Lindsay Smith

Mrs. Wertz-O
UWRT 1103-011
3-28-16
WW6
Throughout the duration of this course, we have been working with 5 Student Learning
Outcomes, or SLOs. They are rhetorical knowledge, critical reading, composing processes,
knowledge of conventions, and critical reflection.
In a nutshell, rhetorical knowledge is knowledge of how a piece of writing works. To
elaborate, rhetorical knowledge is understanding things like why the author would select a
certain genre to write in to convey their message. During our studies we have completed multiple
activities with regard to rhetorical knowledge, including the inquiry pitch and the collage we
made about ourselves. The inquiry pitch fits well into this category, because in it we had to
explain what format we chose for our projects and why we chose it. The collage works well here
because it was a unique mode of communication to explain a little bit about who we are as
individuals.
Critical reading is analyzing and making sense of more difficult texts. Examples of this
from the coursework are the Bashert poem, the Where Im From poem, and learning how to read
scholarly articles. The poems were both well suited assignments for this SLO, because they
required analyzing the text in order to find the meaning and the authors purpose behind them.

Learning how to read scholarly articles was huge for this SLO. Scholarly articles are difficult to
comprehend, because theres so much text to sort through and dissect. Learning how to read
those greatly improved my ability to critically read.
The composing processes include things like planning and drafting major pieces of
writing/work. Two examples of activities from the course work that fulfill this SLO are the
multimodal presentation draft and our writing into the day for 2/8. The multimodal presentation
draft is an example, simply because it itself is a draft, which is one part of the composing
process. The writing into the day for 2/8 is an example, because we were asked to write about the
way in which we composed one of our papers. In it I discussed my planning and how I felt
myself to be concise and to the point.
Knowledge of conventions is an SLO in which we are asked to demonstrate
understanding of aspects of writing such as grammar and informal and formal writing rules.
Truly and honestly, everything we did we did with regard with this, because in every piece of
writing the writer has to be mindful of grammar and writing rules, so that the piece of writing
will be comprehensible.
The final SLO to be discussed is critical reflection. Critical reflection means being able to
explain your thought process about a piece of your own writing, or the writing of others.
Activities we completed that satisfy this SLO include WW2 and WW5. In WW 2 we were asked
to reflect on the testimony of Reva Kibort. In order to do so, we had to pay close attention to the
testimony and analyze the key parts of it so that we could reflect on it properly. This served as an

example of reflecting on other peoples work. In WW5 we were asked to reflect on a work of our
own, our inquiry pitch. Specifically, we were asked to reflect on what we had said we were going
to do for our inquiry project, compared to what actually happened.
As a whole, I believe I meet all of these SLOs fairly easily; however, I reach some with
more ease than I reach others.
SLOs I meet with ease include composing process, knowledge of conventions, and
critical reflection. The composing process and knowledge of conventions are things that Ive
been exposed to since elementary school, and since Ive seen them so much theyre like second
nature to me. Critical reflection is fairly simple for me, because its easy for me to clearly
communicate my own thinking on paper to a variety of audiences.
The SLOs that sometimes stump me are rhetorical knowledge and critical reading.
Rhetorical knowledge is difficult for me, because its hard to really know what an author meant
by his/her mode of communication unless they explicitly said it. Its like theres no specific right
answer, just educated guesses as to what he or she was trying to get us to understand. I struggle
with critical reading on occasion, because Im not used to seeing things like scholarly articles in
my everyday life. Im accustomed to twitter and text messages where everyone is straight to
their point and theres not much depth to read into or analyze. Also, some of the language used in
these long articles are over my head, which means I have to look them up in order to get a full
understanding of what the article is even trying to say.

To take initiative in my learning in the area of critical reading, I would simply have to
practice it. I could easily go to the library and check out novels, or search for more scholarly
articles on JSTOR so I could sharpen my skills in this department. To further my learning in the
area of rhetorical knowledge, I could look up videos to watch on youtube or other websites on
the subject that would be of assistance me.