Core Value I. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

In order to get the best out of your writing you must express variety throughout the writing process. Including repeating the editing steps and developing your writing into the best it can be. I already had an idea of this process but Professor Hodges helped open new doors in my mind on how to expand my writing. A good example of how effective this process can be is my own Stone Money Rewrite. In just one rewrite, the second draft of my Stone Money essay was significantly better. I utilized all of the useful practices provided to myself and you can notice the results. In a normal essay I would reread and rewrite an essay many times before I come to my final product. Using these recursive stages to get a polished draft.

Core Value II. My work demonstrates that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

No matter what you write about, there are generally two sides to every claim. Early in my writing career I have been told to look at the other side of my argument. Sometimes I would realize that the other side is correct or possibly that my argument was stronger than anticipated. Professor Hodges taught me that any given sentence could be an argument. Meaning there could always be another counterpart involved. A good example of this in my own writing is my Rebuttal Argument. My claim is that multivitamins are useless and sometimes even harmful. I recognize that vitamins may be very convenient, so I started with that fact. Then I went on with my point of view and continued to reinforce my claim.

Core Value III. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In my opinion analyzing the purpose, audience, and contexts of my writing is among the most important things to do. You obviously need to have a purpose for writing, and once you figure that out it is important to find out who the audience is to figure out how to word your context. A good example of myself analyzing these factors is my Definition Argument. My purpose is to inform people about the disadvantages of multivitamins. My audience would be adults who care about their and their children’s well being. I need to be intelligent and formal while writing to such an audience because they will not take anything seriously if it isn’t.

Core Value IV: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I have always known in order to have a good essay you must have reliable, and essential evidence to support my ideas. Many other classes I have taken had given me most of my sources. Professor Hodges had us on our own to find all of our sources. An example where I found an essential source is my Casual Rewrite. I only used one source, intending to add more, but the one source was so reliable I was able to finish the argument with just one source. It was great practice for when I have to find evidence on my own again. This course gave me great confidence in myself for when I have to find sources anytime in the future.

Core Value V. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Another essential aspect of writing is citing sources. No fictional essay would be possible if there were no sources, and you must give credit where it is due. This course has reiterated to me how important it is to accurately cite your sources. A great example of this is my Annotated Bibliography, where I cited all sources used in my portfolio work. Notice everything is correctly cited and there is even a brief paragraph of what the article is and how I used it.