Chandler Mitchell

Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1103
March 30, 2016
SLO assignment
Much of the work I have completed this semester has dealt with either one or
more of the SLOs as defined by the course. Along with this, completing these
assignments has helped me to gain a better grip on some of the SLOs and helped
me to further improve the SLO skills I already had.
For the SLO of rhetorical Knowledge there are many examples of assignments
that have contained this SLO. The best example of this in the course so far would be
the multimodal remix, not only did I have to understand what the writer was saying
and how the authors style affected what I got from the piece, but I also had to
understand that the choices I made as a writer affected how a reader would
interpret my material. This would also determine what a reader would gain from my
writing. If I were to write my material from a different perspective or focus on a
different subject with the same topic it would affect each reader differently. Those
who are interested on the focused topic will be more likely to gain useful knowledge
and insight from the piece and possibly enjoy it as well. While those who have no
interest on the focused topic may or may not gain anything from the reading or see
the points made, they may pick out something completely different than that of
which was intended, but this goes for both situations. All in all I have learned that

you need to try and adhere to your target audience and keep them in mind while
writing, if you have no target audience though, go at it.
Critical reading was probably one of the most important SLOs of the course so
far. It was involved in almost every assignment. This SLO was included in writing,
reading, and reviewing papers. For writing papers Critical Reading was useful for
revising your work and picking apart what works and what doesnt, along with what
flows and what becomes a jumbled mess. You also use critical reading for
determining if you can clearly see the point you are trying to get across to the
reader. Ass for reviewing, you as the author may not catch your own mistakes. It is
always best to have a second pair of eyes and a second opinion on your work. Peer
response (critical reading) helps for the author to obtain an outside perspective of
his/her work and apply that feedback to improve the product or even revise or
refocus on a new topic based on what the reader gained from the piece. Lastly, for
reading this SLO is extremely important. Critical reading came in handy for
assignments like the multimodal remix. When reading articles and pieces of writing
it is very important to analyze the work and pick it apart to determine if the source
is legitimate and contains the information you want. Critical reading also comes in
handy when picking apart the source to determine what is simply the authors
viewpoint and thoughts vs what is true. The truth always gets obscured by opinion
and ones personality which flows into their writing style. It cant be helped but it
can be detected and picked apart. Although facts are important, being able to
detect an authors viewpoint or perspective is very beneficial in the way that it
allows you to see the material, situation, topic, etc. from their point of view and
then analyze that point of view and hopefully add or integrate it into your own and
at the least understand the viewpoint. This analyzing and reflection falls more under

Critical reflection, but I think both Critical reading and reflection go hand in hand,
when you do one you do the other. If you read your text and break it apart you
usually think of ways to improve or fix parts of the piece, when doing this you are
reflecting on your past work and using that reflection to create a more improved
piece of writing. This is seen in pretty much anything you write and look over to
improve, so anything with a rough draft falls into this category automatically.
Although not my favorite SLO and not the highest on my list, composing
processes is still important. Understanding your writing process and how you work
will benefit you when embarking on a big project. For example, when I began
working on the multimodal project I knew that my writing process involved
gathering all my information first before starting anything else. So when deadlines
were due for drafts and finals I made sure to collect all the information, research,
and resources I would need for the whole process. After this I came to understand
that I am a do it at the last minute person, its just how I work. Over time I have seen
that when I span a project out I get bored and lose interest and give up halfway
through the assignment, but when I wait until I have 2-3 days left (depending on the
size of the project and course) I put maximum effort in and create a higher quality
product than if I had done the project over a large span of time. Knowing this has
helped me to prep everything I will need in order to do this. So knowing your
processes and how you do things is extremely important.
Knowledge of conventions is important so that you know when and when not
to use eloquent words vs slang or informal speech. For example in the multimodal
remix it would be ok to use words such as yall or other intermediate slang because
although it is a project, the presentation methods included informal modes such as
a video, music, etc. it was not a traditional paper. Now, for assignments such as a

traditional essay about the holocaust formal writing would suit the mode much
better just as informal writing wouldnt get you anywhere with a scholarly article. If
anything an informal scholarly article would doom your article from making it past
or even to the editors from the start. In this way it is extremely important to know
when and when not to use formal or informal writing or even a mix of the two.
Meeting these SLOs hasnt been too tough. Honestly, anyone who has been
writing for a considerable amount of time has already subliminally beat these SLOs
into their head without even knowing it. Whenever you start a piece you have
learned to consider who you are writing the piece for, what kind of diction to use,
and to revise your paper multiple times to analyze, pick apart, and eventually
improve the piece by building onto the ideas you have already put down. Just these
processes alone include all of the SLOs in some way. The critical reading and
reflection are used for revising and adding to the piece, the conventions and
rhetorical knowledge are used when beginning the piece and while writing it as well,
also including any research or reading done. Lastly, composing processes is used
because you know your process, you know where to start and how you will generally
go about completing a piece. Although there is much room for improvement I feel I
have always had a good grasp on these concepts. Even saying that, I have greatly
improved my skills with these SLOs and I have gone from subconsciously
committing these acts to actively thinking about and applying these SLOS. I have
noticed that my writing has improved and my awareness of how I write has
increased as well. No matter how long you have been writing you will always be
learning more about yourself and the writing process in general.