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General Points of Concern 1. Give examples 2. Cut down unnecessary information about the RIP presentation 3. Reference pro ects when tal!in" about what I learned #. $rin" up the names of those who helped me with my revisions %. &al! more about the s!ills I have leavin" writin" 3' (. $e specific '. Connect material to the real world )urtis *ra"" +arch 1,- 2,1# *ritin" 3'. /ynda 0aas 1inal Reflection 2ssay 3s a student of the *ritin" 3' class- I learned how to further my s!ills of analysis and become a better presenter throu"h the essays revision process and the "roup presentations that we did wee!ly. Personally- I focused on the $$C4s interpretation of 5herloc! 0olmes and it6s differences for the modern text analysis essay and on the conventions that the $a!er 5treet Irre"ulars revealed about 0olmes for the Conan 7oyle essay. $ecause 3rthur Conan 7oyle- the creator of 5herloc! 0olmes- provided the foundation for the mystery "enre- we analy8ed his "enre conventions that dictated the conventions of all mystery stories that followed as well as the context of the stories that describe the 9ictorian 2ra. 3s a mechanical en"ineer ma or much of my writin" is blac! and white. I am a very factual and number orientated "uy who rarely was as!ed to analy8e a text before wal!in" into this class. +uch of my hi"h school writin" experience was purely summary and factual. :ne the first day I remember we were told to have a speech ready for the followin" class meetin" that would let everyone in the class "et to !now who you are. 3fter that day- I !new that this writin" class was

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"oin" to incorporate a lot more public spea!in" s!ills that would prepare me for the professional field. /eavin" this class I6m proud to !now that when someone as!s me to analy8e a text I will !now how to approach that essay. 7ue to the "reat feedbac! I received from /i88ete and ;ohn I was able to create a solid second draft of my +odern 2ssay that effectively showed the film techni<ues. I now reali8e one should chose one element of the text and focus on the analysis of it in order to prove a point. +y academic writin" has now incorporated more elements of a professional writer. &wo wee!s into class I transferred into my teacher6s earlier class in order to attend the en"ineerin" 1=> class that conflicted with my ori"inal scheduled time for writin" 3'. I was put into a new "roup but maintained the same focus on the $$C 5herloc! series. *e wor!ed well to"ether and our presentation on the "enre convention of the police force. *e reenacted a couple scenes from The Sign of the Four and then explained the si"nificance they all have to the development of the mystery "enre. *e presented to $ob and the rest of the class and tried to have an en"a"in" presentation that !ept everyone interested. *ith respect to analy8in" "enre specific texts I will now loo! at each of my future assi"ned readin"s in a different way. I loo!ed at Conan 7oyle6s text- The Sign of the Four, and analy8ed the convention of 0olmes6 unbiased view of the Irre"ulars. &hrou"h the peer feedbac! and /ynda6s comments I ad usted my essay to become more focused on the effects of the "enre convention and how the reader interprets 0olmes. In the future I will loo! at what sta"e of "enre development it is in as well as the conventions that are represented in each of the sta"es. &hese conventions will help me interpret the importance of different aspects of the novel and allow me to focus on them.

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I chose to revise my essay on the "enre convention that the $a!er 5treet Irre"ulars created for the mystery "enre. In this essay I analy8ed one of the "enre conventions of 0olmes that was illustrated throu"h his interactions with the irre"ulars. &his essay needed more wor! than the other essay that I wrote. Its lac! of analysis of 0olmes6 behavior and convention left the reader confused so I need to chan"e the focus of my essay to the "enre conventions of 0olmes. I thin! I choose a very interestin" topic and have "ood evidence of what I was provin" and my essay has the ability to become a very stron" essay. &his essay has a lot of potential while my other essay really can6t be made si"nificantly better than what it is. In my other essay I analy8ed the rhetorical situation of both the modern and classic 5herloc! 0olmes and was referred to as our Rhetorical 3nalysis essay. I will be revisin" my body para"raph that focuses on the modern techni<ues of the $$C 5herloc! &9 series that are used to display the conventions of the classic text. I feel this is wea!est point of my essay because it lac!s analysis of why they use these techni<ues and how effective they are. I did a "ood ob listin" the techni<ues of the modern film interpretation of 5herloc! 0omes includin" their use of li"htin"- sound- and camera positionin" and ust now to explain their importance. I have learned a lot due to my peers throu"hout this <uarter. &hey have exposed me to their way of thin!in" and allowed me to open up my ran"e of analysis to an even broader ran"e of possibilities. &he "roup I wor!ed with throu"hout the <uarter for our presentations !ept me from procrastinatin". *e created a Group+e chat where we could all as! "eneral <uestions on what was due that wee! as well as what they were doin" in terms of the ma or essays and pro ects. &he peer review and feedbac! that I received on my essays "reatly helped me understand where they felt lost as well as where I for"ot to answer one of the prompt6s <uestions. 3ll of the feedbac! that I received was used to ma!e a better essay for my second draft as well as my final draft.

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+ost often times I needed to either "ive a lead?in into my analysis or expand my thou"hts to insure the reader understood the point I was tryin" to ma!e. :ne ma or thin" I reali8ed when I read my own wor! was my tendency to loo! over facts that seem obvious to myself. I need to state them so that the reader doesn6t "et confused. In terms of the topics covered in the Connect +odules the most challen"in" for myself was the critical readin" section. &his reminded me of the 53& tests that I absolutely despised. &hese modules re<uired you to read chun!s of texts and loo! for ways to paraphrase or summari8e it as well as define its overall meanin". @ot only was this section one of the lon"estit was the one that I had submitted the most wron" answers for. I believe these two sections should be further divided into more parts so that students won6t lose interest and wal! away from the computer as I did. I still need to continue to better my s!ills of definin" the overall meanin" of a text. I have always stru""led with this topic and feel it would be beneficial to have a solid understandin" for my professional career. 3lthou"h I believe that the ma ority of the modules were review- I feel I now have a better understandin" on all of the topics. &hese topics are the foundation of the 2n"lish lan"ua"e and need to be mastered by colle"e students in order to have a successful career path. 1or the RIP presentation I was responsible for playin" 5herloc! 0olmes in our modern play write that I also helped to edit and create durin" its ma!in". Deleted sentence :ur two part presentation was both factual and interestin". 3s a "roup we wor!ed well to"ether when "oin" throu"h the play and when someone for"ot there line we wor!ed throu"h it and altered the script to ad ust for the chan"e. :ne mista!e I made was referrin" to the evidence left behind by the murder as a corsa"e instead of $outonniere. I didn4t reali8e a corsa"e referred to a woman4s flowerA not a man6s. &his confused the audience about who the !iller was- but there was still

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evidence to lead them to the !iller. I believe that detective 7an"ers lines were written very well. *e established the detective6s role in the detective "enreB a man with little understandin" of deduction and who often umps to conclusions. +y lines in scenes one and two established 5herloc! 0olmes4 eccentric attitude as well as his ama8in" observation and deduction s!ills. &he introduction "roup4s slides flowed well alon" with the presenters and the visuals !eep the audience interested. &he other "roup4s presentation was very professional. &hey "ave out flyers that helped with the outline of each presentation. &he "roup responsible for "oin" over why 8ombies have become so popular had a very en"a"in" presentation. +ost of the other presenters tended to read off of their slides so it was a little distractin". I lost interest in some of their presentations because of their lac! of interactivity. &hey either played too lon" of a video clip or "ave no lead in which left me "uessin" as to what the movie was about and what its si"nificance was. @o "roups as!ed us any <uestions- they only as!ed if we had any at the end of the presentation. 3ll in all- their presentations were factual and lac!ed the interactivity ours had in order to !eep the audience en"a"ed. Shortened I developed many s!ills throu"hout writin" 3' includin"B openness- creativity- flexibilityresponsibility and finally metaco"nition. I opened my eyes to the possibilities of our presentation durin" the third wee! when one "roup used a pu88le "ame in one of their presentations. &heir presentation was out of the ordinary and tau"ht me there are many teachin" styles. +y creative side helped develop a script that would mimic the popular 5herloc! 0olmes- The Sign of the Four, in our own personal play that we acted out in our presentation. I felt responsible to my "roup members to memori8e my lines so that the presentation would flow smoothly. 1inally- my metaco"nition s!ills dramatically improved. *e laid out our plan for our presentation in order to insure the audience would understand what we were tryin" to teach them.

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I need to become even more out"oin". *ith all of my classmates help and feedbac! I was able to create a far better essay than I would have been able to do had I done it by myself. I need to use the analytical s!ills that I stren"thened and built upon durin" this class in order to be a more effective writer. &his class has definitely tau"ht me more about writin" than any other class I have ta!en. It enveloped the standard topics covered by the Connect +odules- the complicated structure of analysis and essay development- and finally the world of presentations.