Andrew L Tilley

UWRT 1103-034
Mrs. Thomas
December 10th, 2015
Final Reflection
1.

Choose a song or musical composition that communicates your experience with

writing and UWRT 1102. Consider including a video of the song. Explain your choice.
The song Started from the Bottom by Drake was my pick for how we were to voice our
reflections in our writing. I chose this song because I felt I changed in my writing styles
during this course. I used techniques from the They Say I Say book in my thesis to give a
voice I had never used. I realize that the song is profane, and maybe not the best of
choices, however I like Drake as a rapper and what he has accomplished. I can relate to
my writing and what I have seen improved. Another key point in this song is when he
starts discussing friendship.
When you meet someone new for the first time and you are forced to live with them you
better hope you can get along. I was fortunate with my roommates and we have formed a
strong bond of friendship this first semester of school. I dont know where I would be if I
hadnt meet them since Im pretty shy towards people. I connect this bond of friendship
to writing metaphorically with my habits of writing. Im scared to implement different
styles of writing into my work because I do not believe I will do it correctly. However

through the work in this class I have felt a shift in this belief as I was pushed to try new
styles.
2. If you were to teach this class, what ideas would you emphasis?
I would emphasize on the ideas from the They Say I Say book more in class. By doing
more in class examples, and possibly breaking it up into smaller chunks, it would have
had a deeper impact. I would also emphasize the implementation of the dailybooks. By
spending more time explaining what they were and then doing a couple with us it would
be helpful.
3. Explain how your understanding of rhetorical knowledge has changed over the course
of the semester using at least three examples from your writing (ex. Did you shift an
assignment to better fit a particular genre like a proposal?).
My understanding of rhetorical knowledge has not necessarily changed this semester, but
rather discovered. When the topic was first introduced I didnt really understand its
message. Thanks to the aid of this course I discovered that I have always implemented
this into my writing. I added the tale of humpty dumpty into my Literacy Narrative.
Realizing that not everyone has read this tale I chose to quote it to give them the textual
background.
4. Explain how your critical reading has improved during the semester. (Ex. In what ways
did you read across texts for connections and patterns in your inquiry?)
Over the course of my Inquiry Project a lot of critical reading was done. Practically every
source I looked at cross referenced with another source, usually more. I was able to
establish patterns in common stressors, common ways to eliminate stress, defining stress

as the flight or fight response, and several more. This skill was used every time I
conducted research, just to make sure the facts were consistent. In doing so I believe that
I have demonstrated an understanding of reading across multiple texts to gather
information.
5. Discuss your composing processes. Ex. Did you conduct additional research while
revising or after consulting a colleague? Provide at least three examples to support your
assertion.
Through the course of the semester my composing process improved as well. I made
outlines, did my research, and after editing made the proper revisions to my paper that
seemed fit. After reading the editing on my Thesis draft I checked back over my sources
to see if I could find how stress could be a positive thing. After reading back through one
of my initial sources I discovered a list of reasons why stress was a positive thing. When
stress is working correctly it keeps your senses sharp, and your mind focused. Stress can
motivate an individual to do work, keep an individual active, and save your life in times
of distress. You are mentally alert, and in case of emergency situations you are physically
prepared. I chose to add this portion into my thesis to discuss the positives of stress.
6. Provide at least three examples of your knowledge of conventions (ex. sentence level
changes, MLA citations).
I feel that one of my first examples of my knowledge of conventions was my Annotated
Bibliographies. I had done Annotated Bibliographies before, however not at the college
level. These Annotated Bibliographies were in-depth pieces that took a lot of time and

effort. There structures were solid, and covered every question to the point. My second
example was my MLA Citations. They were perfect, as always, since I also knew how to
do those before college. As seen in my Final Thesis Paper they were structured correctly,
with all the necessary information on there. That is that could be gathered. My third
example was of the sentence structure. I know it like the back of my hand, just
misplacing commas time to time. I rarely have grammatical mistakes in my pieces, due to
a sound knowledge of the sentence structure.
7. Critical Reflection: a) Discuss an example of choices made during a composition. b)
Explain what you think is most important in providing commentary on others work and
receiving commentary on your own. Provide at least three examples of your nuanced use
of commentary in your writing projects.
In my Thesis I included some sources of feedback into the final version. I included some
of the positive impacts that stress could cause. In my initial draft I had forgotten to
include the positive side of stress because it does impose a strong argument. On my peer
review for my Literacy Narrative Mrs. Thomas left the comments to include pictures of
my texts in my e-Portfolio. So I included those pictures in my e-Portfolio on the Literacy
Narrative pages.
When editing someones paper you always want to give some sort of feedback. It isnt
necessary to tear someones paper to shreds with every little grammatical error, however
focusing on broad problems, background information, and making sure that it is clear and
flows well are the most important aspects when editing a paper. Personally I dont mind
when my paper is edited heavily, however I also like to see when my paper needs little
revision. An example of my implementation of edited responses was when I added the

positive commentary about stress in my research paper. It wasnt necessarily necessary to

the paper, however it provided a different light on stress.