Lesly Cardenas

Instructor Dubey
Writing 39C
April 30, 2014
Comp 1 Self Reflection
1. Your Composing Process
1. Explain what you have learned about the process of generating a research-based
composition.
I learned that the process of generating a research-based composition was harder than I initially
believed it to be. I believed that the paper would include adding statistical facts and then
connecting it to a problem. I thought of it more as a non-fictional report that tied the pieces
together. Instead, the paper was a detailed and analyzed piece that included a problem and how it
tied in to government affairs, social injustice and environmental injustice. I learned that just
because there is a problem, does not mean that it is automatically going to get fixed.
2. How did conducting research throughout the drafting process help you to make
decisions about the organizational logic of your compositions and essays?
While conducting research, I mainly focused on the major effects that LAX air emissions was
having in the vicinity. So naturally, my approach was to add the information I had first received
in the beginning and the latter information towards the end. Because of my method I had to
revise my thesis a couple of times.
3. Explain how your process of writing drafts, source evaluations, annotations and
revising evolved over the past 4 weeks. Did you become more effective at pre-writing
tasks?
Initially the evaluations and annotations helped the process of my draft. They helped remember
what each source I used had information on without having me go back and reread the entire
thing. Revising the written drafts is what helped me the most in the process however because it
helped me realize what information I still needed and so I would look for more sources. I have
become more effective at pre-writing tasks. In my first annotated source, I took about an hour to
complete; In the second, I took 10 minutes to complete.
4. Have you experienced moments when the light bulb suddenly illuminated? Can you
explain why and how this happened?
I experienced the light bulb moment a couple of times while writing this essay. It occurred
whenever I found a nice statistic and then I immediately relate back to my topic and think to
myself how perfect the information fit together by itself. It was in the points in which I felt that I
finally figured out the puzzle and all I had to do was show how nicely everything tied in
together.
5. Use specific examples from your COMP I project to illustrate your growth and
rhetorical awareness.
I began writing only about how the air pollution around LAX affected the asthma levels in
neighboring cities Hawthorne and Inglewood. However, at that point I realized I had no
information on why this predicament occurred. So, then I added how the problem was in those
specific vicinities because that is where there were many people of low-income and they were
treated with social and environmental injustice since they could not afford to leave the area to
cleaner air or afford health care costs for asthma treatments.
2. Rhetoric, Argumentation, & Multi-modal Communication
1. What have you learned about argumentation and persuasion through the process of
generating a multi-modal composition?
I have learned that in order to make a convincing argument, logic is not enough. Sometimes
people need to be able to see the progress of a problem through diagrams or a chart to relate
more to the topic.
2. Explain how creating a multi-modal composition helped you to articulate your
arguments and understand your ethos as the author.
The multi-modal aspect of the composition helped me illustrate differences between the past and
now. For example, I showed the major growth of LAX by including pictures of it from 1930 and
2014, showing the transition from an air show field to the 6th busiest airport in the world.
3. Use multimodality in the essay to demonstrate your argument--this may include
screen shots of notes, outlines, revision plans, peer review feedback and office hour
notes.

3. Revision
1. Explain the steps of your process of revision. How big of a role does revision play in
the process of researching and generating and discovering arguments?
I began with my thesis. I searched for a problem in the Los Angeles area, which resulted with air
pollution. However, my topic was too vague and so I focused it on LAX. Then, after research I
concluded that LAX promoted many illnesses and decided to list them all. In the end, I only used
one illness and decided to list more than one problem/cause of LAX pollutants.
2. Explain how you benefitted from feedback from your teacher and from your peers.
They were able to spot grammatical mistakes that I could not in my paper. Furthermore, they
noted the weaknesses in my drafts so I was able to have a clear focus on what my paper needed
help on.