Victory Lap

Here's Looking At You, Kid!

Reflection on Open Letter Draft

When You Feel Like a Badass

Jones, Donnie Ray "Whooooaa Dada!" (10/3/2014) via Flickr
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I reviewed Ann Emilie's Draft, and she reviewed mine. Her comments were very helpful and constructive, and I will make good use of them. I will also answer some questions that will help in my revision process. Overall, I received a lot of support and seem to be heading in the right direction!

Did you demonstrate an ability to think about your writing and yourself as a writer?
Yes, I did, but I needed more examples to really give my audience some context.

Did you provide analysis of your experiences, writing assignments, or concepts you have learned?
Sort of, I had left out a lot of actual experiences and assignments as references, but I had a good description  of the concepts I have learned.

Did you provide concrete examples from your own writing (either quotes from your writing or rich descriptions of your writing process)?
Nope, I need to go back and do that.

Did you explain why you made certain choices and whether those choices were effective?
Yes, and no. I need to include more evidence to make it clear.

Did you use specific terms and concepts related to writing and the writing process?
Yes, I used quite a few writing terms, but I may need to include more concepts.

Draft of Open Letter

The Terrifying Draft

Hamburg, Monica "Black Magic Curse Letter" (5/4/2011) via Flickr. Atribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License

Hello  peer reviewers! Please feel free to tear this thing apart grammatically, structurally, and thematically. I would love feedback about organization, specific sentence structure, flow, and the overall status of my draft. Thank you!

Here is my draft.

Reflecting More on My Writing Experience

Thinking More about My Writing

Uguen, Gwendal "People who don't use their heads... don't need them..." (2/28/2011)
via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License

In this post, I will be thinking more about my writing experience by answering the following questions.


1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?
I mainly had issues managing my time this semester, which negatively impacted my writing process. I would end up not doing anything until the day of the deadline, and cramming every step into one 12 hour stretch where I was fueled by sleepless delirium and caffeine. One other huge challenge was family illness. Over the course of the semester, my boyfriend, father, and grandmother were all in the hospital or needed multiple surgeries. I definitely threw schoolwork by the wayside a lot so that I could be there for my family.

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time managment, writing and editorial skills?
This semester has really made me suck it up and organize how I use my time instead of procrastination. It's not easy, but it pays off in the long run. In a similar vein, I realized that writing is made easier if I spread out the steps of creating a final product. I now have a pretty set order of processes that I go through when I write, and that system has given me more control over my writing. Previously, I would barely edit between rough and final drafts, and even then global revisions never came across my mind. Now I realize that rough drafts are meant to be torn apart in order to make them the best they can be.

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.
Exploring different groups of writing styles has been extremely beneficial to my writing. Looking at different styles and formats of writing has opened up my perception of how I can convey information. Analyzing genres has shown me a world of potential platforms and audiences to access and appeal to. For each genre that we've explored, I have had to take into consideration its specific rhetorical context and conventions. I have had to learn conventions on my own. This has prepared me to be a flexible and diverse writer. I have become comfortable with conveying ideas in many formats, and this will serve me well in the future.

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?
I have honed and discovered many skills throughout this course, but there are some skills that will really benefit me for years to come.

• Learning genre conventions
• Thinking about writing process
• Time management
• Analyzing ideology
• Thinking about how a text is rhetorically situated
• Responding to peer work
• Understanding rhetorical strategies
• Planning / outlining a project
• Analyzing audience
• Research strategies
• Using technology

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H?
My most effective moment was when I was working on Project 3. For these deadlines, everything this class has taught me really came together beautifully. I got most of my blog posts done early because I scheduled them. I went to office hours and made multiple revisions to my project. I was done with my project early, and was able to give extra peer review to someone. Getting all of this done really made me realize that what I've learned has really helped me, and will continue to do so. I also had a huge feeling of accomplishment. I have succeeded in fighting of my procrastinating ways!

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H?
For my first project, I got just about everything done late. For the final deadline, I stayed up late into the night the day before, and the day of. I barely got everything done in time. I was physically, and ideologically confused. I had no clue what I was doing even while I was doing it, and I really just pulled it out of my ass. As soon as I submitted it, I collapsed onto my bed and passed out. That feeling of helplessness, confusion, and exhaustion was definitely my lowest point this semester.

Revisiting My Writing Process

What the Hell was That?

Goehring, David "Shock-ed" (1/19/2008) via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License

After reading my first two blog posts, I realized that I've grown a lot throughout this course. Looking back at my almost childish approach and style of writing, I was quite shocked, and a little embarrassed... Here's how I have become better!

Writing Process

• Then vs. Now
• This course, and college in general have slowly molded me into a different kind of writer over the semester. While I may still approach my writing in an easygoing manner, I have definitely cultivated a more rigid and outlined process for my writing. 
• While I certainly still procrastinate, it's a planned procrastination - this simply means that I construct my essay bit by bit. I will outline one day, create a rough draft the next, edit the day after that, and then polish my work on the last possible day.
• I still consider myself to be a heavy reviser, but I have increasingly gained the traits of a sequential composer. I tend to plan out my projects much more than I used to, which makes the revision process much more bearable than it used to be.
• One very helpful development is that outlining really makes me decide just what I want to write about and how. It also allows me to organize my thoughts based on how much evidence I actually have for my argument, which has definitely saved my grade and my purpose on multiple occasions.
• Looking to the Future
• I think that over time my writing process will become more structured and easily replicated. I seem to be moving towards staggered steps of writing to ease the mental burden of writing an essay.
• This system will be crucial in approaching my Honors Thesis. Without a clear approach, my thesis would be worthless, and by breaking it into more manageable pieces I will -hopefully - be able to maintain my sanity.

Time Management Habits

• Then vs. Now
• This semester has been a compilation of tough love learning experiences for me, and under pressure I have been able to tackle time management. I got a planner, and although it took me a while to perfect this concept, I wrote in it and looked at it almost every day, which really helped my organize my priorities and tasks for both school, work, and myself.
• My old 'system' was to try to keep everything in my head, and guess-timate my schedule. Now I actually use my planner, and write almost everything I need to accomplish in a day down.
• Looking to the Future
• Hopefully, I will be able to look at and write in my planner daily. Ideally, I'd look every morning to get ready, and keep it with me throughout the day. Right now I'm moving towards that ideal, but for now I will do my best to keep myself on the right page.
• These planning skills will really help me prioritize tasks not just for my library career, but will allow me to navigate my years of schooling ahead to achieve that goal.

Reflection on Project 3

A Look Back at My Revision Process

Crossett Library "ThINK: Books and Tattoos - Katie" (9/19/2011) via Flickr
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After publishing Project 3, I'm going back and taking a look at my revisions from draft to draft and how my revisions process affected my final product. I'll be answering some questions about revision and how this process changed my drafts and my writing identity.

What was specifically revised from one draft to another?

• Each revision of my draft contained both local and global changes. I would change sentence structure, sources, and even add more context.

Point to global changes: how did you reconsider your thesis or organization?

• I ended up changing and refining my organization each time I revised, partly to fit the genre, and partly for just plain clarity. I ended up giving a lot more context to convince readers than I had initially planned on, but I do think it will end up working better for me than less.

What led you to these changes? A reconsideration of audience? A shift in purpose?

• Throughout, my purpose has remained the same, but I have had to put a bit more emphasis into convincing my readers that Book Banning is still a problem than I had anticipated. To make an effective argument, my purpose - my solutions - needed to have something to actually solve, or my text would be pointless. This created the need for more context.
• Somehow I had begun to create fairly large paragraphs, when my genre tends to keep them smaller and organizes them differently. This led me to re-organize and cut some material to be more in-line with an op-ed and keep my argument coherent.

How do these changes affect your credibility as an author?

• By giving more context and concrete examples of book banning today, I appear to be more knowledgeable and correct. Without that evidence, my argument and credibility would be much weaker.
• By fitting into my genre and having a well-organized article, I will come across as logical and my readers will appreciate the easy to read layout.

How will these changes better address the audience or venue?

• More context and better organization will make the audience's experience of reading my text more enjoyable and effortless. These will also help my article fit in on its venue, and make my audience think more critically about what they need to do and why.

Point to local changes: how did you reconsider sentence structure and style?

• I had much fewer issues with complex sentences getting away from me in this project. I only had to make a couple sentence structure changes for clarity. I mainly tweaked my word choice and hyperlinks.

How will these changes assist your audience in understanding your purpose?

• Sentence clarity will make it easier for my audience to understand why I even have my purpose. Word choice will convey the right tone to convince my audience that something must be done. Hyperlinking can help to give examples of why we must do something, and examples of what we can do.

Did you have to reconsider the conventions of the particular genre in which you are writing?

• I definitely had some trouble with the conventions for hyperlinking, but I realized that pushing my genre a teensy bit for the sake of style is perfectly okay.

Finally, how does the process of reflection help you reconsider your identity as a writer?

• This exercise has made me come to realize that my writing and revision process has changed drastically since I bean the semester. I have become less of a procrastinator, and have been spreading out my writing and revising in time. I revise more than I did before, and I actually think I am getting better at revision because of reflections and peer review.

Publishing Public Argument

My Proposals Eat Yours for Breakfast

SS&SS "(YES SORRY FOR USING THIS ONE AGAIN) BUT IT WORKS WITH WHATS POSTED BELOW"
(1/31/2011) via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License

Here is my Public Argument! Below you will find a measure of how well I think I did.

1. Mark with an "x" where you feel your target audience currently stands on the issue (before reading/watcing/hearing your argument) below:

←----------------------------------------------------|------X-------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

2. Now mark with an "x" where you feel your target audience should be (after they've read/watched/heard your argument) below:

←X---------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

3. Check one (and only one) of the argument types below for your public argument:

         _______ My public argument establishes an original pro position on an issue of debate.

         _______ My public argument establishes an original con position on an issue of debate.

         _______ My public argument clarifies the causes for a problem that is being debated.

         ___X___ My public argument proposes a solution for a problem that is being debated.

         _______ My public argument positively evaluate a specific solution or policy under debate (and clearly identifies the idea I'm supporting).

         _______ My public argument openly refutes a specific solution or policy under debate (and clearly identifies the idea I'm refuting).

4. Briefly explain how your public argument doesn’t simply restate information from other sources, but provides original context and insight into the situation:

5. Identify the specific rhetorical appeals you believe you've employedi n your public argument below:

Ethical or credibility-establishing appeals

                    _____ Telling personal stories that establish a credible point-of-view

                    __X__ Referring to credible sources (established journalism, credentialed experts, etc.)

                    __X__ Employing carefully chosen key words or phrases that demonstrate you are credible (proper terminology, strong but clear vocabulary, etc.)

                    _____ Adopting a tone that is inviting and trustworthy rather than distancing or alienating

                    _____ Arranging visual elements properly (not employing watermarked images, cropping images carefully, avoiding sloppy presentation)

                    __X__ Establishing your own public image in an inviting way (using an appropriate images of yourself, if you appear on camera dressing in a warm or friendly or professional manner, appearing against a background that’s welcoming or credibility-establishing)

                    __X__ Sharing any personal expertise you may possess about the subject (your identity as a student in your discipline affords you some authority here)

                    __X__ Openly acknowledging counterarguments and refuting them intelligently

                    __X__ Appealing openly to the values and beliefs shared by the audience (remember that the website/platform/YouTube channel your argument is designed for helps determine the kind of audience who will encounter your piece)

                    _____ Other: 

Emotional appeals

                    _____ Telling personal stories that create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    __X__ Telling emotionally compelling narratives drawn from history and/or the current culture

                    _____ Employing the repetition of key words or phrases that create an appropriate emotional impact

                    __X__ Employing an appropriate level of formality for the subject matter (through appearance, formatting, style of language, etc.)

                    _____ Appropriate use of humor for subject matter, platform/website, audience

                    __X__ Use of “shocking” statistics in order to underline a specific point

                    __X__ Use of imagery to create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    __X__ Employing an attractive color palette that sets an appropriate emotional tone (no clashing or ‘ugly’ colors, no overuse of too many variant colors, etc.)

                    _____ Use of music to create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    _____ Use of sound effects to create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    __X__ Employing an engaging and appropriate tone of voice for the debate

                    _____ Other: 

Logical or rational appeals

                    __X__ Using historical records from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    _____ Using statistics from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    _____ Using interviews from stakeholders that help affirm your stance or position

                    __X__ Using expert opinions that help affirm your stance or position

                    __X__ Effective organization of elements, images, text, etc.

                    __X__ Clear transitions between different sections of the argument (by using title cards, interstitial music, voiceover, etc.)

                    __X__ Crafted sequencing of images/text/content in order to make linear arguments

                    __X__ Intentional emphasis on specific images/text/content in order to strengthen argument

                    _____ Careful design of size/color relationships between objects to effectively direct the viewer’s attention/gaze (for visual arguments)

                    _____ Other: 

6. Below, provide us with working hyperlinks to THREE good examples of the genre you've chosen to write in. These examples can come from Blog Post 11.3 or they can be new examples. But they should all come from the same specific website/platform and should demonstrate the conventions for your piece:

Just a warning: I changed from an editorial to an op-ed piece (they share the same conventions, but the NY times just happens to only write editorials through a board).

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