Series 2.

2 Reflection

Seth Puente

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

ENGL 1302-03C: Rhetoric & Composition II

Dr. Marshall Saenz

May 4, 2022
 Currently, my experience in the class has been a bit more stressful with trying to

complete the research proposal project on time and getting all my thoughts onto the page and not

experiencing the dreaded “analysis paralysis.” So far, I believe I’ve overcome the feeling for

now by just dedicating myself some hours to work on the proposal, whether at home or at my

high school campus or anywhere. Also, since deadlines help me finish assignments by giving me

a sense of urgency, timing myself to complete certain sections proved helpful and effective and

got me motivated to complete the proposal faster. I am very excited to start research into my

topic since I am a very big fan of the Music Club as music overall has been a big part of my life

and to have a club dedicated to just performing and practicing is a blessing. As for interesting

topics in this series, definitely the entire concept of a discourse community, since it’s a concept

I’ve never really heard of, and its novelty is what I find interesting about it. I’ve read the chapter

given where John Swales talks about the concept and, suffice to say, it proves a bit cumbersome

to read at times, but still interesting nonetheless. That’s likely where my original question came

about, since I was so fascinated by the discourse community concept and what could be explored

using it. My immediate thoughts led me to music and how I could work it into the proposal, and

at first I wanted to talk about the “metalhead”, a subculture of long-hair, leather, denim, ripped

shirts, and a definitive attitude. However, I quickly realized that the subculture would not qualify

as a discourse community, so I needed some other organization centered around music that

would be both interesting to me as well as have the potential to become a fully-fledged research

paper. My solution was to look back at my home campus: the A115 Band, or the BECHS Music

Club. As a member, I would have access to the inner workings of the club and be able to explore

beyond surface-level questions, perfect for a research paper. Furthermore, the interesting part of

the whole proposal would simply be that I would be able to do my project on a community I
truly connected with and wanted to learn about further. So, it became an obvious choice to

choose the Music Club, and I look forward most to simply starting the research and doing as

much as I can with it.