Shayla Pink

UWRT 1102
Thomas
29 November 2015
Final Reflection
1. Choose a song or musical compostition that communicates your experience with
writing and UWRT 1102. Explain your choice.
For my final reflection I chose the song I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers. This song is
the perfect representation of my first year of college along with my first and last University
Writing class all in four minutes. Picking the song was pretty difficult just because of the fact
that I felt so many different ways about this class. When I first started this class I thought that I
was going to struggle just because I feel like I am a bad writer and I heard that this class was
very hard to finish. After my first day and after actually talking to Mrs. Thomas I realized that
this class was going to make me a better writer and prepare me for all the writing I am going to
have to do later in my time at college. What really made me pick this song those was a set of
lyrics that went like this While my friends were getting high and chasing girlsI was losing my
mindIn a blaze of fear I put a helmet on a helmet counting seconds through the night and got
carried away so now Im standing on the overpass screaming at the cars HEY, I wanna get
better!. This chorus just fully summarizes my time in this course. I would always see my friends
having fun and doing stuff and I would be sitting in my room looking at my laptop trying to
figure out how to make my papers better and how to even get them done on time. There were
sometimes when this course made me happy to come to school and other days where it made me

want to scream. I feel like this song is the best way of me showing how I was happy in this class
and this stress made me happy and made me feel like I need to do better during my time in
college.
2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasis?
If I were to teach this class I would not do a lot of things differently. I would personally
put a lot of emphasis on making sure that my students voice came out the most when they are
writing a paper. I would also make sure that my students understood that there is no wrong way
of making your opinion known. They need to understand that even though their peers may
express their ideas in a different way, it doesnt mean that it is the wrong way. My students
would need to see multiple ways that their papers could be done right. What I enjoyed about this
class was that we were able to choose almost everything that we wrote about.
3. Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the
course of the semester using at least three examples from your writing.
My understanding of rhetorical knowledge has grown to a new understanding than what I
learned in high school. In high school all I learned about rhetoric was how you make your
argument. Now Ive learned that rhetorical knowledge is how you have to use outside influence
in your arguments. I use this in this course multiple times. When I first wrote my inquiry I did
what I thought was my best. I used a lot of words that I felt had power and made my paper seem
forced and unsure of itself. After though, I began using outside sources such as taking my
audience into account and using less of what everyone else is saying and more of what I am
saying in my inquiry. When writing my thesis paper I was so lost on how I could prove my point
without just listing facts. I feel like I was still stuck in the mindset that everyone elses story is

more relevant than mine. In my paper that is not the case so when I was told that my own story
would make my paper come together I was shocked, nervous and excited. Another incident in the
course that made my rhetorical knowledge grow was when I had to decide what my focus would
be on my topic. My first decision of focus was so far off and not going anywhere that I took
about a whole week to decide what I was actually going to write on.
4. Explain how your critical reading has improved during this semester.
Reading critically for me has always been something that I have enjoyed since I read The
Great Gatsby in my junior year of high school. I like writing papers where I have to apply
multiple sources that may not relate and then connect them to each other. Before this class that
was all I could do. I could read a passage and then apply it to other books, articles or moments in
history and just make them all apply to one idea. I did that in this course but when I used to do
this I would apply it to other peoples ideas. Now when I read critically I apply it to my own
words and my own ideas. I did have to work on how I made opinionated and academic articles
apply to each other which is way more difficult than I thought it would be.
5. Discuss your composing processes. Provide at least three examples to support
your assertion.
Writing my thesis paper was so hard for me. I dont know why it was so hard for me to
write this thesis. I feel like I still didnt know what I wanted to talk about fully and what side of
the argument I wanted to focus on and talk about. I felt as if I was going to get lost in all the
facts, opinions and numbers that come with my topic. After I wrote my first draft and consulted
with Mrs. Thomas I felt way better. When I walked in to talk about my paper I felt like
everything would have to be changed but after I realized that I just had to add and make small

changes to it. My paper became easier to write when I was told that my own personal experience
is probably going to be the best aspect to add to my paper. Another thing I had to do when I was
writing my paper was what type of research I had to discuss. I had to find a lot of research
studies and sift through all the stuff and I had to also find articles that didnt talk about what
totally messed up my topic and made it irrelevant. Writing my thesis was like a rollercoaster.
6. Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions.
My knowledge of conventions was something that takes a lot of time but once you get it
right it makes your paper work. By using MLA citations it makes my paper stronger by giving it
relevance. Organizing my paper is key only because if I leave out a definition early in the paper
then it makes everything seem all over the place. Another way I used my knowledge of
convention was when I chose my influences wisely. So when I chose who I would use as my
research to help back up my view I was careful to use people that are some way involved in my
topic first hand. My favorite articles that I researched were students that were going through
exactly what I was writing about and they did similar research and studies and wrote about it.
This just made it easier for me to write my paper overall.
7. Critical Reflection: a) Discuss an example of choices made during a composition
b) Explain what you think is most important in providing commentary hon
others work and receiving commentary on your own. Provide at least three
examples of your nuanced use of commentary in your writing projects.
My critical reflection is something that took up most of my time when writing my papers.
I have to change my paper constantly because I have to take into account who my readers are and
I forget. So when I was first writing my inquiry my peers told me that there were certain things

that needed to be defined right off the bat when I started my paper. That alone let me know that
my paper would need to have a lot of education inside the paper. This made me have to change
my focus the first time because I didnt want to over teach and nothing really get discussed.
Without commentary papers couldnt grow. If I didnt have my peers to tell me what my paper
needs and my professor to help me decide what to put in my paper and how to word it I would
still be sitting at my laptop lost on what to write. Likewise, offering your assistance and
comments on someone elses paper may be important to them because it can help them see where
they can go with their paper.