Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Going into my freshman year, I would definitely say I was a beginner writer. Coming from a school where the education isn’t the greatest and teachers leaving left and right. I wasn’t really ever taught how to properly write an essay. However, Comp I and Comp II definitely helped me become a better writer. This course specifically challenged me to go outside of my comfort box and explore the realms of writing. The assignment that challenged me was the visual rhetoric. This assignment was something that was brand new to me and something that I have never remotely come close to doing. I have never described anything with such specific details, yet after the first couple of seconds of the ad, I knew what to look for and things to describe. 

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Taking this class this semester really opened my eyes to look at situations in a different perspective. Many of the topics that were brought up in class I always initially disagreed with. However, by the time the argument was explained I somehow ended up agreeing with the opposing side. I always admired the way that the topic was brought up and how you have to initially question the argument. This made me want to relay this into my argumentative essays, example being my rebuttal essay. When writing my three separate essays, my overall hypothesis summed up was that Zoos can help prevent endangered species from going extinct. However, the more I read about the subject the more I thought about how maybe zoos can’t help the animals. But, once I did enough research on this subject, it made me stick to my original hypothesis. 

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I think when coming into this semester, I didn’t really know how to pull an audience in with my writing. My first couple sentences were usually a question backed up with an answer or just background information that didn’t need to be said in the first couple of sentences. During class, the professor said that your first sentence should make your reader want to read the second sentence and your second sentence should make your reader want to read the third sentence and so forth. The reader should not feel bored and uninterested when reading the first couple sentences. So that’s why I really tried to pull the reader in with my Causal Essay. This essay I really tried to grab the reader’s attention and tried to never let it go. 

Core Value 4: 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.

This core value is where I improved the most, I was able to really expand my knowledge when locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations. The visual rhetoric definitely helped to do so. The class was assigned a 30 second video and needed to write down every single detail in the video, from location, to what they were wearing, to what they were doing and how they were feeling. If I would’ve had this same assignment in the beginning of the year I don’t think I would be as detailed or specific as I am now. I never could imagine myself picking apart a 30 second video and writing almost 2000 words on it. I was very impressed with myself that I was able to accomplish this assignment. 

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Going into this semester I came in with the background of how to properly use citations and how to present a reference page. However, what I didn’t know was that there were different forms of citations when using different formats; MLA and APA. I was always used to using the MLA format that I quite frankly didn’t think that there was any others. But my Research Essay has definitely helped me to master the proper format of citations and where to use them, as well as properly writing my reference page. There were a few tweaks that I needed to make when writing the references, examples being shortening the links so making sure that all of the information was there that needed to be stated.