Final Portfolio

      This portfolio contains four major parts. One of which is one of the peer reviews I did on a classmates paper. I chose to include this because I think this was the best peer review I gave. The corrections I made in her paper were explained thoroughly and I even gave some suggestions and advice in the comment under her cover letter. Although there are not many corrections that I made to this paper I do not think it has any weak points. Just because there are not many things marked does not mean that it was not edited thoroughly. The next work I included was the major rewrite to one of my previous papers. The revised cover letter for this paper is as follows:

        The main point that I was trying to convey in this paper was that there was not one universal way to go about your writing. There is not a dominant and correct method for someones writing process. I wanted to show that everyone has their own process that works best for them through analyzing myself as a writer and comparing myself to other writers. One of the favorite parts of this paper are the metaphors. I think they did a great job of showing my point. If provided more time I would try to incorporate more sources and counter arguments because I know its important to show all sides of an argument. I think this revised version is better than the original because the original main topic of my paper was that the writing process is what is important and not what was written which seems a bit too broad. So I expanded on what I previously had and cut certain things out to help direct this paper to the new topic it has now. 

The next work I included was paper 4 and the revised cover is as follows:

         The issue I was trying to address in this paper was the idea that teaching writing forms to students may hurt the creativity of their writing. I wanted to show that emphasizing writing forms such as the five paragraph essay or research paper can hurt students because they may become dependent on these forms and ultimately be unable to come up with any original work. The support I gave for these claims where done via examples and cited sources from research I did on this topic. I also addressed the counter argument of writing forms actually possibly helping students because it gives them a good foundation as they first being to write. I think the strong points of this paper are the sources I used because they provide  strong support for my claims. A weak part I think this paper has is that I am not sure if it addresses the right discourse community or audience the assignment requires. I struggled a lot with this paper and if given more time I would have tried to help direct my paper toward the right audience and cite more sources. 

        The final work I added to this portfolio was a small story I wrote about my father this year. It was just something I did for myself when I was bored one day but I think it is a pretty interesting story and I thought it would be a good thing to include because not only does it show a little bit about my background but also because it is another example of writing; and this was done outside of the classroom so it has a bit of a different feel to it in my opinion. 

        I think that my work is of enough quality to raise my grade because I have a very good grasp of the language. If you look back on anything that I have ever written it has always been very clear and has flown very well from topic to topic. I make good use of the information I have and although I may have had a tardy assignment or two from just not being prepared at the time, I also got my work done and finished everything this class required. Even though sometimes I did not write about exactly what you were looking for the level of my writing has always been respectable and easy to follow. And if the quality of writing itself is the determinant for raising my grade then I think it should be done because you have commented on my writing in a positive way for everything I have done. I hope the fact that I have learned from this class constitutes for something because I honestly can say that my writing has improved form taking this course. There have no been any dramatic changed to how I write but I do see a small difference in how I express myself in my writing and how I set my papers up. 

        Although I am not a very big fan of english I actually really enjoyed this class. One of the main reasons (and I hope this does not make it seem like I am trying to be an ass kisser) was the teacher. Dr. Whicker has been one of the best professors I have had and I know that is not saying much since I have not had many professors but I don't think there will be many in the future that will be up to parr with him. He was always very wiling to help whether it being giving feedback on our papers, helping us find sources on difficult topics, or being very quick to respond to his emails when a student needs assistance. He was not a boring speaker and I love the idea of his grading contract. It makes complete sense because some people just struggle with writing and it would be unfair to them if they got points marked off for this. So this grading contract ensures that diligent students can at least get a B if they get all their work done despite not being the strongest of writers. The things I did not like about the class were just things that are a part of english: reading, writing, analyzing work. It just so happens that I do not like english as a subject of study and not because of anything specific against these things we did in class. As stated above I really think my writing improved and one big thing I took from this is knowing the important of rhetoric and the audience I am writing to. Before I would just write to myself and everything I wrote was done in the same format with not much regard to who would be reading it. I now manipulate my use of language depending on who I know will be the primary audience of my paper. There really is not much that I wish I would have learned. I always thought I was a strong writer and this class has enforced and built upon that belief even more. The one thing I can say that I wish I saw more of was group assignments and activities. This is mainly because group work does a great job of incorporating everyone in the class. Not only does it help everyone get involved but it may also give some of the quieter students a little more courage to speak up and answer questions in class. I think one of the main reasons for many of the students withholding themselves from group discussion is that they did not want to be wrong or say anything incorrect in front of the class. Working in groups beforehand however may give them a chance to run their ideas past their fellow classmates to see what they think first. Thank you for being so helpful this quarter Professor Whicker and I hope I have been able to persuade you to give me that A!

Peer edit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kvFByjPYgwQW0S-Y9I3wP3t1p3S4G0lMeisATztoD3g/edit (The comment on her post of her paper is also included at the end)

Major Rewrite of Paper #2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oq9EnuUXVvhFXkhGD-RsUGgh2BbDkXfiNxcixVpk5gs/edit

Paper 4: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZCK4M9nhirtQ45WtGgR7a-Twh2-Nz3aChCtsmiKjzFA/edit

From Rags to Riches: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Kvis45WEBYpr2JjiYU0uTRMoqvXOUYliJIT_x6ylTs/edit

Revised Cover letter and Paper 4

I tried to shift the point of my paper a little more toward the debate on whether or not creativity should be emphasized in writing or whether academic ability should be with writing from whether or not writing forms hurt creativity. I had a hard time making this shift with my paper and although there where not many more than a handful of extra sentences added I think that the point came across pretty well. Overall this last paper has been very challenging for me.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5S5pBZARSGSVkg2eFVDbWZUOUdJNTVRZ2dXdVVFUQ

Paper #4 and Cover Letter

Paper link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P3cgEhi9wEyP2LSaBUMBmAabeo2rO8xxj3cHy5w_Wj0/edit

     The main point that I was trying to get across with this paper is that teaching writing forms hurts a student's creativity as a writer. I used examples of actual writing forms and provided the effect they had on student's writing. I provided a little bit of the counter argument also but tried to stayed focus on my point. I think the parts that included the five paragraph essay went well mostly I think because I could find the most source on that particular form. Please note anything you see wrong with the flow or the structure of the paper. There are a lot of different things I bring up in the paper so its important I make sure that it is very easy to follow and understand.

Introduction

      Although school is centered around making students realize their full potential and help them prepare for the next level of education ahead, some things implemented in school may actually hurt students for both of these things. One major field in which schools have a negative effect on their students with the methods they incorporate is writing. Teachers often offer a form or a way students should write and label that way as the right way. One example being the five paragraph essay. The major focus here is to determine whether requiring students to follow a set format hurts them or helps them.

Annotative Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TxsXpNf1ZtKMSnHZQK_ip8dhp9p73bcj3fq6qTRGXLo/edit

Feb 27 Blog Post

Summary: In the article Reading and Writing Without Authority, Penrose and Geisler argue that the presence or absence of knowledge is not the sole factor that determines authority in writing. They try and prove this point through analyzing a first year freshman in college, and a doctorate student. Both of these students wrote about the same topic and after both of their works were analyzed, the conclusion that these two authors came to was that authority in writing does not just come from the amount of knowledge you have, but also your experience with writing and the confidence you portray when you write. 

QD:

3.) The Information Transfer Model pertains to Janet because since she is only a first year student, she does not have enough information on her own to write an entire paper. It is information transfer because Janet has to do research to do her writing and take information she has found form her sources and transfer it to her paper. Roger’s model on the other hand is a bit different since Roger, being a doctorate student, has a much larger database of knowledge and requires a lot less research to to find appropriate material for his paper. 

4.) I think Janet’s lack of confidence is the case for why she gives so much of the credit to her sources and the authors she reads dominate how she wants to write since she does not believe in herself without any outside sources. 

5.) It heavily depends on what topic I am writing about to determine whether or not I write with Janet’s model or Rodger’s model. If it is a topic that interests me and I am passionate about I will probably end up writing like Rodger since I have confidence in my writing and I would have a lot to say. If the topic was not on something that interests me however, I will write with Janet’s model since I wont have enough information on the topic just form my own knowledge and I will need some outside sources to help me write. 

MM: One way reading this article has helped me with my future research paper is that I will now try and obtain a good amount of knowledge on the subject so I can write confidently about it instead of just pulling random bits of information from the web and throwing them into my paper. Another way this article will help me write my next research paper is that I will rely more on my writing ability than my sources to help improve my writing as time goes on.

Reflection: I liked this article because it helped show what was important in writing; not your information as much as how you present it. Confidence in your writing is key and this article was an easy read so I did not have a difficult time understanding their points. The example they used with Rodger and Janet helped portray their conclusions effectively. 

Feb 24 Blog Post

       In her article, Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces Elizabeth Wardle argues what the role of identity and authority is in our writing and how these element influence the discourse community we affiliate ourselves with. Wardle helps present this idea through following a young man, Alan, and his struggle with joining a discourse community.
QD:
3.)  I believe that Alan did not yield positive results because he was not willing to conform. Granted conforming to fit into a discourse community is not always a good thing but showing a little flexibility would have increased his chances of making it into this discourse community. This flexibility is what would have granted him positive outcomes .
4.) I definitely believe that a lot of language is spoken unconsciously. You never think of the entire sentence you are going to say before you say it (at least most of the time this is not the case).
5.) I agree with Gee because according to Gee your Discourse makes up who you are and Alan refused to change his Discourse to join the discourse community because he wanted I believe he was trying to maintain his identity and did not want to change.
6.) The way he is portrayed in this article, Alan seems to be a tool because he is simply used as evidence and an example even though he really was not part of the community.
7.) I never had an authority figure in an academic setting lose their authority. My coach however has been thrown out of games before because he was not able to control his temper and the ref suspended him from the game.
AE: 1
     To assert your authority over texts you have to write with confidence and seem like a credible source for people to believe your writing. Most discourse communities involving anything academic or sport related I have not been the authority figure because those are both areas that I have a lot to learn in. When it comes to discourse communities with my groups of friends there is never one clear cut authority figure but sometimes I make decisions for the group since my personality sometimes may dominate some of my other friends'. Not being the authority figure is not always a bad thing especially if there is still room for learning so that some authority figures can act as tutors or teachers.
       Summary:  In addition to further expanding on our understanding of Discourses and discourse communities, Wardle also did a great job of making her article easy to follow. This article was an easy read which made me more willing to pay attention to what she was saying because it was not an effort to understand her points like it has been in some of these past articles we have read. This article was interesting, beneficial toward me, and I believe it is one of the few article regarding this topic of Discourse that I will be able to take something from.