DISCIPLINARY LITERACY REPORT: STUDENT REFLECTIONS

Table of Contents (hyperlinked)

Reflection Excerpts Regarding:.................................................................................2

Pre-Writing and the Writing Process......................................................................2
Performing and Writing Up Interviews..................................................................2
Visual Rhetoric and Design....................................................................................3
Writing for a Designated Audience........................................................................3
Peer Review............................................................................................................3
Self-Discovery through Writing.............................................................................4
Complete Reflections on the Overall Experience of Completing this Assignment:. 4
Reflection Excerpts Regarding:

Pre-Writing and the Writing Process

B. P.
I learned from this project that drafting and brainstorming help for the final draft.
The brainstorming I used was taking notes during class for the ethnography and the
actual interview for the profiles.  I had my ideas on paper and I just had to form
them into actual pieces of writing.  I learned that if I have information on paper,
instead of just in my head, it is easier for me to write.  I will probably start
brainstorming before I write any paper.

M. E.
I learned that the writing process should be taken step by step. Instead of focusing
on making each paragraph, it is better to focus on the paper as a whole. Writing the
whole paper in a roughcopy and then revising it is more productive than editing
each paragraph before writing the next.

C.C.
Personally, I enjoyed writing my disciplinary literacy report. When I first heard
that this paper was supposed to be about ten pages long, I was very concerned.
Luckily, breaking the paper up into multiple parts allowed the assignment to be
manageable and reasonable. Adding pictures and other graphics to the paper
definitely improved my opinion of the quality of the assignment. I really felt like I
accomplished something.

Performing and Writing Up Interviews

C. C.
My favorite part of the assignment was the professor interview. I learned a lot from
Dr.Frederickson, and I can’t wait to take one of his classes in the future. I also
learned quite a bit from my student and practitioner interviews.

M.E.
The most interesting part of this project was that I got to meet professionals in my
field. Having the chance to interview people, who are in the same field as me, gave
me a new perspective of the field of dietetics. I learned about my field’s
challenges, benefits, and requirements. Overall, it was intriguing to be able to
picture myself in five years from now being in the same place of people I
interviewed.
Visual Rhetoric and Design

A.W.
From the disciplinary report I learned a lot about formatting. I explored different
ways to format text and images in a word document to make it look more
appealing. Your feedback was much more helpful for me in improving my report.

Writing for a Designated Audience

K. S.
The most beneficial part for me in writing the disciplinary report was adapting to a
new audience. Generally when I write an academic paper, I am writing for the
teacher and occasionally to my peers. In this writing assignment we had a very
clear audience and we knew exactly what they needed to get out of the assignment.
To me, this assignment seemed more real and relevant than other assignments I
have done. If this were to actually go to students interested in my discipline, it
would actually do some good and would help them confirm or change the direction
of their life which is way more interesting to me than just writing a research paper.
I liked the real aspect of this paper the most and how it had potential to be life-
changing for someone else.

I learned through this writing process that I am very good at addressing my

audience. I think that is a very important skill in life but especially in my major as
a graphic designer. I have to know who my target audience is and what they want
to get out of my design.

Peer Review

D. F.
Peer reviews were extremely helpful. I think that it was nice how you required us
to do one or two together to make us comfortable with each other and after that we
took it upon ourselves, I know that I did get a good amount or review on my paper
from S. and R. Overall, I totally approve of this project because it set me off in
the right direction and I feel a lot more informed and confident on where I am
heading at Purdue.
Self-Discovery through Writing

S. L.
Because of this paper, I now know what I want to do with my future and that
makes me even more ecstatic about this past project.  The part that helped me the
most was having the two separate papers to compare mine to; it sort of gave me an
idea on what mine should be like and gave me a good place to start.  I don’t believe
there is anything I would change about this project.

Complete Reflections on the Overall Experience of Completing this

Assignment:

R. G.
In writing this paper I learned a surprising amount about my major and myself.
When I began this assignment I had only ever written one paper that involved an
interview and that paper did not emphasize the interview very much. After I had
written the profiles required, it gave me a lot of confidence that I could learn to
write in different ways more quickly than I had ever thought. In high school, every
paper we were required to write seemed to blend together as if they were all the
same thing but with a slight change in topic. This whole disciplinary report was
new to me. I also felt like this was a more practical document. Memoirs and
narratives are great, but as an engineering major I highly doubt that I will be
writing many of those. This assignment made me feel more comfortable with
writing a professional report.
The most interesting part of this project for me was the observation of a class.
As much as I really didn’t want to do it in the beginning, it ended up being very
enlightening. As I said in the ethnography I enjoyed the class very much.  This was
definitely a surprise for me since I expected to not understand anything that was
going on in the class. This was not the case at all. It also gave me something to
look forward to as I progress through my major. Hopefully there are more classes
like that as I progress because at the moment my engineering classes are boring.
As far as suggestions for this project go I don’t really have any. I think it did
exactly what it intended: get students to examine their major. It definitely did for
me. I really did appreciate the deadlines being more of guidelines since I had so
much trouble getting my interviews set up. I am not usually someone that misses a
deadline but in this particular project it just got away from me. It was nice to know
that I would still have a chance to catch up.
E. T.
At the beginning of the project, after perusing the sample reports, I felt that this
project was going to be difficult to complete. It was long, and the sample reports
looked very professional, as if they put hours and hours of work into it. At first I
was wary about completing 3 interviews because I’m a shy person and it is hard to
hold a conversation when I don’t know the person who I’m talking to, but at the
same time I was excited to have the chance to get other’s opinions on Civil
Engineering. In a nutshell, I was both nervous and excited to complete a
disciplinary report.
I started with the mini-ethnography because I knew I could observe the
classroom well and because I’ve had some experience with upper level classes.
This was the easiest task because I felt the most comfortable while doing it. The
interview with the professor wasn’t bad, surprising to me. After I initiated a few
questions, she would start asking me questions about myself, which loosened up
the atmosphere and made it easier to have a simple conversation, which made it
easier to get good advice and feedback from the professor. I think I completed all
the interviews well, despite being somewhat scared at first when thinking about
having to do them.
It was very easy to write my observations, and to describe each interview. It just
made sense in my head as a traversed through the conversations, and it flowed onto
the paper well. The structure I used described the style of the interview and how
we flowed through it.
I’ve learned that to write the best, you need to write many rough drafts. It is the
easiest way to have others interpret your tone and voice in your writing, which
makes your final draft great. It is also beneficial to take time while you write;
rushing to finish a paper makes it worse. One key trick I’ve taken from this project
is to just write. As long as you have words on the page, you can edit something,
which will help start an idea, which leads to a full paper.
Next time, I would give the students more time to complete the interviews. It is
difficult to schedule with so many people, so it is hard to have the interviews done
and ready on a certain date. It was great having so much class time to work on the
final project, which I think made the final product that much better. I really like
this project, and it makes you think about your major and your future, which is
something every freshman or sophomore should do.