A reflection of the semester

I can’t believe it is the end of the semester already. I definitely had a good time in this class and learned a lot! I can’t say that I was perfect throughout the entire semester, but I can sat that I learned a lot and that I definitely demonstrated the 5 core values of the FYWP throughout the semester.

The first core value is that we used “a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.” When we are writing, it is not always a straightforward or linear process. There are many things or activities that we have to do in order to get to the end, and do that, we do a lot of interactive activities in class all the time to help us prepare our research and writings.. For instance, for our definition argument, we did a definition feedback workshop in this link: https://compclass2021.com/revision/definition-feedback-workshop/. Basically, we received a paragraph each and had two versions of the same paragraph. One was the first draft and it also had some feedback on it, and the second one was the rewrite with some updates, and we analyzed the feedback in the first version of the paragraph, and then after that, we compared the rewrite to the original draft and we compared how much better the rewrite was compared to the original. By doing this, this gave us a preview on what our actually writing feedback process would look like.

The second core value is the importance of critical reading and analysis and the importance of understanding the texts and conversations. I think this semester, I have done a really good job at reading critically and using text into conversation. This link here is a good example: https://compclass2021.com/rhetoric-for-refutation/. This was for the rebuttal/refutation arguments, and we had to analyze the conversations that the author was having with the reader, and then we had to talk about what they were trying to refute in the comments. Here, it was talking about the fact that low income schools need a lot more government support because of the fact that the environment is ver difficult to learn in. It is also calling for a lot more financial support in the communities in general.

The third core value is that writing is shaped by audience, purpose, and context. When writing arguments, you want to see how other authors reach out to their audience and communicate. You want the argument to have a lot of purpose and to really get the point across. In my definition argument, https://compclass2021.com/2023/03/06/definition-rewrite-goodmusician440/, I made sure to really get my argument across. I wanted to really show that music really is healthy, and that it is something to be taken seriously. I specifically wanted to go for those that do not really listen to music along with those that are struggling with certain conditions like anxiety and depression along with blood pressure. This also translated well into my causal argument and my rebuttal argument as well.

The fourth core value is that in the writing, there were either illustrations or evidence used to support my ideas. My definition argument, https://compclass2021.com/2023/03/06/definition-rewrite-goodmusician440/, is a good example for this as well because there is so much evidence in there to support my argument. I have included quite a bit of sources that talk a lot about a lot of important things about music. Some of them give a lot of upsides to listening to music such as reducing stress hormones. That is a good thing because the chance of anxiety or depression getting worst is significantly reduced. The sources also touch on better sleep as well as reducing blood pressure. They also talk about music reducing negative thoughts and helping you control your emotions.

The final core value is that I respected my ethical responsibility and that I can represent my ideas fairly and to the sources. A good example is my causal argument, which is in this link: https://compclass2021.com/2023/03/26/causal/. Since we don’t really do citations in this class, I had to basically find a way to fairly use my sources to really bring out my ideas, and I did that by paraphrasing and providing the name of the source. In my argument, I talked a lot about how music can help fatigue to be significantly reduced. I used a study from Shangai University to really prove this, and I got it from healthlin.com. It is fair because it is not plagiarizing in any way, and yet, you are still using the sources in a fair way, and still getting your argument across.

Overall, I definitely feel like that I had a really productive semester and got a lot of stuff done throughout this semester. I also feel like that I have learned a lot, especially when it comes to making good arguments. It was definitely not easy by any means, especially because I had to do a lot of time managing on my own part, but I still enjoyed learning all of this content in this class. I definitely feel like that I demonstrated these 5 core values in this class, especially when it came to writing my essays and doing these class assignments. I feel like that I did a really good job at interacting in this class and really understanding the material that I was reading and putting all those words into application on my own part. I also think that I did good at correctly understanding the sources that I was using for my arguments and correctly correlating my arguments to my sources. I also think that I used them very fairly, even though that we could not really cite in this class. This class has definitely allowed me to think a lot deeper and to really comprehend what I am reading. I think that is the part I definitely love about this class most, and I definitely put all of that in my writing, and my demonstration of the 5 core values shows that very well.