Niyah Payne

April 30th, 2019

As this semester is ending it is time to reflect on the work that has been done to meet this

course requirements. This composition course required me to pick a social conflict that I was

interested and write two papers on it. Although it was just two papers, it was not just simply

writing two papers. There was research involved. Researching includes learning about what the

topic is and what can be done to aid the issue. This course also required me to use the

department’s five core values. These core values were directly and indirectly used in this course.

These core values are a set of rules that are required in order to have a good paper. Therefore,

whether I tried to include the core values or not, they still somehow ended up in my routine so

that I could complete the course work. The five core values are Writing is a practice that involves

a multi-stage, recursive, and social process, Close and critical reading/analysis is necessary for

listening to and questioning texts, arriving at a thoughtful understanding of those texts, and

joining the academic and/or public conversations represented by those texts, Writing is shaped

by audience, purpose, and context, Information literacy is essential to the practice of writing, and

writing has power and comes with ethical responsibilities. These core values makes a person a

credible writer because these core values ensure any that has a audience is answering any

questions a reader may have.

Core value one is the a writing practice that involves a multi-stage, recursive, and social

process.Core value one incorporates peer editing, rereading what is written and possibly

changing your sources. Personally, core value one included me participating in peer editing,

rewording some of my sentences and digging a little deeper into my topic because I realized I
needed more information to support my reasons. This was a constant thing when submitting both

essays. I would multiple people peer edit my work on top of my teacher’s comments. This

process made me realize in order to be satisfied with my paper it needed to be looked over

continuously until my message was getting across clearly to a reader who may have not known

anything about my topic.

Core value two involves close and critical reading/analysis is necessary for listening to

and questioning texts, arriving at a thoughtful understanding of those texts, and joining the

academic and/or public conversations represented by those texts. Considering this core value,

this is the process of being able to read a text, analyze it and determine whether that particular

text has what you are looking for as a writer. Being that I was writing a informational paper, I

had to read multiple sources, interpret what it was saying and use it as evidence for my paper in

my own words. While analyzing the text and considering the wording I had to consider will my

audience understand what I am trying to say. Not only did I have to use these sources as

evidence but I had to connect all my ideas together and make them come together as once so

what I was talking about and the evidence I used make sense.

Writing my essay consisted of the process of picking what was relevant in society and to

me. Picking a topic that is known about but not often talked about it what helped me pick this

issue. Deciding why and who I was writing this essay for is where core value two comes into

play. Core value three is writing that is shaped by audience, purpose, and context. These three

things helped me as a writer figure out what to put in my paper. When I figured out what I was

going to write the follow up question was why? Why is important because there are a billion and

one topics I could have choose but I choose human trafficking. Thereafter, first consideration

was what do I want to write about pertaining to human trafficking? Once that was out of the way
the next question was what am I going to include so that I can connect all ideas so that it is

cohesive. All of these questions played a role in how much of a subtopic I wanted to talk about

and how much weight did I want each subtopic to have. Everything that crossed my mind before

writing this paper and while in the process of writing and editing was to satisfy the message I

was trying to get across and to my particular audience which is anyone that acknowledges that

human trafficking is a horrendous crime that needs to be stopped.

When writing a paper that is giving readers knowledge, the illustrator has to consider

what kind of knowledge do they want to give their audience and that is what I had to consider.

In addition, this is how core value four and five comes together as one during the writing

process. Core value four states information literacy is essential to the practice of writing. Core

value five is writing has power and comes with ethical responsibilities. Being that information

literacy is the practice of writing meaning no matter what is being wrote, the illustrator is

constantly informing people because every illustration tells a story someone doesn’t know. Not

only that but when writing has power there is always a question of whether something is ethical.

A major consideration that has to cross writers mines is how will this be interpret.

In summation, this course has taught me the importance of researching to the fullest.

Without consistent research, I wouldn’t be able to write a paper on this topic, let alone giving

solutions on how to fix this problem. The five core values will always be incorporated in

whatever I write in the future.