Dear Reader,

As I entered Writing and Rhetoric this fall semester, I felt I was pretty well prepared for this course. However, I did not know what it entailed. I always did well in high school throughout all of my classes, and I graduated at the top of my class, so I was not really worried about the course being too hard. I do have dyslexia, so I was concerned about how much writing and reading would be involved throughout the course, and that aspect did stress me out and possibly being less prepared due to covid. I learned throughout Writing and Rhetoric it can be good to break away from the five-paragraph essay style that is so heavily pushed on you throughout middle and high school. It can be better to break even the same reason or supporting claim into multiple smaller paragraphs to make it more appealing to your reader. 

Just as I learned to break down paragraphs to be smaller and more appealing to your audience, the assignments in this course were always broken down nicely. Everything throughout this course was well explained and very organized. This helped me stay on task and not get stressed out about anything being too much reading or writing. From this class, I also learned how to think deeper about what the media presents to me. I learned how to think critically and analyze sources which I applied in the sociological and philosophical foundations of education class, where we would do a lot of reading and analyzing. We read many articles in my foundations of education class and would deeply analyze them to learn what the education system is truly built on, and then would have class conversations about our findings. This has helped to change my view on college-level courses. 

I have learned that when writing for a college course, you must first always understand the assignment to make sure you are on the right track. Then you need to take your time and focus on your research. Unlike high school, everything is not handed to you, so you may have to explore, and some articles you read will not always be used for your essay. The articles may not be good or related to your topic enough, or sometimes there are better options. This is why it is important not to procrastinate and focus on your tasks. 

With my major assignment, it was very helpful to print out the articles and annotate them to help brainstorm ideas and explanations. Printing them out allowed me to read the articles and look at which quotes worked the best with my thesis and annotations. I have a really hard time getting my exact thoughts and explanations onto paper, but I also have whatever I am working on written in my head. I always know what I am working toward and how I want the final product to sound. However, I need to work on a way to put my ideas into words better. This course is very helpful for a new college student. It was like a bridge into the college world where we would go over things and compare them to high school. We would get refreshers on how to do things that are the same as in high school, but we also would learn new things about what is accepted and expected in college. I still do find certain aspects of writing hard because I have dyslexia, so getting my ideas or thoughts on paper is always challenging, but this class has helped me realize not every paper needs to be the traditional five-paragraph style. Overall, I enjoyed this class and found it a nice transition from high-school writing to college-level writing. 

Sincerely,

Alyson Cresci