Reflection Cover Letter

 

During my time in the Writing and Rhetoric course, I learned that I knew much less about the technicalities and formalities writing than I had previously thought. Citations had always been a guessing game for me, and I was never really aware of why or where the differences in formatting these citations for websites versus books existed. In the class, I had access to resources that allowed me to thoroughly research and understand, rather than guess, when the time came to make citations for my papers. In a much deeper sense it taught me not to rely solely on my own knowledge, or what I thought was all I needed to know in order to write well; and that it wasn’t a sign of weak writing to reference support materials but rather would make my writing stronger. Another notable lesson that I’ve received from the class was to not make claims and statements in my papers that weren’t in some aspect backed up by evidence. Most of the time, I realized I made these big, generalized statements because I wanted my writing to be bold. Instead, it came across as amateur, a way to compensate for the fact that I wasn’t even sure what my paper was trying to say. I learned that it was okay to break these big claims that couldn’t be proven up; and that instead of making my writing more boring, it would actually make it much easier to understand and generally let my words flow better. Even further than always having evidence to support my claims, I learned how to make the evidence a part of the paper and build upon it, instead of pasting it into my document as a form of routine and obligation. 

One thing I will always be using as a takeaway from this class is using peer review in order to revise my drafts, and make the best product I can possibly make. I learned that peer review gives me a valuable insight into the perspective of my readers, and that what I may be trying to say to them can sometimes become convoluted in my writing. I found this to be the case with my partner during our peer review assignment in which we had to read our papers out loud to each other, and keep track of the guidelines with a checklist. As I read it I was able to gage her responses to see if she was understanding what I was trying to say; and if she looked confused she would ask me to review a certain passage so we could make it more digestible. So now, I’ve made it a habit to read my papers to friends, and if not them, then to myself- reading my paper out loud also greatly helps with finding those awkward places that could make my paper seem off. I feel like in terms of the clarity of my writing and my structure, I’ve improved very much through the course of the class. I see it from the first paper in comparison to my more recent work, and it makes me glad that I put my faith in the things I learned from the class. And finally, I feel that I’ve gotten a better grasp on setting the tone of my papers, as before by default I wrote in that classic stiffly formal manner that we’re taught in high school. I’ve allowed my voice to come out in my more recent writing, and not only has it improved the tone, but it’s made me actually really enjoy completing papers and reading them over. In general I’ve improved my relationship with writing for the better, and mostly I have my professor and the course materials to thank.