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ENG219

Final Reflection
To:

Ms. Amstutz

From:

[Your Name]

Date:

This is my final reflection for the English 219 course final


portfolio. In this final reflection I will take a look at the changes I
made to my Analytical Report as well as the progress I have made
as a writer in the time I have spent in this course.
I would like very much to start with the changes I made to my Analytical Report. I read the notes
sent to me from Ms. Amstutz and I tried to make changes along those lines. I started by
separating the sections with clearly defined headers, breaking each section of the paper up into
more readable chunks. I then went on to look over my sources. This is where I had a little
trouble. The notes say that I shouldnt use Wikipedia as a source but the book, Technical
Communication Today, says otherwise. It says that using Wikipedia as a source in papers is
becoming more accepted. I looked at the page I used (Enron Cheating Scandal in Wikipedia) and
there is a massive wealth of information on that one page that covers in detail what it took many
other pages to cover in other sources. At the bottom of that screen there are a number of citations
that can helpfully redirect the curious researcher toward the respective pages where the research
is supported for the Wikipedia page, but to completely cover the scandal in its entirety it seems
like a much better plan to use the Wikipedia page with its individual citations listed at the
bottom. The scope of the information presented is much too great to cite each individual source
when they are there on the Wikipedia page already to be scrutinized.
To address the issue of needing more citation for claims that I make within the document itself I
would say that this is akin to a biologist writing a paper about plant reproduction and being asked

to cite the source he used to look up how a stamen works. Within the field of biology certain
information is well known and is used as a platform upon which to build further knowledge of
the subject of biology. Every major field of study and research works in a similar fashion, to the
best of my knowledge, and I felt that perhaps the areas of the paper where the instructor saw
claims being made that needed citation could possibly fit into this category. A certain degree of
background knowledge is expected when writing a paper for a specific community with
specialized knowledge of past events and the inner workings of an industry. I thoughtfully and
respectfully chose to maintain the claims within the paper as uncited. If this is an error, then it is
one I will gladly learn from.
Each project in this course has had its own reflection opportunity and for each of those
opportunities I have written what I could with the knowledge I had gained to that point. Now,
nearing the end of the course and nearing the end of my opportunity to reflect in this way, I feel
that I can write a little more extensively about the student learning outcomes and how I have
either met, fallen short of, or exceeded each respectively.
Analysis of the Rhetorical situation. This one I have learned the most about, not just in this class
but in previous English courses at UNM as well. I have spent this entire course writing as little
about myself personally as was permissible. In previous classes I have been asked to write about
myself personally and I found myself taking a chance. I made the mistake of giving away too
much and even in the professional environment of a university it ended up making me regret
that. In this class I was able to remain anonymous and write technical documents with stock
information that could be applied to anyone. The rhetorical situation is a powerful consideration
when writing anything that anyone else will read. A good professional example of this is a book
written by Thomas De Quincey in 1821 entitled Confessions of an English Opium Eater. A
man with an opium addiction in a time when such a thing was neither frowned upon nor
understood decided to write about his experience as a massive addict, and it came back to haunt
him. The rhetorical situation in early 19th century England was not conducive to a confession to
drug addiction, although it certainly was well received literarily. I have found that being aware of
the rhetorical situation has helped me keep humor and unnecessary frivolity out of my technical
documents and it has acted as a boundary of sorts. Some people struggle against boundaries; I
typically am that person, but in this regard I appreciated the theoretical dotted lines to follow.
Finding and Evaluating Information. This student learning outcome was not the most difficult for
me although I did run into some issues, one of which is detailed above and is still outstanding.
The use of citation when using information that is widely accepted as true within a specific
discipline has me a little confused but I will soldier on. Other than that I found that using citation
in MLA format was made easier with technology. Thank you Microsoft Office. I did also learn
about how to evaluate how relevant the information I used was going to be in the final document.

Composing Information. Throughout this course I have relied heavily upon the book for the
structure of each document. I had rented the book but am now seriously considering purchasing
it for my personal library to reference in the future. The book was an invaluable source of
information on how to build a technical document from the ground up.
Presentation of Information. This is another area that I learned a lot about in this course. I was
forced to create a video with sound and a PowerPoint slideshow as a multimedia facet of my first
project. I was not happy with that but I did it and was glad for the experience at the end. I learned
how to use (not proficiently but passably) new websites and software to help me create
multimedia presentations. I even considered doing the same for this presentation but my shyness
has prevented me from doing so. I also learned more about crafting a visually pleasing document
and website. These are skills that I will take with me as I move forward in my professional
career.
Overall I enjoyed this class and appreciate the opportunity to learn a new style of writing for a
different audience than I am used to writing for. Thank you for the opportunity Ms. Amstutz and
I wish you the best of luck for the future.
Respectfully,
Brad Pfender

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