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Student Sample 1

CONTENTS

Reflective Argument………………………………………………………………………….pg. 2

Project 3……………………………………………………………………pg. 6

Project 2……………………………………………………………………………..pg. 10

Quote Response……………………………………………………………………pg. 13

Project 4……………………………………………………………..pg.16

Reflective Argument (Rough Draft)………………………………………………..pg. 20

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4/10/13

FINAL PROJECT

Reflective Argument

When coming from high school to college, there is this drastic transition. One of the

problems students face while coming into college level English course, is being able to

accomplish the different learning objectives given for the course. In English 1010, I have learned

what my strengths and weaknesses are in writing. The learning objectives I believe I have

accomplished through this semester is being able to write a clear and well-articulated thesis

statement, in a well-organized essay, providing evidence in a clear and logical development, also

writing well-developed paragraphs, with consistent focus, sufficient development, and logical

order of sentences, and also being able to understand what the different genres of writing are. It’s

important to know what my weakness in writing is such as improving my proofreading skills,

and grammar skills, having better editorial skills will help me later in life. Understanding genre

in writing allows you as an individual to understand what you have read about that topic. With

peer reviews and having my instructor commenting on papers has helped me so much. Having

English 1010, has allowed me to reflect on how much I have improved on my writing skills.

One of the things any type of writer or student asks while giving their paper to another

person to evaluate is can they find their thesis. Having a clear thesis allows the paper to flow

smoothly, and it’s in a very organized fashion. Therefore, when we have peer review I will ask

the person whose reading my paper to tell me if they can find my thesis. For example in Project

3, Amy commented, “This response paper is a well-thought-out, well-organized response to the

idea you highlight in your thesis and your examples are strong and transition well all the way

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through to your conclusion. Great work!” This allows me as a writer to know where I have

developed in my writing skills; also this tells me that I need to keep this skill. Therefore I

realized that having a clear thesis allows the reader to become clearer of what they are reading. If

the reader can’t identify the thesis it does make them very confused, and unaware of the reading

they are doing. Having a well-organized paper allows the reader to look for key details of where

you made grammar mistakes or such, not the way you didn’t do proper transition. Therefore

what I do to help my audience, is that I usually read the paper at least twice to see if it makes

sense to me, before actually giving it to someone to peer edit it. Maintaining this skill will not

only help me accomplish the learning objective, but help me later in life when I have to write

other papers.

In elementary school the basic thing an English teacher would tell their students is to

have an introduction, and body, and a conclusion. It is important to have these basic ideas in our

head because having a strong introduction and thesis will not get you a guaranteed A on your

paper. Just by having a strong introduction and thesis, won’t allow your paper to get an A, you

need to have support. Matter of fact when I was doing Project 3, my peer review was done by

Natalie, she said, “Yes the writer lists examples that support their thesis. Examples are in every

paragraph such as the 3rd paragraph to conclusion.” Having well-developed paragraphs allows the

reader to have a clear understanding, and be more thoughtful of what they are reading. When the

paper is supported by the thesis it not only tells you that you have a clear understanding of the

material but also you have confidence in your writing. For instance in Project 2 (Reflection),

Amy commented, “Your writing in this quote response shows *much* improvement - not only

on a sentence-by-sentence level but also with your confidence in responding to a topic/subject

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and showing your perspective through writing.” This helps me as a writer understand that as my

confidence in writing is improving it allows the paper to flow smoothly as well.

Whenever someone recommends us to read a certain book, we generally will look at the

genre that’s how we understand what type of setting or characters are going to be in it. This is

exactly how writing is, certain genres have certain type of writing. For instance in Project 2

(Reflection) I wrote comments on how I think I should improve my writing skills, however when

we went Project 3 it was a response essay, meaning not only did I have to put my opinion into

the writing but also include the author’s opinion as well. For instance for the Quote Response

Assignment, I received this comment from my instructor, “You do a great job to show not only

your personal response/ideas, but also how it relates to the text when you say "coming back to

Prensky's theory..." . When we were told to analyze a music video, at first I was very hesitant

because honestly I was more comfortable in writing my experience on something or opinion on

something. In order for me to be confident of what I was going to write I re-read a lot of the

analysis sample student papers, and then I read the RWAC analysis packet given to us, to

understand what was different between reflection and an analysis paper was. While I was doing

the rough draft of this paper it was very clear that I had trouble connecting to my audience,

therefore taking my peers comments on my paper, and my instructor’s, I decided to take some

parts out of the paper, to make it seem more clear. Whatever that you may be writing, your

imagination will definitely follow you; this allows you to create a new genre in writing.

Nobody can be perfect at everything; this goes for me as well, by the end of the semester

I have improved greatly on my writing skills however I could improve more on my proofreading

and editing skills. For instance for the peer review for Project 4, Leila commented, “You have

commas where you really don’t need them.” This is exactly what my instructor had stated to me

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when she was reading my paper, therefore I re-read my paper to understand if I needed commas,

or was it okay to leave the paper as it is. I learned through rereading the paper does help anyone

catch mistakes in their writing, and I plan on continuing this strategy so that I can fulfill this

learning objective as well.

English 1010 has helped me and has allowed me to reflect upon the work I improved

upon. It has helped me understand how I had developed my writing skills within couple of

months. Having this course allowed me to achieve the learning objectives which are being to

have a well written thesis in an organized essay, having well developed paragraphs, and lastly

being to understand genre. Surely when everyone walks into a college classroom they might

have a goal of getting an A in that course, however at the end of the day I think it matters what

you have gotten out of the course that will be beneficial later in life. I plan on continuing to strive

to achieve the other learning objective which is being able to edit and proofread, this will be a

challenge for me, however I think that is what basically life is being able to tackle your fears and

nervousness, and hoping that one day that you might just achieve what you thought was hard.

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2/9/13

English 1010

Project 3

Project 3

According to Marc Prensky, “Children raised with the computer “think differently from

the rest of us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s cognitive structures were

parallel, not sequential (from Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part П).” Prensky emphasizes

how technology has improved our daily life, and made an easier place for people to live. I think

having technology has improved, but as technology is improving we are relying on it more, and

becoming lazy.

Now these days, it is very limited that students will actually start reading from a math

book, and annotate a chapter. Due to the technology improving, there are high tech calculators

for everyone, allowing students to do well on tests. Is this really helping that child learn? For

example, one of my cousins she is just ten, she came home with her math homework the other

day. I asked if she understands the concepts gone through in class. She replied, “Well if I don’t

know how to do it, I can just put the question in the calculator and I get my answer.” Kids are

relying too much on technology they are expecting they will get a high grade because of the

reliance of it. This causes them to be less aware of the mistakes they might do on a math

problems.

When students are in a math classroom, the teacher expects the student to work slowly on

each problem to get the right result. However due to technology improving each day, calculators

have become more modern. If students fall in the trap of just using a calculator they will forget

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the “tricks” or the steps of solving a long division problem. For instance one of my cousins she

came to my house, and started complaining how she can’t use a calculator on the next test. I

asked what the problem was if she couldn’t use a calculator. She replied, “I can’t remember how

to do these problems, because I always did them on my calculator.” If a student is too dependent

upon a calculator, it is extremely hard to teach them the tricks, because it is important for them to

understand the concepts, and then as a teacher you can teach them the tricks.

Another issue that’s a rising problem is that students cheat on tests by using their high-

tech calculators. Students can store notes on the calculators, and even formulas on to the

calculators. It’s important that the student learns. If they cheat what have they learned? Students

need to realize that just by using a calculator won’t always help them in the long run, such as

even in college. Students need to understand it’s fine to make mistakes on tests. Making mistakes

will make students go back to the problem, and look for ways to solve it. If they’re using a high-

tech calculator for every single problem on the book, that student hasn’t learned anything.

When I was in elementary school, our teacher always used to give calculators, even if the

problems were easy. As I went to middle school I was able to understand the concepts and

everything that was taught in my math class, however our teacher still made us use a calculator.

You would expect a difference when you’re in high school, that wasn’t the case; we got to use

the calculators on the final! When I reached Wayne State University, I heard we weren’t allowed

to use calculators at all, not even while doing homework. This was definitely a problem for me,

because I was being dependent upon a calculator. As Mark Prensky states, “Digital Natives are

used to receiving information really fast (from Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part П).” I

had think of new strategies and ways to solve a problem without using a calculator, and I realized

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as I was making mistakes in my paper, I would always go back to them, and later on I would fix

them.

You hear on the news about how people really want a better education system. However I

think it comes to the child, who will take the effort and without using any calculator on his/her

math problem, they will be the faces of tomorrow. This shows that this child can independently

learn by himself/herself. Without thinking independently, children will have what Prensky states

“hypertext minds”, and they will definitely think differently from the people who used to do their

math on paper and pencil. This will cause a problem, when if there’s a time when we don’t have

access to technology, some students are really dependent upon the technology, it makes things

harder for them, to go back and do everything with a paper and pencil.

We have to understand that technology is a really great resource, however if we are too

dependent upon it, or we act as if we can’t live without it, then we won’t realize our mistakes.

We have to understand as individuals it’s all right to make mistakes, in fact learning from our

mistakes is a way we can move on a better way in life. Coming back to Prensky’s theory of how

children raised with computers will have a different learning process than a person who can do

math on a paper and a pencil, we have to take a stand whether it is more effective to learn by

hand or relying on technology.

Rough draft process (draft and peer review) – 10/10 points

Clear sense of purpose – Do I know to whom/what you’re responding? (Is there a clear thesis)? 20/20 points

Organization (structure/transitions) – Does the response clearly follow through on the ideas contained within the thesis? 25/25 points

Grammar/sentence-structure (mechanics) – Is the paper free of surface errors? 12/15 points

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Use of evidence from the text (citation) – Does the response use the text(s) to provide context for the response? 30/30 points

TOTAL: 97/100

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2/1/13

English 1010

Project 2 Reflection

Project 2 Reflection

Reflection is being able to look back at what I have done, and later on fixing the mistakes

so it won’t happen later in my writing experience. This is what I have learned through this

project; I always assumed that I can explain to the reader what I’m what talking about; , however

that wasn’t the case for this piece of writing. The problems I was having was were I went way

over the word count, I had grammatical errors, and I was being redundant at times. The learning

objectives states that I have to be able to edit and proofread for grammar, also I have to able to

write consistent and well-organized sentences. In order, to become a better writer I have learned

how to correct my fix my mistakes through this project.

When we were asked to read the article Brain Gain, by Margaret Talbot, at first I was

reluctant because of the length of it, but later I discovered it was a very fascinating article, and

this article had articulate details about the subject Talbot was targeting. I started annotating the

information into my notebook, and I made sure my notes made sense to me. Later in class we

were asked to give a summary of the article, within 250 words to 300 words. At first I had

trouble with the first sentence on where to begin the thought, later my partner and I came up that

we should state the article, publication, and the author. While we were continuing to do the

summary, I wanted to add certain details in the paragraph, however my partner replied, it will be

redundant, and the reader will be confused at what I’m trying to say. I didn’t first understand

what she meant by that then. When I started to read the paper out loud, I understood what she

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meant, there was were improper words used, and fragment sentences, and the paper sort of went

off track. So I have learned that reading out loud does, let me realize where my mistakes are in

my paragraphs.

As we were doing peer reviews for the essays for the articles we had do to for class, I

thought for my paper my peers would be able to understand the point I was making, I was

somewhat wrong. My peer review was done by Kim, who states, “Your conclusion is very

redundant, the words it is very important was repeated several times in the paragraph, making it

very unclear.” She comments later that due to the redundancy there were words missing in my

sentences, and that’s the reason I went above the word count. At first I really didn’t understand

her comment because I thought when I was reading the paper this sounds really good. However,

later when I tried to read, by pretending that I didn’t even write my summary, I realized I did use

“it was important”, a lot. I was shocked that I didn’t catch this at first, but then again I was

reading it too fast when I was writing the paper. In order to become a wellbetter at my editing

skills I need to take time and maintain the information slowly inside my head therefore,

everything sounds clear and smooth.

This project definitely has helped me understand at what I’m weak at and how I can

move on without making the silly mistakes again, that is reflection. In order for me to earn a

passing grade in English 1010, I need to improve my editing skills, as well keeping track of the

word count, and I have to write well coherent sentences therefore my audience won’t be lost as

what I’m saying. These are some of the challenges I will face in my writing, however I will try to

overcome them by reading my paper out loud slowly to someone, therefore they can catch the

mistakes that I don’t.

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Content: Project identifies and describes learning objective(s) as well as includes citations of specific moments/readings/etc; project reads clearly as a reflection. 20/20

Thesis: Project includes a strong thesis statement making a claim about the project and its connection to his/her learning objective(s) for the course. 5/5

Mechanics: Project contains few grammar and spelling errors 3/5Organization: Project is coherent and organized; project transitions well between sentences and

paragraphs 10/10Formatting: the project meets the requirements of the assignment, including length and

formatting (MLA). 10/10

TOTAL: 48/50 Well Done!

2/9/13

13

English 1010

Quote Response

Quote Response

According to Marc Prensky, “Reflection is what enables us according to many theorists,

to generalize, as we create “mental models” from our experience. It is in many ways, the process

of “learning experience” (from “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part П”). He continues by

stating, “Children raised with the computer “think differently from the rest of us. They develop

hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential.”

Prensky emphasizes how technology has improved our daily life, and made an easier place for

people to live. I think having technology has improved, but as technology is improving we are

relying on it more, and becoming lazy.

It is true that reflection is learning from your own experience, as well as learning from

your mistakes. Now these days, it is very limited that students will actually start reading from a

math book, and annotate a chapter. Due to the technology improving, there are high tech

calculators for everyone, allowing students to do well on tests. However is this really helping

that child learns? For example, one of cousins she is just ten, she came home with her math

homework the other day. I asked if she understands the concepts gone through in class. She

replied, “Well if I don’t how to do it, I can just put the question in the calculator and I get my

answer.” Kids are relying too much on technology they are expecting they will get a high grade

because of the reliance of it. This causes them to be less aware of the mistakes they might do on

a math problems.

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When I was in elementary school, our teacher always used to give calculators, even if the

problems were easy. As I went to middle school I was able to understand the concepts and

everything that was taught in my math class, however our teacher still made us use a calculator.

You would expect a difference when you’re in high school, that wasn’t the case; we got to use

the calculators on the final! When I reached Wayne State University, I heard we weren’t allowed

to use calculators at all, not even while doing homework. This was definitely a problem for me,

because I was being dependent upon a calculator. I had think of new strategies and ways to solve

a problem without using a calculator, and I realized as I was making mistakes in my paper, I

would always go back to them, and later on I would fix them.

Imagine if we had the northeast blackout that occurred on 2003, which happened in USA.

If this happened again, it would take several hours or even days to get the electricity back

running again. Therefore imagine the problems there will be with not only with businesses, but

as well as schools. You hear on the news about how people really want a better education

system. However I think it comes to the child, who will take the effort and without using any

calculator on his/her math problem, they will be the faces of tomorrow. This shows that this child

can independently learn by himself/herself. Children will have what Prensky states “hypertext

minds”, and they will definitely think differently from the people who use to do their math on

paper and pencil. This will cause a problem, when if there’s a blackout, some students are really

dependent upon the technology, it makes things harder for them, to go back and do everything

with a paper and pencil.

If we seriously want a word reflection written in the dictionary, then I think we should

start thinking that we can do the simple things without a simple calculator. We have to

understand that technology is a really great source, however if we are too dependent upon it, or

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we act as if we can’t live without it, then we won’t realize our mistakes. We have to understand

as individuals it’s all right to make mistakes, in fact learning from our mistakes, is a way we can

move on a better way in life. Coming back to Prensky’s theory, we have to take a stand whether

is more effective to learn by hand or relying on technology.

,Your writing in this quote response shows *much* improvement - not only on a sentence-by-sentence level but also with your confidence in responding to a topic/subject and showing your perspective through writing. I especially like the moment where you state, "We have to understand as individuals it’s all right to make mistakes, in fact learning from our mistakes, is a way we can move on a better way in life. Coming back to Prensky’s theory, we have to take a stand whether is more effective to learn by hand or relying on technology."You do a great job to show not only your personal response/ideas, but also how it relates to the text when you say "coming back to Prensky's theory..." Much of this quote response assignment can easily be turned into the first page or so of your response paper draft. Well done!-am

3/21/13

English 1010

Project 4

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Project 4 Final Draft

In the video “Born this Way” the director uses many rhetorical techniques to argue to

people that it doesn’t matter how you are born or whom you decide to have a relationship with,

you have to love and accept yourself. These techniques are color usage, symbolism, and pathos.

Lady Gaga is known for showing a different image of her than other singers. What she wears and

how she looks contributes to her image. However, this video has a different message to the

viewers. The way Lady Gaga was portrayed through the mood and background of the music that

the director wanted her to be in, can tell you the whole story itself.

When watching a music video, you would hope that you understand the concept in the

video, but with the help of color usage in a music video, you can tell the importance of why

certain color was used in certain scenes. In the Lady Gaga video, the director used different

shades of color to help explain to the viewer the point of view the director is making. As the

saying goes that the good will conquer the bad, the director definitely wanted to show this in the

video. The director cleverly depicts good and evil by using various types of color. For instance,

when the director showed the birth of evil, there was very angry feeling so the color red was

shown as the birth of the evil was taking place. Also in a scene where dancers are taking the form

of a skull, the color given to the dancers was red.

In contrast when the birth of good took place, the color pink was associated. The director

used pink lotus to explain the unconditional love and understanding, and giving, and receiving of

nurturing. The color pink also tells that there is an innocence of child within all of us. Also as

music video goes on, it shows the evil forces, by putting dull colors on Lady Gaga, as well in the

background. For instance as Lady Gaga is shown firing missiles, the background was black while

she was white. The director uses the bright colors as well as the dull colors to explain to the

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audience so they can understand and develop feelings about the evil and good. The bright colors

allows the audience to have a cheerful mood, and smile. Therefore the color in this music video,

allows the audience to have certain moods in the scenery. The director definitely supports the

theory of how you should love and accept the way you are, by using various colors to portray

this.

In addition to color, symbolism always helps to understand the significance of a certain

concept or ideas in a video. Sometimes symbolism can be defined through the use of an object,

person, or even a situation. In this music video the director makes sure the audience gets a grasp

of the idea of what he is trying to say to them by using symbolism. For instance, in the beginning

of the video there is this pink triangle pointing downwards. The meaning behind this was that in

Nazi concentration camps this sign was used to indicate the homosexual men. However at the

last part of the music video it shows the pink triangle upwards, which means the support of gay

rights. Also in the triangle there was a unicorn. In the Hebrew Bible, a metaphorical term a

unicorn is described as being wild, powerful, and fierce. That shows that it doesn’t matter how

you look, or what you want to wear even, it matters if you take pride in what you are doing. Then

the scene switches to another symbolic object, at first when you look at it seems like a uterus,

however it is actually a shape of a goat. Now you may wonder what a goat is doing in the middle

of a music video. Goats symbolize that they like to be independent, this means even if the group

is deciding to go one way the goats will follow their own mind. This is a very powerful message

the director wants to show by putting the goat in this video is that no matter how much people

neglect you. You you, you have the right to be different and you can be the way you want to be.

Then the video goes on to show the birth taking place, as Lady Gaga is giving birth to thousands

of butterflies that come out her womb. These butterflies represent that the never-ending cycle of

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life. The butterflies also tell you how much joy you have in life, to lighten up, and look for

change.

As the scene changes to show that even though that you may want everything to be

pretty and live a happy life, the director shifts gear to evil force by using a human skull, which

symbolically represents that the some people have a culture in whichthat celebrates sacrifices of

people in order to generate new life. These symbols that the director used in the music video

keep the audience engaged because the director points out that it doesn’t matter with whom you

associate, it matters that you love yourself. Therefore when people watch this they will feel

connected. Also as everyone knows that even if there is a good in something there’s also a bad

side to it. By using this technique, the director makes the audience realize it is important to

accept yourself.

Pathos is the use of emotion, or showing emotion to your audience for them to understand

for the director’s ideas. In this music video there are certain places where there is emotion is

shown. For instance in the last scene of the video it shows Lady Gaga crying, she has a gapped-

tooth, she may be crying due to the reason of not being able to fit with her group, or she may be

crying because she can’t accept the way she looks. Also the tears represent the struggles we still

face in order to become the world we need to become. This type of scene shows to her audience

that she knows how they feel when someone is made fun of, or they can’t seem to fit in, she tries

to get into their shoes. Soshoes so that the audience can relate to her as she’s crying. The director

not only explains that as human beings how much we feel neglected, but also how that we don’t

learn to accept how to love ourselves. This connects to people because almost every human

being can relate to this feeling, giving the technique of pathos a lot of power here.

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Everyone is different either by personality, looks, race, or gender. If the world had

everyone looking the same it would be very boring. This is exactly what the director of “Born

This Way”, is trying to point out. The director wants people to stand up for the way they were

born, respect themselves, and love themselves, and lastly accept themselves and whom they

decide to have a relationship with. The director uses a series of techniques to engage the

audience, by the use of color, symbolism, and pathos. With these techniques it helps the audience

understand and feel the emotion that are going on in the music video.

Intro/Thesis (Writer explains the “what” and the “how” of the visual text): 25/25

Content/Organization (Writer follows a well-organized description/discussion of each portion of the thesis; content is appropriate and on topic) : 20/25

Grammar/spelling (Paper contains few grammar/sentence-level issues; proper formatting is used): 12/15

Appropriate use of sources (Writer utilizes specific moments in the video to support the thesis; sources are used at appropriate moments throughout the paper): 15/15

Strength/clarity (Ideas are expressed clearly; writer’s tone and voice are strong and objective; the paper reads clearly as an analysis and not a response): 20/20

TOTAL: 92/100

20

4/10/13

Amy Metcalf

Rough Draft of FINAL PROJECT

Reflective Argument

When coming from high school to college, there is this drastic transition. One of the

problems students face while coming into college level English course, is being able to

accomplish the different learning objectives given for the course. into college, is being able to

meet up to the learning objectives given at colleges. In English 1010, I have learned what my

strengths and weaknesses are in writing. The learning objectives I believe I have accomplished

through this semester is being able to write a clear and well-articulated thesis statement, in a

well-organized essay, providing evidence in a clear and logical development, also writing well-

developed paragraphs, with consistent focus, sufficient development, and logical order of

sentences, and also being able to understand what the different genres of writing are the

difference of genre in writing are. It’s important to know what my weakness in writing is such as

improving my proofreading skills, and grammar skills. Understanding genre in writing allows

you as an individual to understand what you have read about that topic. With peer reviews and

having my instructor commenting on papers has helped me so much. Having English 1010, has

allowed me to reflect on how much I have improved on my writing skills.

One of the things any type of writer or student asks while giving their paper to another

person to evaluate is can they find their thesis. Having a clear thesis allows the paper to flow

smoothly, and it’s in a very organized fashion. Therefore, when we have peer review I will ask

the person whose reading my paper to tell me if they can find my thesis. For example in Project

3, Amy commented, “This response paper is a well-thought-out, well-organized response to the

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idea you highlight in your thesis and your examples are strong and transition well all the way

through to your conclusion. Great work!” This allows me as a writer to know where I have

developed in my writing skills; also this tells me that I need to keep this skill. Therefore I

realized that having a clear thesis allows the reader to become clearer of what they are reading. If

the reader can’t identify the thesis it does make them very confused, and unaware of the reading

they are doing. Having a well-organized paper allows the reader to look for key details of where

you made grammar mistakes or such, not the way you didn’t do proper transition. Therefore

what I do to help my audience, is that I usually read the paper at least twice to see if it makes

sense to me, before actually giving it to someone to peer edit it. Maintaining this skill will not

help me accomplish the learning objective, but help me later in life when I have to write other

papers.

In elementary school the basic thing an English teacher would tell their students is to

have an introduction, and body, and a conclusion. It is important to have these basic ideas in our

head because having a strong introduction and thesis will not get you a guaranteed A on your

paper.. It is important to have these basic ideas in our head; however it is important if the

introduction is being supported throughout the paper. Just by having a strong introduction and

thesis, won’t allow your paper to get an A, you need to have support. Matter of fact when I was

doing Project 3, my peer review was done by Natalie, she said, “Yes the writer lists examples

that support their thesis. Examples are in every paragraph such as the 3rd paragraph to

conclusion.” Having well-developed paragraphs allows the reader to have a clear understanding,

and be more thoughtful of what they are reading. When the paper is supported by the thesis

When the paper is supported throughout the paper with the thesis, it not only tells you that you

have a clear understanding of the material but also you have confidence in your writing. For

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instance in Project 2 (Reflection), Amy commented, “Your writing in this quote response shows

*much* improvement - not only on a sentence-by-sentence level but also with your confidence

in responding to a topic/subject and showing your perspective through writing.” This helps me

as a writer understand that as my confidence in writing is improving it allows the paper to flow

smoothly as well.

Whenever someone recommends us to read a certain book, we generally will look at the

genre that’s how we understand what type of setting or characters are going to be in it. This is

exactly how writing is, certain genres have certain type of writing. For instance in Project 2

(Reflection) I wrote comments on how I think I should improve my writing skills, however when

we went Project 3 it was a response essay, meaning not only did I have to put my opinion into

the writing but also include the author’s opinion as well. For instance for the Quote Response

Assignment, I received this comment from my instructor, “You do a great job to show not only

your personal response/ideas, but also how it relates to the text when you say "coming back to

Prensky's theory..." . When we were told to analyze a music video, at first I was very hesitant

because honestly I was more comfortable in writing my experience on something or opinion on

something. In order for me to be confident of what I was going to write I re-read a lot of the

analysis sample student papers, and then I read the RWAC analysis packet given to us, to

understand what was difference between reflection and an analysis paper was. While I was doing

the rough draft of this paper it was very clear that I had trouble connecting to my audience,

therefore taking my peers comments on my paper, and my instructor’s, I decide to take some

parts out of the paper, to make it seem more clear. Whatever that you may be writing, your

imagination will definitely follow you; this allows you to create a new genre in writing.

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Nobody can be perfect at everything; this goes for me as well, by the end of the semester

I have improved greatly on my writing skills however I could improve more on my proofreading

and editing skills.even if I did improve a lot of the learning objectives given however I think I

still need to improve my skill on proofreading and editing. This has been my weakest part of

writing so far; however do the peer reviews and the comments from my instructor I think I have

improved slightly. For instance for the peer review for Project 4, Leila commented, “You have

commas, where you really don’t need them.” This is exactly what my instructor had stated to me

when she was reading my paper, therefore I re-read my paper to understand if I needed commas,

or was it okay to leave the paper as it is. I learned through rereading the paper does help anyone

catch mistakes in their writing, and I plan on continuing this strategy so that I can fulfill this

learning objective as well.

English 1010 has helped me and has allowed me to reflect upon the work I improved

upon. It has helped understand how I had developed my writing skills within couple of months.

Having this course allowed me to achieve the learning objectives which are being to have a well

written thesis in an organized essay, having well developed paragraphs, and lastly being to

understand genre. Surely when everyone walks into a college classroom they might have a goal

of getting a, A in that course, however at the end of the day I think it matters what you have

gotten out of the course that will be beneficial later in life. I plan on continuing to strive to

achieve the other learning objective which is being able to edit and proofread, this will be a

challenge for me, however I think that is what basically life is being able to tackle your fears and

nervousness, and hoping that one day that you might just achieve what you thought was hard.

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