Allison Keiser 

When sitting in the relatively small, square classroom, scrunched close to a few strangers at a rectangular table on the first day of the semester, I never imagined I would have learned so much and enjoyed this class as much as I did. Over the course of the semester, I learned an abundant amount through writing three different projects, where I met many course goals along the way, which is explained more in depth in each paragraph for the respective writing projects later on. I believe the reason I was able to learn so much was due to the fact that the writing projects were not only connected through the same main idea, but also that I was able to build upon the same or similar skills from the first piece to the third one. Skills I did not know before, such as how to tailor a piece to a specific audience and using sources effectively were resources I learned when completing writing project one, but they were not just left there. I was able to build upon each skill and make them even better throughout all three of the writing projects, and when I revised writing project two and my WIX page, which is why I was able to reach a myriad of course goals and improve upon my writing skills all semester. 

 

​

​

​

​

 

 

Writing project one was all new to me in itself, as I have never written a film review before this class. However, throughout this process, I discovered how to take notes when watching a film (Figure 2), and what different ideas to pay attention to, such as cinematography and character development. In addition, by researching and analyzing professional film reviews, most notably from the New York Times, and articles from PBS  that were related to the documentary I watched, I was able to learn to read and conduct research with greater confidence. After this research, I am now more certain in my ability to comprehend what others are saying in their writing and focusing in on how it relates to my goals, along with finding the most professional and reliable sources. This concept in turn taught me to be more confident in highlighting and annotating what I might use in my writing pieces, which is illustrated in Figure 1 below. The first writing project also allowed me to shape and edit my writing project so that it fit the needs of my intended audience, which was a new concept to me. Writing becomes a totally different game when you are tailoring towards specific individuals, but being able to meet their needs is crucial. By targeting a primarily college-aged audience, I was able to work through this by deciding what my audience knows or might not know, what would be most interesting to them, and what kind of tone to use, which in this piece was a more casual tone and contained "you." By developing these skills during writing project one, I was able to use them and build upon them at a higher level throughout the rest of the course. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By writing project two, I had already gained some skills and applied course goals, but was able to further my knowledge and gain additional skills. Through writing about my immersion experience and first-time encounter of going to the An Lac Buddhist Temple, I was able to use sources effectively by synthesizing ideas, integrating them smoothly, and documenting them correctly. The biggest learning experiences from this were integrating quotes smoothly and having multiple sources interact with each other. Before integrating a quote, it is important to introduce the person or organization and give some background about them, so it avoids just sticking in a quote with no introduction. This makes a smoother transition and gives the paper more of a better overall flow, along with acknowledging who said what. Additionally, another skill I acquired was synthesizing ideas by having two different sources interact with each other in the same paragraph. This technique, more specifically an ICE-ICE paragraph, which is outlined in Figure 3, makes the writing piece more sophisticated because instead of having every paragraph only reflect on one idea or source, this skill allows multiple sources to not only be in the same paragraph, but interact and build off of one another. It can become even further sophisticated by choosing the best possible sources, such as Harvard and NPR, and integrating quotes from each to interact with one another. The skills of integrating quotes smoothly and synthesizing ideas effectively can add a layer to any piece, which can be helpful not only in this class, but for other papers I may have to compose in additional classes.

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In writing project three, I was able to continue to build upon my writing skills at a deeper level and achieve additional course goals. More specifically, I was able to create a strong thesis and provide sufficient support throughout my argument. In this particular writing project, I used an XYZ thesis because I was illustrating a problem and then the rest of my paper was about a solution to this problem. I introduced the idea that too many people die of heart disease in the United States, and then discussed how meditation can help people in the treatment of their heart disease. An XYZ thesis proved more effective than a three-point thesis because it allowed me to focus on more than just three main points throughout my argument and gave the audience a general scope of what the rest of the paper entailed. In addition, I was able to provide sufficient support to my thesis by using logical appeals. By quoting experts from professional and reliable sources, most notably from Harvard and UC Berkeley, who had completed studies and reliable data, I was able to incorporate a myriad of quotes, statistics, and facts to back up my thesis. I now have a fuller understanding of how to use and develop different thesis types and incorporate logical appeals to support it. Furthermore, other skills I had already gained, such as shaping my writing to meet the needs of the audience and synthesizing sources effectively came back to play in this piece. By incorporating them in this writing project, I was able gain more practice and go more in depth, which gave me greater confidence in my ability to perform these techniques whenever possible.

 

Throughout this semester, I have not only become a more efficient writer, but have also acquired a myriad of skills that can last a lifetime. I have grasped how to read and conduct research with greater confidence, shape and edit my writing project so that it fit the needs of my intended audience, use sources effectively by synthesizing sources and integrating quotes smoothly, and create a strong thesis while providing support throughout the writing piece. All of these ideas have come together in my final WIX portfolio. This project in itself was a teaching moment because I have never really built my own website before, so I now have a better understanding of how to navigate through this type of technology. Plus, it allows for multi-modal presentation, through the addition of items like hyperlinks and pictures, which enabled me to engage audiences visually and through the writing itself. Overall, the WIX page provides for more of a focus on the visual aspect of things, while combining all of the skills learned throughout the semester into one place. All of the techniques I have acquired in this class can be applied elsewhere and will serve me well in multiple other aspects throughout life.