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Jorge Diaz

Professor McCann

English 1301.127

1 December 2021

The Final Reflection

Taking a writing class can be easy for some, but full of challenges for most. Some of the

challenges that can be presented by a writing class range from writing in a new and more formal

way, to thinking way outside the box, and taking into consideration every aspect of the class

itself. For instance, some of the aspects that I had to take into consideration while taking this

course, Writing Composition I, were the rhetorical choices I made, new knowledge absorbed,

writing skills, personal identity, and writing progress.

To begin with, taking this class, even though it was mostly based on writing, was full of

rhetorical choices. For context, the term “rhetorical choice” refers to those options or paths

taken, that were thoughtful, and meant to make something better. Personally, one of the biggest

places were I made rhetorical choices was when revising my all of my major essays, which were

essays #1 through #3. For essay #1, I based my revisions based on content. For example, there

was a sentence that followed a passive voice style, and even though that is not specifically

wrong, a passive voice Is not the one recommended for an academic paper. For this “mistake,”

what I did to fix it was look at the wording of the mentioned sentence and analyze what made it

fall into a passive voice. Once I noticed that the mistake was in using the word “by,” I erased that

word and started to look at possible synonyms. However, since that did not work, I changed the

whole sentence as a whole, but not its message or meaning. Following up, since the topic for

essay #2 was more complex, I had to analyze more in depth, based on a compare and contrast
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way of thinking. In this case, some of the mistakes I had were related to the prepositions I used.

Changing this type of errors was easy, as I only had to change small words, and not a whole

sentence. For the last major essay, essay #3, I took an argumentative approach, when it came to

making any kind of revision and rhetorical choice. As previously faced, one of the most present

struggles I had was dealing with a passive voice tone. Newly, I also had to change a part of the

MLA formatting of my paper, as it did not follow the most recent MLA style guide.

To continue, another place where I made rhetorical choices was when designing my

portfolio website. In this case, in order to make any kind of changes I put myself in my

audiences’ shoes, and started thinking as if I was a random person opening my portfolio. Not

only that, but I also considered the possible outcome of the portfolio, when it came to grade

matters. One of the questions I asked myself in order to make my portfolio as functional as

possible was the following, “Is the portfolio easy to navigate through?” As I was creating the

portfolio, I kept that question in mind, and saw that some of my essays were not fluent enough.

More specifically, one of the biggest arguments I had with myself was on how I was supposed to

add each of my writings, trying to make it easy for the audience to read, but also keeping in mind

my class grade. The first thing I tried was to copy and paste each of my essays and assignments

as plain text inside of a tab of the portfolio. That option was disregarded, as it was easy for my

audience to read, but not beneficial for my grade. After going through a big episode of

desperation, I started to ask my classmates how they were adding their writings into the

portfolio. After taking into consideration the many options I had, I decided to add my essays as a

“Scribd Document” into each respective portfolio tab. I decided to follow this option, as it made

it easy for my audience to access my assignments, and it also followed the rules I was instructed

to work under better than the other option.

Furthermore, taking into consideration what aspects of the class guided me into making

each rhetorical choice is also important. For example, one of the aspects from the class that

helped me make good rhetorical choices were my assignments and any kind of given feedback.

To be more specific, three of the assignments that I took into consideration when doing any kind

of rhetorical choice, and that I also added into my portfolio, were “Helping Students Overcome

Writer’s Block,” “Reflection of Page 97,” and “Reflection on the Different Types of Fallacies.” I

took those three assignments into consideration, as their content is one that not only I can relate

to, but that other students, and “normal” people can feel identified with. For instance, the

assignment “Helping Students Overcome Writer’s Block,” contains information on how to help

not only students, but any kind of writer overcome that lack of idea that they go through when

starting to work on a paper. Next, I decided to use the assignment, “Reflection of Page 97,” as it

focuses on why the purpose and techniques used in writing are to be considered important.

Thirdly, I decided to use the homework activity, “Reflection on the Different Types of

Fallacies,” not only because it aligns with one of my major essay topics, but because it is related

to arguments, which is something that almost everyone in our current society goes through, on a

daily basis.

Moreover, the knowledge I absorbed from this class is also to be considered important.

Nevertheless, even though I did learn great facts and ways of working in this class, not all of

them can be used for the rest of my academic career. For example, one of the things I learned

while taking the class, English 1301, and that cannot be used in other classes is how to analyze a

community in a genre. This piece of knowledge, even though it was significant for this class, is

hard to use in any other academic setting, as not everything that is presented to me by other

teachers is a part of a community. To illustrate, let’s say that I’m given a physics test. How could
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I analyze a community of a genre, out of a plain set of questions? Not only that, but another

piece of understanding that can be “blocked” in other classes I take is how to structure a paper in

MLA format. Knowing how to structure a paper in MLA format was essential for this class, but

can be unhelpful in other classes, as teachers might require me to use another kind of paper

formatting, such as Chicago or APA style.

On the other hand, there were pieces of knowledge taken from my English 1301 class that

can be used in the rest of my academic environment. For instance, the most “basic” skill learned

in this class was writing skills. Writing skills can be used in the rest of my classes, even for those

that seem to be the complete opposite of writing. For example, I have used my writing skills in a

mathematics class when my teacher gave us a set of questions, only through a verbal way of

communication. Next, I have also used the writing skills learned in this class in a physics class,

when my teacher assigns writing activities that have to follow an academic format. More than

that, another skill I learned because of this class, and that can be used in other aspects of my

daily life, are argumentative skills. However, this does not mean that I learned how to argue with

someone while screaming at them, and not letting them talk, or present their point of view.

Instead, this means that I learned how a healthy argument should be structured, and what

“guidelines” it should follow, but how can I use that in my daily life? Simple arguments are

something I face everyday, and even though it could be the simplest argument, such as what

juice flavor is the best one, knowing how a healthy argument should be structured helps

everyone that is a part of it stay “formal and educated.”

Adding on to that, my writing style has also changed drastically because of this class.

More in detail, what I mean when I say that my writing style has changed, is that I now have

more writing strengths and weaknesses. For example, my major writing weakness that has
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changed because of this course is my insecurities. Thanks to taking English 1301, my writing

insecurities have decreased, when it comes to writing something that I have previously written.

For instance, if I was to be asked to write a second paper analyzing the argumentative techniques

of a peer reviewed article, I could do it with little problem. However, my insecurities did

increase when it comes to writing anything new or important. To exemplify, me writing this

reflective essay, and knowing how important it is when it comes to the grade of this class is

terrifying for me. On the other hand, one of the strengths I developed as I took this class is a

more “peaceful,” way of listening. What this means is that I can now see constructive criticism in

the right way. To illustrate, if someone was to criticize my writing before I had taken this class, I

would have stopped writing, and lost everything on my paper. Thankfully, I can now say that

constructive criticism lets me see not only the mistakes of my paper, but its future and the

possible strengths it might include.

Going back to the portfolio, creating it had many challenges that vary in difficulties. For

instance, one of the hardest aspects of creating this portfolio was to actually keep my brain

thinking and functioning. What this means is that I got to a point where everything I wanted to

do was throw my computer away, and do anything but the portfolio. This happened as I felt like

my portfolio was too basic for the possible audience it might reach. Following up, another one of

the difficult aspects of creating my portfolio was to keep it simple for my audience. At one point,

I thought that my portfolio had to look super fancy, but I gladly overcame that complicated weird

way of thinking, as I realized that not all of my audience might be interested in the display of my

content, but in the content itself. More than that, one of the easiest parts of my portfolio was to

choose a theme, and learn how to work with the features the web making program offered. At

first, I thought that using Weebly was going to be one of the hardest things to do out of this
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whole project. However, learning how to use Weebly was one of the easiest tasks to do, as

Weebly keeps everything organized in a simple and easy to use layout.

In conclusion, writing is now more than a bunch of words clustered together in a paper

that has to be turned in for a grade. In fact, even writing this essay has changed my identity as a

person, as I now have a greater vision on how to analyze different aspects of my writing skills.

To illustrate, this whole essay was based on me analyzing my writing style, and how it affects

different aspects of my life, apart from just taking a class, or even coming to school. Overall,

taking this course was an experience, full of rhetorical choices, analyzing experiences, working

with new absorbed knowledge, and learning how to interact not only with my classmates, but

with my professor, and different types of people that helped me become a better writer. For

instance, most of my rhetorical choices helped me create a well structured portfolio that is easy

for my audience to go through. All in all, taking this course was a joyful experience that helped

me become a better person, and a better student.