In reflecting on major writing assignments, students will be able to explain
course outcomes and how they have achieved them.
English 220 was full of exciting, eye-opening writing assignments about education. We had three major projects that have required us to explore different mediums and styles of writing based on our audience and other rhetorical situations assigned to the project. The first project was a formal, MLA formatted paper on one of Plato's writings. For this project, we were required to write a paper to our peers, our instructors, and anyone who this topic would be interesting that was "clear, focused, and direct." We were also required to have a media portion that would accompany our formal paper and would be "fun, creative, and expressive." Project two was a little different from project one in the fact that we were required to do a online newsletter or a blog post that would reflect our opinion about one of the three big ideas for education that Bill Clintons introduced in one of his interviews. This post was meant for the audience of our choice and was less formal than the MLA formatted paper that we had to do previously. Finally, the third project was our educational manifesto. We had to create an outline or storyboard to explain our intentions and views on education. Accompanying the outline for this project was a narrated PowerPoint or some other multimedia portion that would advertise and circulate our manifesto. This project was all about creativity. Sure, the outline was important to write but this project was our way to be expressive through a medium other than pure writing. Even though all three projects were about education, they were all different in some way. There is one thing, however, that they all had in common, which is the reflection of all of the course outcomes that were outlined n the syllabus for this class.
Analyze Rhetorical Situations
The first outcome that was laid out for us was to analyze rhetorical situations. This outcome stated that "students will analyze the subject, purpose, audience, and constraints that influence and determine what kind of document (genre) they will write." This was probably the most challenging outcome for me to grasp because of the never-ending possibilities we had to choose from. The subject, purpose, and audience were different for each project. For example, there was a very different tone in project one than in that of project tow because of the level of formality for each. In my paper for project one I write, "From the moment one is born to the moment they die, people are influenced by everything around them. From the music they enjoy, to the food they cook, to the books they read, interests are shaped, influencing the level of education and type of education that people pursue, if any at all (Losin 54)." This line is fairly formal and has a different tone than that from project two, which reads "What does this mean for the subjects that are not tested like music and history? They get swept underneath the rug." The use of slang and clichés in the sentence from project two proves that this writing was much looser than project one. The audience was the underlying reason for the difference in writing. Audience is key to the way a piece is written and presented. In the future, I know to take audience consideration very seriously knowing that it is the center for a piece to be successful. Look at who you are writing for and ask yourself "how should I speak to them?" The answer to this question and more will help to analyze rhetorical situations and get you started in the right direction.
The first outcome that was laid out for us was to analyze rhetorical situations. This outcome stated that "students will analyze the subject, purpose, audience, and constraints that influence and determine what kind of document (genre) they will write." This was probably the most challenging outcome for me to grasp because of the never-ending possibilities we had to choose from. The subject, purpose, and audience were different for each project. For example, there was a very different tone in project one than in that of project tow because of the level of formality for each. In my paper for project one I write, "From the moment one is born to the moment they die, people are influenced by everything around them. From the music they enjoy, to the food they cook, to the books they read, interests are shaped, influencing the level of education and type of education that people pursue, if any at all (Losin 54)." This line is fairly formal and has a different tone than that from project two, which reads "What does this mean for the subjects that are not tested like music and history? They get swept underneath the rug." The use of slang and clichés in the sentence from project two proves that this writing was much looser than project one. The audience was the underlying reason for the difference in writing. Audience is key to the way a piece is written and presented. In the future, I know to take audience consideration very seriously knowing that it is the center for a piece to be successful. Look at who you are writing for and ask yourself "how should I speak to them?" The answer to this question and more will help to analyze rhetorical situations and get you started in the right direction.
Find and Evaluate Information
For each project, we had to find sources to support our point of view or topic of each paper. The goal was that "students will develop strategies for their rhetorical situations, and then gather information from primary and secondary sources; they will evaluate the source for quality, validity, and appropriateness for the rhetorical situations." During this course, I feel that my research skills have become stronger. Before, I used to just google whatever topic I was researching and use the first few links if they looked okay. Now, I use so many different kinds of sources and I feel like it helps better support my ideas. Through the course, I have used academic journals, articles, blogs. videos, and more as my sources and I think it has helped to find so much more information presented in different ways. I know for the future not to just look at the simplest one to find but to dig deep and find sources that are reliable and can really be used to support my thoughts.
For each project, we had to find sources to support our point of view or topic of each paper. The goal was that "students will develop strategies for their rhetorical situations, and then gather information from primary and secondary sources; they will evaluate the source for quality, validity, and appropriateness for the rhetorical situations." During this course, I feel that my research skills have become stronger. Before, I used to just google whatever topic I was researching and use the first few links if they looked okay. Now, I use so many different kinds of sources and I feel like it helps better support my ideas. Through the course, I have used academic journals, articles, blogs. videos, and more as my sources and I think it has helped to find so much more information presented in different ways. I know for the future not to just look at the simplest one to find but to dig deep and find sources that are reliable and can really be used to support my thoughts.
Compose Documents
For this course, students were expected to "develop strategies for generating content, organizing it into a logical structure, and otherwise shaping it to address the needs of their audience within particular disciplines." Each project was composed differently and I feel that this outcome was successful during this course. For the first project, we were required to use the formal MLA format for our paper, which consists of headings with our last name and page number, Times New Roman font, 12pt size font, parenthetical citations, and a final work cited page. The second project was laid out much differently. I chose to use headers for each different paragraph and insert pictures that were relevant to the information in each. Finally, for project three, the outline was formatted similar to project two, with headers for each paragraph, but the writing was much less formal than either other piece and was meant mainly as a tool in order to create the accompanying video. The way a document is composed is all about the rhetorical factors and what kind of information is being presented.
For this course, students were expected to "develop strategies for generating content, organizing it into a logical structure, and otherwise shaping it to address the needs of their audience within particular disciplines." Each project was composed differently and I feel that this outcome was successful during this course. For the first project, we were required to use the formal MLA format for our paper, which consists of headings with our last name and page number, Times New Roman font, 12pt size font, parenthetical citations, and a final work cited page. The second project was laid out much differently. I chose to use headers for each different paragraph and insert pictures that were relevant to the information in each. Finally, for project three, the outline was formatted similar to project two, with headers for each paragraph, but the writing was much less formal than either other piece and was meant mainly as a tool in order to create the accompanying video. The way a document is composed is all about the rhetorical factors and what kind of information is being presented.
The layout for Project One (left) is much more formal than that of Project Two (right).
Present Documents
After analyzing rhetorical situations, finding and evaluating information, and composing documents, we had to present our work in an appropriate way. This course outcome reads, "students will edit and revise their writing to provide clear meaning and coherent structure; they will use effective document and paragraph structure, documentation and genre conventions, and document design to create a rhetorically complete presentation." For each project, we participated in peer review on Learn. This allowed us to get feedback from our peers and better our writings in each project. The editing process helped me to find many errors in grammar and writing style that were present and helped me to fix them in order to have a better, concise piece. Additionally, all of the projects were displayed on Weebly. There were, however, some differences in order to show the rhetorical elements in each project. The first project was presented as a document and the media portion was a Pinterest board with images that represented topics found in my paper. The second project was presented as a blog with many pictures surrounding the wording that let the reader know what information was presented in each paragraph. Finally, the third project was an outline accompanied by a video of a Prezi presentation that stated the main points of the outline. Each project had is own personality and the presentation was determined by the rhetorical factors and the way the different documents were composed. For the future, I hope to be able to use so many different mediums to present my work and make it appealing to the audience.
After analyzing rhetorical situations, finding and evaluating information, and composing documents, we had to present our work in an appropriate way. This course outcome reads, "students will edit and revise their writing to provide clear meaning and coherent structure; they will use effective document and paragraph structure, documentation and genre conventions, and document design to create a rhetorically complete presentation." For each project, we participated in peer review on Learn. This allowed us to get feedback from our peers and better our writings in each project. The editing process helped me to find many errors in grammar and writing style that were present and helped me to fix them in order to have a better, concise piece. Additionally, all of the projects were displayed on Weebly. There were, however, some differences in order to show the rhetorical elements in each project. The first project was presented as a document and the media portion was a Pinterest board with images that represented topics found in my paper. The second project was presented as a blog with many pictures surrounding the wording that let the reader know what information was presented in each paragraph. Finally, the third project was an outline accompanied by a video of a Prezi presentation that stated the main points of the outline. Each project had is own personality and the presentation was determined by the rhetorical factors and the way the different documents were composed. For the future, I hope to be able to use so many different mediums to present my work and make it appealing to the audience.
Project One (left) and Project Three (right) were presented in very different ways, either by a Pinterest board or a video.
This class was incredible and so much fun! I have learned a lot that I hope I can use in my future writing. I edited work with peers, I was able to make my writing that much better, and I learned so much information about education. What a great summer.