ENG/110 v1

Writing Decisions – Reflection

Activity
1. Based on what you learned during this course, what genres do you recognize that you
use personally, in your career, or college writing? Explain your response.

I see myself following the likes of J.D. Salinger, notable for writing The Catcher In The Rye,
which was a very influential book on my teenage years. There was something about the
bluntness of his prose that felt like he was just speaking his mind. I feel that same sensation
when I read my writing. It felt very much like a blog in that I was just sharing for the sake of
sharing. But I also realized just how much social media had influenced my views on
sentence length and spelling mistakes. I was making way more mistakes than I otherwise
would have made had I been more interested in completing an actual journal entry rather
than just complete an assignment.

2. What audiences do you think you will primarily address in your academic and
professional careers? What types of writing (genres) do you feel will be most appropriate
for these audiences? Explain your response.

I think my audiences are far smaller and would be dealing in far more esoteric material.
Computer science isn’t a field where writing is especially emphasized for syntax and diction.
But I suspect that the audiences I might write for would be people interested in the topics I
deal with or my fellow coworkers. The topics that come up in computer science, however,
are slowly creeping into the everyday zeitgeist, and there’s an increased demand for
educating the general public on this young subject.

3. What was your favorite written work you created in the course and why? Include a
quotation and/or description from that written work in your response and indicate which
assignment it is from.

Going back, the first week’s entry was rather sloppy, and that’s why it’s my favorite.
Rereading it, I felt a series of strong emotions. I had no purpose and no intent behind my
writing. I just wrote down what had happened that day and that was it. I almost wish I could
go back and slap myself because it feels almost annoying how apathetic I was to the whole
thing. It’s not that I think I’m a bad writer, but rather, a lazy one. This never seemed to bother
me until this class. I realize now how easy it was to get lost in a train of thought and to just
let the words flow out of you. That assignment, as difficult as I admittedly made it out to be,
was the cornerstone for me to actually think about writing more.

4. Why might your favorite written work from this course that you identified in question 3 be
effective for your readers? What skills or strengths did you demonstrate in writing it?

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How might you apply skills/strengths like these to other writing contexts?
Enter your response here.

I don’t think it’s helpful for my readers as much as it is helpful for me. I’m realizing my own flaws
from that first written work and knowing that I was that bad at writing was such a necessary kick
in the butt to get into gear and write with purpose. I think the skills I developed as a result were
in realizing how many different ways you can rearrange a sentence and end up at the same
message or simply change a single word and have a completely opposite meaning. So much
human communication is evoked when we’re in person, and that’s a difficult feeling to bring
about within your written material. Learning from that embarassment was the best lesson I could
have gotten. Writing is about making mistakes first, finish writing, then go back and fix
everything.

5. What patterns did you notice in the feedback you received during this course? Does the
feedback tend to focus on audience, genre, structure, content, language, voice, or
grammar? What feedback meant the most to you? Share or describe the feedback. How
might the feedback help you improve your writing?

I thought the feedback was more focused on generating the content in the first place, and I found
that that was always the biggest hurdle for me. I always felt like the prompts were sufficient
enough for you to explore ideas, and in that space, have the freedom to pick and choose
whatever you wanted. Especially during the discussions, I remember reminiscing about Kony
2012, and it was fascinating to spend the time revisiting the original video, rewatching and even
calling up friends to talk about it. I think encouraging people to seek topics that they enjoy talking
is more important than audience, genre, or structure could ever be in an online class.

6. As you consider the feedback you received about your writing during this course, what
are 1 or 2 skills you want to improve upon as a writer? Why are those skills important to
your development? How might working on those skills help you with personal
communication during your college or career path?
Enter your response here.

The biggest skill I want to improve upon is figuring out how to best phrase the ideas coming out
of my head. I have a horrible habit of rambling in my descriptions, only to end up with a dozen
sentences that could have been summarized into one. That skill was what made Heminway so
potent as a writer. Words that wasted time were words not worth keeping around in a piece of
writing.

7. Select 1 paragraph from 1 assignment, journal entry, or discussion post you wrote during
this course. You might choose something that relates to a writing skill you want to
develop. Provide that paragraph in the space below and include the assignment it is from.
Identify the writing’s intended audience, purpose, and the genre (form or type) you were
creating. Explain how this selection represents your identity as a writer.
Enter your response here.

A good social media post must make you feel like you're learning something. If it offers
entertainment or news that you're interested in, and the satisfaction is gained from having acquired it

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in a space where you now want to spend most of your time. A good social media post is effective
when it can hold your attention and make you forget you're on a social space that is constantly
monitored. Avoiding boredom is essential as well, and the general attitude online offers more insight
as to how other people are reacting as well, which can be encouraging or discouraging.

8. Using the paragraph you identified in question 7, complete 1 of the following:

a. If you discover through this assignment that your work is proficient and you want
to further challenge yourself, rewrite the paragraph to address a different audience
and see how your language and style change as a result.

For a social media post to be considered impactful, it must demonstrate a few key
characteristics. The most important characteristic is the audience watching it. If the
audience is not right for the post, it will simply be ignored. However, if a post is shared by
a close friend that you trust, it can hold more weight, because it was recommended to
you by someone that you hold in high regard. This transitive property of social media
seems to work in rather well, as the assumption that Friend 1 enjoyed X, thus Friend 2
might also enjoy it is generally how social media posts work. Other characteristics
include the subject matter of the post, the larger geopolitical picture at the time, the
emotional state that the content is watched in, etc.

9. Compare the paragraph you selected in question 7 to the revised paragraph you wrote in
question 8. What did you consider as you made decisions about what to change or how to
revise?
Enter your response here.

I believe the biggest difference in the new paragraph is that I attempted to demonstrate the
characteristics that I noticed within the subject matter. Discussing Week 3’s topic on genre’s and
social media made me realize just how I was duped into following along with Kony 2012. The more
time I spent with the material in my mind, the more it became clear what was going on. Facebook
was young and social media didn’t hold nearly as much weight as it currently does now. The worst
part about it was realizing how valuable the episode was for my impression of marketing and
influencing people around you.

10. When your instructor shares feedback on this assignment, what would you find most
valuable to help you strengthen your writing skills or craft? How do you believe your
writing has changed throughout this course?
Enter your response here.

I want to be given a bigger challenge. This class really pushed me out of my comfort zone and I
want to know how to keep pushing it. Writing has turned into a skill for me now, and I don’t think I
want to lose the enjoyment. Even reading material I wrote 4 weeks ago was enjoyable, and it makes
me realize just how important writing is for my future happiness and memory. To have my thoughts
down on a piece of paper and to have an understanding of what crossed my mind is an incredible
gift that I only waste when I’m being lazy. I have a lot of bad habits when I do write, and they
seemed to come . Often times, it’s just the poor use of grammar and spelling, but other times I
realize that I’m just talking in circles when I think I’m making a good point. I would love to fix that.

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