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.

I believe that throughout the course of the semester I have used practices that helped me improve all aspects of writing. The feedback, for example, that Professor Hodges offered on the Stone Money essay assignment was the first time I’d ever received criticism that tore my writing apart. That essay I wrote was really bad, and I only know that because I was forced to open my eyes more and focus on ways to fix it. The feedback provided on that essay, as well as the rest of my work, helped me think of ideas from a different perspective, which enabled me to form to concepts and ideas. Being able to read other feedback provided on other students’ work, and seeing how they improved from that also enabled me to improve. Seeing other people change or advance their ideas was influential in advancing my own work.

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.

I’ve learned that creating a discussion of information found from different texts is an important aspect to prove an argument. In my rebuttal argument, for example, I compared two stories of women who were raped and forced to suffer legal consequences after reporting their trauma. The comparison of the two allowed me to further prove my argument that the legal system can often be unfair and many people suffer from the unfairness in place. In addition, I used an unconventional source in my causal argument to prove my point. Instead of a print text, I found a visual text. The visual was a monologue about a young boy’s experience of rape, performed by an actor. This source is important because it represented a different point of view of sexual assault and rape culture that needs to be addressed so badly. So, I benefitted from the uniqueness by having it help prove my argument.

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.

I have analyzed and dissected my work to reflect my purposes of writing. All of the rewriting of the different arguments for the research paper assignment shows this. I am very passionate about discussing rape culture and achieving improvements in the way sexual assault is handled and discussed, so writing the definition, causal and rebuttal arguments has been enjoyable. I get to explain my own ideas and find evidence to prove that I am right. Something that I have learned to be more conscious of is the audience of my work. My writing is often tailored for people like me to read and understand, which is not really acceptable. The feedback provided on my first drafts of my definition, causal and rebuttal arguments explained that in order for my points to be solidly accepted, I must either find specific examples of evidence or explain my concepts thoroughly. I have attempted to do so in my argument rewrites.

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.

The role of literacy in writing is essential. Illustrations and evidence are the only things needed to prove a writer’s concepts. Without sources, there is no essay. In total, I have eleven sources. Each source has proven to be a huge contributor to furthering my ideas, no matter how long they are or what type of source they are from. My sources have also allowed me to expand my ideas by seeing things from a different perspective. The aforementioned monologue is something I would have never considered to use as a source in an essay; I would have normally just shared the link on Facebook. However, listening to the meaningful words spoken influenced me to consult Professor Hodges for approval. Using this seemingly unconventional source made me reevaluate my personal beliefs, which then made me develop clearer concepts that influenced by writing.

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.

Academic honesty must be implemented in order for a piece of writing to be accepted. As students, we have been taught to be honest and responsible throughout our career in school. I think I have clearly upheld the honesty and responsibility in my rebuttal argument. I immediately begin the argument by discussing the fact that there are indeed falsely reported rapes. I could have ignored this fact by not mentioning the statistic and could have proved my point that people in authority are discriminatory for no reason, but that would not have been honest of me. Instead, I address the fact, mentioning that it is an unfortunate reality. I then continue on in the argument to highlight the repercussions met by those who take this fact too seriously and ignore the truth. In addition, I portray ethical responsibility throughout my definition and causal arguments by referring to the sources each story came from.