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Julie St John
Reflective Portfolio
Composition 105
Ashley Whitmore
December 14th 2015

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Composition 105 was my very first college class at University of Michigan Dearborn.
When I walked into the classroom I had no doubts that I would do well in this class because I
had always been a decent writer in high school. Well that quickly all changed. College level
composition is much more detailed, intense, and difficult than high school writing. I quickly
learned how to write analytical essays, and I learned what ethos, pathos, and logos were. I had
only heard of these words but never really applied them in my writing. Throughout my first
semester in Composition I learned new and better ways to write. I could see myself grow as a
writer and continuously get better.
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Outcome 1: Writing as a Process

The first essay I wrote was an analytical essay about an article that pertained to
our major. Although I knew what the ethos, pathos, and logos were I did not use them
very effectively in the beginning of the semester. For example I wrote Dr. Laura
Lundy is a professor at Queens University in Belfast. She uses ethos to argue. Then
about two sentences later I vaguely explain what ethos are actually used. (Career
Analytical Essay) The analytical essay was very weak when it came to accurately
showing examples of the rhetorical aspects. However the more essays I wrote, the
better my use of rhetorical aspects became.
For my third analytical essay I analyzed Gatorades Sweat it to get it
advertisement. This advertisement uses ethos to persuade people to buy their
products, however in this essay I do not directly say this as I did in the article essay.
Instead I wrote, Gatorade often advertises their product by using celebrity
endorsements. (Sweat it to get it Advertisement Essay) To follow this, I proceeded
to list the celebrities Gatorade has used. This sentence showed that Gatorade uses
ethos and they want to sell their product based on the credibility of the celebrity

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athletes who will encourage people to buy their drinks. Another example of using
pathos is in my research paper. A single person can only do so much to end domestic
violence, however there is serious strength in numbers. This is appealing to peoples
emotions to make a difference and help victims of abuse. These two examples from
my first and last analytical essays show the drastic improvement in my writings as the
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semester progressed.
Outcome 2: Revise Writing and Using Feedback
Revising papers is key in any composition class. This semester I quickly learned
that the best way for me to revise my papers was to use peer reviews. When I wrote
my papers I found it most helpful to have someone else edit my rough drafts. On both
the music video essay and ad analytical essay, during class time Composition 105
used peer reviews to edit our rough drafts. A partner would read my paper and then
make constructive comments on how to fix it and make it better. At times it could be
difficult to have people criticize my writing but it was for the best. It was helpful for
me to have a different set of eyes read my paper. It also helped me when I read
someone elses essay because it ensured that I was on the right track. Even on the
papers that we did do peer reviews during class time, I would have a roommate or
teammate read over my papers and give me their feedback. After receiving the
comments, I would read over the paper again to see if I agreed with their
observations. I often did and would work to change my essays.
Once I fixed my paper with their ideas, I would read through again and change
even more of my essay. Next I would ask them to review it again and give me their
final thoughts. I firmly believe that revising and peer review is one of the best ways to
edit an essay. It was extremely effective for my writings and I plan to continue to use
peer editing and reviews in my future writings.

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Outcome 3: Researching
The first three essays written in Composition 105 were not too heavily researched
based. There were a few items in these essays that needed to be researched but the
majority was analyzation and critical thinking. However the fourth major paper was a
six to eight page research paper. I wrote my paper on the increase of domestic
violence because it was interesting to me and I knew of people who had been abused.
The first research I did was to simply type domestic violence into a Google search.
Once I did that I had to narrow down my search. I switched my search to why
domestic violence is increasing. I began to read through the articles and figure out
which ones were credible or which ones were biased. As I read through the articles I
took notes on the main ideas of each one.
The main research that I used was mainly that of medical articles and
informational websites for abuse victims such as futureswithoutviolence.org or
nursingworld.org. These were reliable sources full of facts that supported my paper.
Next to prepare to write my paper, I began to work on my Research Paper
Presentation. This was assigned to Composition 105, however I found it very helpful
in organizing my research. As I was figuring out what to present to the class, I began
to really narrow down what I wanted to present in my paper. I decided to use many
fact and stats that I had found while researching. One example of this is . On average
three women a day are killed in America, which adds up to over one thousand women
a year who are killed due to their partners anger and rage. I continued to research
facts and used them throughout my paper to make my argument stronger and more

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credible.
Outcome 4: Critical Reading
One of the key components in Composition was the write responses on the readings
that were assigned. Often these readings were short but intellectual. Once we read the

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articles we answered questions on the readings or what we thought of them. This

process forced me to read the article for details. I could not skim over the assignments
and hope to find the answer, I had to read in depth. The questions often did not have
obvious answers and therefore I would have to think critically to answer correctly.
The article that required me to think the hardest was Why Johnny Cant Dissent.
This article discussed how much of America is too similar and people need to stand
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out more. This was assigned early in the semester, however has stuck with me since.
Outcome 5: Controlling Voice, Style, and Tone
Every writer has their own style. Style is very important to become a good writer.
Style causes a writer to be unique and interesting. The tone of your paper is also
important. As a writer, sometimes you want to persuade your reader or other times
you just want to inform them. However how you deliver your information is how
your audience is going to perceive it. If you are biased your audience is going notice
that. A writer generally needs to be unbiased and sincere in their work. Voice goes
along with tone. A writer needs to have a passion for what they are writing, and then
their voice, style and tone will be really reflect who they are as a writer. One way
Composition 105 showed voice and tone was the research packets. We were
encouraged to write about something we were passionate about. For me, writing
about domestic violence really made the paper interesting, and I incorporated my tone
and voice into my paper while presenting the facts.
Overall Composition 105 really helped me grow as a writer. Reflecting on the
semester, I realized it was more difficult than I had expected, but encouraged me to
work harder. I learned many new aspects of writing and was able to fine tune other
aspects such as; writing as a process, revising writing and using feedback,

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researching, critical reading, and controlling the voice, tone, and styles of my writings
which I know will help me in my future college composition classes.