Sophie Friauf

Writing 2
Elica Sue
9 March 2022
End of Quarter Reflection Letter

I have crafted two writing projects this quarter that encompasses how I have learned and

grown as a writer. These two writings show my interest in helping others, especially those with

disabilities. When it comes to research, I have always been into research on disabilities because I

think there is a lot we do not know and a lot we can do for those that do live with a disability. I

also took research about disabilities and translated them into more casual conversations. My first

writing project was a blog post about teaching students with mental disabilities using music. I

researched music therapy and its use of it in classrooms and turned it into a teacher writing a

blog post. For the second writing project, I used four academic articles about how best to teach

writing to students with learning disabilities and created a group chat message among all four

authors. I translated these scientific articles into a text group that was a lot more digestible for a

casual audience. The audience is a huge part of any paper as it will not just be me reading my

work (Irvin, 2010, pg. 7). The website I am posting both these writing projects to says a lot about

me. While helping those with disabilities is a passion of mine, so is surfing and film

photography. You will notice the backdrops for my website are either me with a surfboard or a

nature photo taken by me on 35mm film. I wanted this site to capture who I was this quarter, as a

writer and as a person. I learned that writing is a process and nothing is ever perfect. I tend to be

a perfectionist to a fault so this was a learning experience for me. I also rush to get things done

and the writing process taught me to slow down.

The writing process had a full effect on my writing projects this quarter. I had to make

many changes and drafts to both of my writing projects. I changed the fluidity of my writing

project 1 as it felt very stilted and not smooth. It had the necessary information but lacked good
transitions and fluid sentences. It was mostly structural changes that were important to crafting a

better reflection of my writing project 1. I also wanted to continue workshopping my thesis. In

the past, I tended to lack a strong thesis and I wanted this to be present in my writing. This was

similar to changes in my writing project 2 as I wanted the research question to be very clear. I

had to change the way I asked my research question so it was not so vague in my introduction

response. I did not include an actual question so I rephrased the introduction and included the

question “I was wondering for my students with learning disabilities, what’s the best way to

teach writing?” (Friauf, 2022, WP2) to highlight just exactly what the researchers were

researching. I learned to be clear about what I am writing. This goes for all my classes as I need

to address my audience and provide a clear direction in my paper. The language I chose was also

direct to get my point across to a particular audience (Boyd, 2011, pg. 90). I have grown as a

writer through my peers and having them review my paper. This is where I got help with my

thesis and introduction sentences. I learned it is helpful to have multiple people read your paper

so it is a conversation rather than a monologue. This was my biggest epiphany as I usually write

a paper and never really look at it again. Having to go through the process has helped me with

papers for other classes as now I ask for help rather than taking all the work upon myself. It’s

okay to ask for help which is honestly a lesson for life as well.

When asking for help throughout this class, I realized my weaknesses and strengths as a

writer. The comments I got back on my work had a theme and I could pinpoint what I needed to

improve on. For example in my writing project 1 I started a paragraph with “I had many

concerns…”. This introduction sentence had nothing to do with the last paragraph. The

paragraph could have been a different essay for that matter. Instead, I changed the opening

sentence to be “With the academic article being very scientific, I had many concerns with the
translation as much had to be altered” (Friauf, 2022, WP1). This way I am relating to the last

paragraph by talking about how the article was scientific and difficult to understand at times. I

become impatient and tend to jump straight to the point of the paragraph instead of easing in.

I’ve always done this in my writing so I am still working on writing good connective

introduction sentences. I think I showed this progress in writing project 2. This is an example of

one of my “texts” from a researcher responding to other researchers. He said “I see what you two

are saying… I think both can apply to college students with disabilities as well” (Friauf, 2022,

WP2). This line addresses the two points above it and then inserts his idea after. This is a good

example of my improvement. I’m hoping this can become a new strength. A strength I feel like I

have had is the way I go in-depth and fully explain my point. I did a good job in WP1 and WP2

going into detail and elaborating. I have grown since my free-write on the first day. I started with

really choppy sentences and no transitions. After working on both of those things this quarter, I

think my free-write today would be very different.

I think a lot of my work would continue to be different if I had more time in this class. I

found the research part of this class beneficial for all of my classes. Deep diving into academic

journals has made approaching them in any class less intimidating. By understanding different

genres, all of them become easier to connect to (Dirk, 2010, pg. 259). But that's also something I

am very proud of. My blog translation for writing project 1 is my favorite writing piece I did this

quarter. It showed how I learned to understand academic articles and essentially put them in my

own words for a broader audience to understand. This felt good to do and was also a great way to

understand the article. My blog sounds like an actual blog and yet is informative.

With my writing project 1 and 2 and all the improvements I have made this quarter, I

think I deserve an A in this course. I invested in the writing process and took the time to cultivate
great pieces of writing as well as essential writing skills. I grew and invested myself in this class

as a writer and student.

Works cited:

Boyd, Janet. (2011). Murder! Rhetorically Speaking. In Writing Spaces: Readings on writing,

Volume 2. Parlor Press.

Dirk, K. (2010). Navigating Genres. In Writing spaces: Readings on writing. Parlor Press.

Friauf, Sophie. (2022). Autism and Music Therapy. UCSB Writing 2 Project.

Friauf, Sophie. (2022). Teaching Students with Writing Disabilities Group Chat. UCSB Writing 2

Project.

Irvin, L. L. (2010). What Is "Academic" Writing? In Writing spaces: Readings on writing. Parlor

Press.