Reflective Letter

At the beginning of this class there were goals that were set forth by my Professor that
would help us understand writing in a way that was very different than what we were taught up
until this point in our writing careers as students. I remember the very first day of class my
professor made it clear that she was going to teach us what it meant to be a good writer, she said
that there was no real way to teach us how to be a good writer because depending on our field of
study there was really no one correct way to write. Scientists write one way, the medical
community writes another way, and people in the computer field have their own way of writing.
The point was that there are many ways to be good writers depending on what you are wanting to
write. Every community has its own unique style of writing and I believe my professor was
trying to teach us how to write for a certain situation and be good writers that way. In the
beginning of the semester I was really nervous about having to write so many papers. Since then
I feel that I have improved as a writer significantly.
In my portfolio I will present to you the work I have done throughout the semester and I
will give some proof as to what goals I feel I have met and how I have applied it to my work and
what I still need to learn as it pertains to each piece of work I present. I will also give some
reflections about the assigned readings that were given to us and how we perceived them, how
they impacted us.
I feel that I have meet some of the goals in certain areas in this English course and I will
give some examples of which goals I feel I have met. First off for rhetorical knowledge I feel
that one of the goals that I met was the use of conventions of format, structure, and language
appropriate to the purpose of the written texts. In my paper for rhetorical analysis I was
supposed to present an artifact that I had obtained from the Academics Technology department
and explain how this artifact (booklet) is used to persuade people to subscribe their services. My
first draft was not that great I had not really explained how the AT department used different
types of persuasion, ethos, pathos, and logos to grabs the clients attention which was really the
main part of the paper. After I got the comments back from Ms. Frazier I practically rewrote the
whole thing. (See appendix A Example #1). I read her comments and got a better understanding
of the structure and language I needed to use to achieve the purpose of the paper which also
helped me focus on the specific rhetorical purpose of the paper which was another goal I feel I
met. I ended up getting a 95 on that paper.(Example #2). Another goal I feel I met that falls
under the critical thinking, reading, and writing is engaging in a variety of research methods to
study and explore the topics, including fieldwork as well as library and Internet research.
This goal I feel I met with two of my major writing assignments. First one being my discourse
community which required me to go do some field work and interview a manager of the AT
department (Example #3), then observe for about two hours their department and how they
communicate with each other. By doing the field work it gave me a better understanding of what
I needed to write, actually seeing and experiencing that discourse community helped me put
those experiences on paper. I also got an A on that paper. The project that required me to do
some research in presenting an argument on open source vs. closed source software. I havent
received my grade yet for that paper but I feel that my research was done well, going to the
library as well as some internet research, and my presentation of both sides of that argument was
done well. With my Entering the Discourse Project the goal of developing and supporting
an argument that is convincing to a particular audience, I feel I have met this goal by
presenting two sides of an argument with great detail and then after giving my argument and
details to support my claim. Again as of this writing I still havent received my grade for that
paper, but I feel I did well. As far as processes go I feel I have met a couple of goals there as
well. To begin the goal of writing and revising drafts and integrate feedback into their
writing I met fully. After every draft I turned in then got back with comments from Ms. Frazier I
would take into her account the comments she gave me and would revise my paper according to
her comments. As a result my papers all got good grades, As to be more specific (Example #4).
Peers reviews really helped me improve my writing. Receiving feedback from other people that
werent familiar with my writing and giving honest feedback really helped me out a lot. Finally
for conventions the one goal I feel I met partly was learning how to deploy supporting
evidence. For my Discourse Community paper one of the main weaknesses according to the
scoring rubric was lacking evidence/problematic or unsubstantiated claims. I didnt offer enough
evidence for some claims I made on that paper. I did consider Ms. Fraziers notes I guess I just
didnt follow them fully something I need to continue to work on.
To me writing will always be a learning process, there is always room for improvement
and many other goals that I can try to meet to make me a better writer. This class was a great
learning experience for me and has giving me confidence to write without fear. I feel up to this
point the grades I have received I deserve. I have really worked hard to try to improve myself as
a writer and I know I have improved greatly one of my papers even made it to the finals to be
published in some UTEP publication! In the end I wasnt picked but I still made it to the finals
and for me the gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Appendix A
Example #1

Example #2








Appendix B

Example #3











Appendix C


Example #4