts I use that need 
stronger evidence or more story to it. I could add more to paragraphs that lack 
rhetoric or powerful conviction as opposed to other paragraphs. I know one of my 
middle paragraphs is actually rather short. 
Writing to the side can help communication to yourself in order to work things 
out, so this would be helpful whenever I feel frustrated with an idea and should come 
back to it later. This would help me with longer paragraphs that feel so out of place 
and I don’t just immediately scrap the idea. 
Intros and outros to source material are important because I do focus on this a 
lot. I prepare for the idea of my quote instead of starting out with it right away then 
explain the idea I derive from the quote in an explanation twice the length of the 
quote. This will prevent plagiarism of ideas as I build o on my own rather than 
consistently rely on those I’m writing from in evidence. 
Returning to reading material can help spark new ideas for my paper, I know as 
I reviewed some of my sources I came up with new ideas to use in my rhetoric. Finding 
specific details to larger points can help writing become more complex. The depth of 
my paper can be increased with this strategy. 
Step away, and getting feedback is the number one thing that improves my 
essays the most. Hearing feedback from others really gets me thinking about things 
about my draft that I really need to work on or didn’t consider. I always trust the ideas 
of others to help me out to make sure my essay makes sense. 
Finesse what you got. You don’t have to always add or take away to e ectively 
edit but improve upon those strengths in writing. For me, I usually make things really 
wordy but if I finesse what I got, I can make lots of adjustments to those weak areas I 
already know I have anyway. In my letter I didn’t have enough personal experience so I 
feel like I need to add more on that end. 
LEARNING LOG #6: 
Record two ah-hah moments: 2/10/21 
“Even if you’re not writing a research paper, you still generally have to figure out new 
things to complete a writing task.” 
● Even with new kinds of writing or ones that require no research, presenting 
new information is important. So in any kind of writing, research is important 
to be e ective! 
“In this process, we produced three distinct drafts, but each of those drafts represents 
several di erent ways that we made changes, small and large, to the text to better craft it for 
our audience, purpose, and context.” 
● Di erent kinds of drafts are created in di erent ways through editing, revision, 
and the first draft. It’s really important to break apart the revision process since 
it’s crucial to the final draft. 
What’s your weakness as far as the recursive process? How can you turn it into a 
strength? 
My weakness is definitely the revision process. I can turn it into a strength 
however if I push past the inconvenience of rereading and read it aloud. This way I 
become more familiar with my text and how I can better adjust it. I can turn it into a 
strength by having someone else read it and rewording my sentences, especially when 
it comes to di erent tenses which I tend to get mixed up with all the time. 
LEARNING LOG #5: 
Record two Golden Quotes from the article: 
“To increase the chances of our message being heard, we’ll need to consider our purpose, our 
chosen audience, and our context as we write.” 
 ● We need to increase the quality of our writing in order to be heard and 
considered, especially when presented to a specific audience. We must be 
uplifting and heard! 
“We listen to the conversation for a while, we do our research, and at some point we give 
voice to our message.” 
● We normally make choices while we’re writing in response to anything, such as 
an opinion, prompt, or a form of entertainment. Either way, the quality of our 
writing must be filled with great understanding of our topic and research. 
What are five strategic choices that you will make for your upcoming open letter? 
Use the subtopics in the article to focus your ideas. 
I will take a moment to write an outline of my writing that addresses all my 
main targets I want to fit. I’ll communicate my opinion with text and message. Filled to 
the brim with quality content I research. Then I’ll continue to deliver appropriately as 
the author. I’ll always keep in mind who I’m writing too when I go through the essay. 
I’ll make sure I never stray from my main purpose and have good context and 
understanding of the situation revolving around the topic/content of my essay. 
LEARNING LOG #4: 
Record two Golden Quotes from the article: 
“ e Smart family, with extended kin, refused to let the lack of developments silence media 
coverage. ey started a website to serve as a resource for the investigation and provided 
media with home videos of Elizabeth as a child and teenager.” 
● No matter what, there will be a time where writing becomes essential. Where 
writing is so crucial that it will save people. 
“ is same story dynamic is a fundamental component of any method we use to understand 
our world: from journalism to gossip, in history and religion. Unlike life, stories present 
clear meaning.” 
● We need to see how real life is and how much there needs to be a focus on it. 
What in your opinion makes the Elizabeth Smart story so universal and long-lasting? 
I think what makes Elizabeth Smart’s story so universal and long-lasting is the 
fact that she was one of the few abducted children ever to be found. It was so unique to 
see how active her family was in trying to search for her. Her story impacts so many 
people 
As she pushes for a call to action and does all she can. 
LEARNING LOG #3: 
Record two ah-hah moments: 2/1/21 
“Being a good citizen, in other words, can actually help you get a higher GPA and be a more 
attractive candidate to not only prospective employers, but also to transfer institutions if 
you plan to pursue additional education after your current degree.” 
● So writing itself can be used as service opportunities for the better of others! 
Just like when that one girl’s friends wrote an article to defend her sexual 
assault case. 
“Many of your professors will support the idea that you can use college writing assignments 
to create texts that will help communities change for the better.”   
● So on top of using writing for service, service can in turn benefit us as a student 
and help us succeed more in schooling. 
Write a paragraph explaining this opportunity: 2/1/21 
I think the service opportunity I’d engage in is with the foodbank or making 
creations for people. I genuinely enjoy doing service with the foodbank anyway and 
have been doing many hours of it during the summer as well. It makes me feel 
genuinely great since I spent time with my Mom helping others in need by directly 
giving them food. I know making creations brings out my artistic side of things and 
helps me learn some useful skills as well. I’d like to travel to Mexico and teach English, 
serving my Mom’s mother country. I’d love to teach them to play the piano and do 
more dental clinics. 
LEARNING LOG #2: 
Record two ah-hah moments:  
“A genre is a typified utterance that appears in a recurrent situation. A genre evolves 
through human use and activity to be a durable and usable form for carrying out human 
communicative intentions in fairly stable ways.” 
● Genre is a bit more complex than I would’ve thought. It evolved in all of our 
kinds of writings besides simple novels or short stories where I normally think 
of genre to be in. 
“But the writer also—perhaps in minuscule ways—might adapt and reshape the genre, 
which potentially shifts the genre’s stability.” 
● Genre seems to be so limited in how the writer can write, so it’s common to see 
a writer push past those boundaries of a fantasy genre for instance and try to 
come up with a way to reshape it or add a sci-fi aspect to it. 
REFLECT on the many definitions of the word genre. Do you feel that genre makes 
your writing robotic? Yes / No. Explain 
 I feel like the first idea of genre to me does make my writing robotic especially 
when we have no say in what the genre can be. Of course it depends on the genre we’re 
asked to write in as well. Overall I think it does make it feel robotic for the most part 
unless the genre is exciting for a story of sorts. 

LEARNING LOG #1: 

Record two ah-hah moments:  
“In each example above, language is generative—it creates something. In one instance, it 
generates a way of understanding, and thus a way of interacting with an individual or 
group and their beliefs.” 
● Generative was a weird word to hear, but it seems like language is a creative 
type of concept used in writing. It builds up the basis of your argument in a 
crafty and e ective manner. 
“Working with language is di cult and it’s messy. It’s a skill you have to learn and practice; 
rhetoric gives you a framework to make that process easier.” 
● It isn’t an easy process to work with language and make it express your rhetoric, 
I’m a victim of such a process. However with revision and continual practice, 
most can crack it up well. 
Is grammar important today? Explain. 
Yes it is, as tedious and picky as grammar can mostly be, it’s necessary in 
understanding the context of a situation. Bad grammar can insinuate one thing when 
the person who says a phrase really means something else. Grammar is important in 
everyday speech and proper communication in any field. 
Blankenship and Jory state that “language is di cult, and it’s messy.” Explain. 
Language is very complex and hard to understand, so that’s what makes it 
messy especially for those who don’t study through it thoroughly. It needs a 
framework in order for us as writers to understand how to describe what we wish in 
our works. Without it, a freestyle becomes very challenging.