1.

Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience with writing
and UWRT 1102. Consider including a video of the song. Explain your choice.
The song that communicates my experience with writing and UWRT 1102 would be
Life is a Highway by the Rascal Flatts. This song reminds me of how writing is a highway
that you could write all night long and finally reach a destination at the end of a highway
soon. For example, we did the inquiry proposal and annotated bibliographies to get to our
destination, the thesis. This reminded me of this song because we all drive the highway and
finally reach the end of it with the accomplishment of finishing a paper or reaching our
destination. One set of lyrics is, if youre going my way, I wanna drive it all night long,
and this reminds me of our conferences when people agreed and encouraged on the
strengths and your writing. I always knew that my classmates always had my best interest
in mind during peer review. Another set of lyrics is, There was a distance between you and
I, a misunderstanding once, but now we look it in the eye. This reminded me of the writing
process because, often times, I reach a road block in writing or the way I am writing does
not necessarily match up to what I was thinking it would turn out to be in the end. There
can be a misunderstanding between what you are thinking it should turn out and what
actually is the end product. Moreover, when I would hit a roadblock, I just needed to look it
in the eye with a new focus and perspective and be able to reach the end of the highway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UdZIh8_xGc
2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasize?
If I were to teach this class, I would emphasize the conferences and more process
writing. These seemed to have helped me the most in succeeding in this class. I was always
given clear feedback that I could improve on, not only in my current paper, but also in

general for other classes. I feel as though I improved a lot since the inquiry proposal and I
wish we could have done more writing workshops to help each other. I would also
emphasize the ideas of more critical reading, picking out the most important things, and
applying it to our individual papers. The book, They Say, I Say, helped me improve my
writing and if I were to teach the class, I would use more books to help the students write
their papers.
3. Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the course of the
semester using at least 3 examples from your writing. Ex: Did you shift an assignment to better
fit a particular genre like a proposal?
My understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the course of the
semester. For example, when I wrote my inquiry proposal, I wrote it more about the
content and my personal opinion on standardized testing. Im very comfortable and
familiar with that genre of writing, more of a research paper style. After peer review and
conferences, I realized it was more of a genre with questions, different directions of
research, and proposing my ideas with minimal detail. Another example of rhetorical
knowledge would be demonstrated through my thesis. This assignment was originally
introduced as a research paper so I was thinking it would be more objective with no
opinions. Through the writing process of my thesis, I was able to form a new understanding
of a genre. For this genre, I was able to incorporate my opinions and scholarly articles with
other arguments. I was able to learn how to formulate a balanced research paper with my
opinions included. Lastly, my rhetorical knowledge was changed through my daybook
entries. This was my own opinion and interpretation of the article or excerpt of a book
assigned. I had to shift these to the genre of a journal writing, that I was less familiar with,

by writing about my thoughts on readings rather than specific questions with correct
answers. I was able to share my perspective in a short journal setting with no judgment.
4. Explain how critical your critical reading has improved during the semester. Ex: In what ways
did you read across texts for connections and patterns in your inquiry?
My critical reading has improved throughout this course and was primarily
displayed through my annotated bibliographies. I had to make connections between texts
and choose my sources with the most educated and pertinent information to my topic. As I
was reading a wide array of articles, I needed to read critically to find the disagreements,
agreements, and research between all the writers. To keep my thesis balanced, I needed to
choose from several viewpoints and perspectives to ensure that this paper was not biased.
After I chose my seven sources for my annotated bibliographies, I read through each article
to pick out the most profound quotes, ideas, and summaries into a concise paragraph. This
skill taught me to decipher through to find the most pertinent information out of a large
body of writing. Another way that I have learned to read more critically is through my
inquiry proposal. People have thousands of viewpoints on standardized testing and through
my writing process of the proposal, I chose which questions that I wanted to focus and
center my paper around. I got to choose sources based on the patterns created through
They Say, I Say to show opposition and patterns through agreements. I will be able to use
these critical reading skills in future classes to choose the most important ideas to focus on
and future inquiries that I need to address.
5. Discuss your composing processes. Ex. Did you conduct additional research while revising or
after consulting a colleague? Provide at least 3 examples to support your assertion.

Composing process is one of the most important things that I learned and was able
to apply it to my drafts and final drafts. Composing processes now hold value to my writing
process and it is a crucial part of the way I develop a paper that is worth reading. My first
instance was when I had to write drafts for each of the major papers and improve from the
drafts each time I wrote a new addition. I would revise and edit each paper to make it
stronger and aimed towards the main idea. The second example of how composing
processes are important, is through peer review and conferences. I was able to get a
different perspective on my paper and understand my audiences viewpoint. My class
would give me helpful points to make my paper worth reading and I could see where my
audience stood on standardized testing. Lastly, I used composing processes by planning for
each writing workshop. I used main idea web diagrams and outlines to find the foundation
of the writing and then go into depth after each planning session. I was able to take the
information from my brain and organize it into a paper for a smooth flow of ideas.
6. Provide at least 3 examples of your knowledge of conventions. Ex: sentence level changes,
MLA citations
When I began this class, I thought that I knew everything about punctuation and
conventions but I learned much more throughout the course. After I have almost completed
this course, I was able to obtain more knowledge of conventions. For example, I learned
about how to use appositives to make a paper sound more professional and add extra
details. In my thesis, I used appositives to show the authors credentials.Through this class,
peer review, and writing workshops, I was able to learn the template of They Say, I Say.
Another example is through my thesis, I was challenged to use more transitions between
the varying viewpoints. I was challenged to provide a smooth transition into a cohesive

paper that would be understandable and get the point of my topic across. Another way, my
knowledge of conventions has improved is through my higher quality sentences. Through
reading assigned articles, I was able to replicate the level of sentences and sentence
structure.
7. A) Explain the importance of reflection in learning processes. B) Explain what you think is
important in providing commentary on others work and receiving commentary on your own. C)
Provide at least three examples of your nuanced use of commentary in your writing projects.
Reflection on learning processes are important because it shows us all the things we
have learned over a course of time and how we have effectively applied this to our life. It
shows how much we have grown as writers before a paper and after a paper. Reflections
show the writer all that we have learned and help us to understand why the process matters
in the grand scheme of things. I think it is important to provide critical commentary to
others work because we can provide our opinions as an outside reader to help them make
the paper more understandable or stronger. In addition, we can add a new perspective to
the writer to see what a reader thinks about it and how they can shift their focus. It is also
important to receive critical commentary because it demonstrates new ideas that we can
add to the paper and how we can make our paper easier to understand to someone who is
not fully devoted to the topic. They can show us areas of weakness and what parts of the
writing process that we should keep the way they are. On my inquiry proposal, I was told
that it should sound more of a proposal with questions and different directions that I could
go instead of jumping into the paper with analysis. I was able to shift the topics to more of
proposing my topic rather than trying to get my audience to understand my position on the
topic and why it matters. On the thesis, I was told that I did a great job at balancing

between arguments of my scholarly articles as well as myself. This encouraged me to keep