Arianna Alvarez

09/29/2015
UWRIT 1103-009
Midterm
My Key Concepts

When I think about key concepts, I think about ideas that are
important to extensively ponder about. The UWRIT 1103 syllabus states 10
PRACTICES AND HABITS OF MIND TO WORK WITH, which leads me to
conclude that its vital for any writing class, even more with the capitalized
letters throughout the sentence. Moreover, I feel as if I can connect to a few
of the listed key concepts and a few that I cant get used to. I will firstly
delve in the key concepts that currently challenging to me. Secondly, I will
hail the concepts that catch my engagement at lengths.
The key concepts that I find hard to grasp and to get accustomed to
are elements of getting out of your comfort zone and responsibility for your
own learning. In my first chapter of writing and inquiry, I quickly found that
it wasnt easy to get comfortable around a different realm of writing. In high
school, I was molded into a student that wrote like a textbook writer, very
structural and specific with deadlines to move on to another topic. I see that
it is not the case anymore. I am not tied to a topic, I can write freely, inquire
about an assignment, and I wont have to worry about having deadline within
a week or two. I can have my OWN voice, my voice that is not limited to

teachers perceived notion of a perfect and well-put voice. In my blog, I

stated how ones voice was important to a particular audience in the
following, ones voice is incredibly vital in order to stand out from the crowd,
to be that glittering salamander amongst the others. I hold true to this
very much and I am ecstatic about expressing my voice clearly, but its all
quite different different is good. In addition, the purpose of the class,
writing and inquiry, was a paradox to me and was definitely out of my
comfort zone. I can say that it is an adjustment that I have to make by fully
understanding the course and materials, which will take time, but will occur
by the second-half of this semester. I will do this by every project is
assigned, to fully comprehend the assignment. This leads to my struggle of
independent inquiry and curiosity. Prior to college, I didnt question
assignments and took whatever I got, made an A or B and went along my
day. In the syllabus, under courses and materials, it stated They [UWRIT
1102/1103] engage critically with the opinions and voices of others while
developing an extended inquiry project... I find this to be a struggle of mine
because of the unfamiliarity of having inquiry with other peoples opinions in
the realm of writing. I thought inquiry was only required when asked to
inquire specifically about a topic. Of course college isnt high school.
Moreover, questioning assignments will be a new task of me and my plan is
to ask myself what an assignment is asking for and what questions can be
drawn. I know it is vital to question assignments and Ill utilize this method

in the next half of the semester. In transition, these hardships will help me
become molded into a better writer and student.
Finally, the concepts that I strongly engage with are multi-modality of
print & digital texts and rhetorical knowledge. I enjoy the utilization of
technology and the internet within the confines of a writing class; I prefer the
use of digital texts. In addition, I am familiar with multi-modality and the use
of modes to enhance a paper. I prefer textual and gestural modes out of the
five, its more expressive. Also, its easier to utilize a multi-modality
perspective with digital text to provide a visual for the reader. I am
developing this key concept by my assignments, such as using a blog to
document my thoughts, essays, and visual aspects that coincide with a blog
in my UWRIT class. Also, from my blog post I stated a question that made
me think about the use technology in UWRIT in the following Is [the eportfolio] to accommodate the technological realm of academia or is it for
the purpose of creating a portfolio that is easy not just for the student, but
for the teacher? I quickly found that its true for both questions; multimodality and digital text is most useful in the realm of technology in
academia and this supports my claim. My second argument will have to do
with the world of rhetoric. Beautiful rhetoric.
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion in writing and speech; the contribution
from the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. I was taught the wonderful creation of
Aristotle during my Junior year of high school and knowing how it was so
effective with an assigned persuasive speech. The joy of it all. I learned

quickly that the senses of logic, emotion, and pity are the most vital feelings
to be evoked with the art of persuasion. I actively engage in the logos and
pathos in my essays and I am developing this practice through the
exploratory essay and further projects to represent my personal use of
rhetoric in UWRIT. The use of rhetoric is incredibly vital to an essay or
speech to captivate the reader; this is cultivated by writer using rhetorical
situation. In Who Says? The Writers Research, it states The rhetorical
situation asks us to consider the following when composing a written text:
the writer, the audience, the purpose, the topic, and the occasion. In the
following quote, I believe that this supports my argument to a great extent.
The concept of rhetoric is one simple idea that cultivates ideas into a
persuasive and beautiful product of writing.
In conclusion, my experience in UWRIT 1103 was one where I met
challenges but also discovered that those challenges would in turn become
accomplishments. I found that my engaging concepts were those that I
could utilized throughout the course and grow upon them to acquire greater
knowledge about the challenges that I currently face in the course. I will
grow into a better writer with new strengths that used to be my weaknesses,
it will be a journey but why not delve into uncharted territories.