Kyle Sager

UWP1
11/21/16

A Moment of Reflection

Taking the University Writing program at UC Davis has been a valuable experience for me, as
I begin my journey through college. Coming into this class, I was unsure of where my writing
abilities were, as my works had received mixed feedback in the past. I discovered I had some
learning to do, as my writing was not as good as I had previously been told by others. This was a
bit of a setback, but I decided to use it to my advantage, to further grow my skills in writing and
public speaking. I could not be happier with the results- over the past nine weeks, I have noticed
a shift in the style of my writing. This is due to learning about the use of rhetorical knowledge,
processes, knowledge of conventions, research, and metacognition. The concept of
metacognition, or reflection, is present throughout this essay, as this work serves to provide
reflection upon the writings and other aspects of this course.

The Rhetorical concepts of this course were numerous, consisting of elements such as purpose,
genre, audience, and mode. Coming into this class, I did not fully understand genre, as it was one
of those concepts my previous teachers only briefly discussed. From some of the readings and
activities in class, I learned genre can be thought of as a traditional way of presenting
information. The example that made most sense to me was the day our instructor assigned us the
project of finding genres. These consisted of anything we could find inside or outside of the
classroom. The list I generated had an expansive range of genres, from those found in emails to
club announcements. This activity taught me that many genres exist, and certain pieces of
information or writing have a unique genre; a form one would traditionally expect. For example,
a club announcement would have a few keywords written in large font, and a bit of information

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below. It differs from other forms of writings due to its specific nature. A research paper also has
a traditional genre, and learning the form of it was crucial for better development and
presentation of this essay.

My essays for this class include mostly traditional modes, but also incorporate visual elements.
For my literacy narrative, I felt a traditional print essay would be the best choice. It allows me to
express my experience in a direct, easy to understand way that engages the reader. For my
research paper on discourse communities, I combined a traditional print medium with extensive
visual elements to better illustrate my argument, and provide physical examples. In multiple
instances, the visual elements provide verification of what I am stating in my essay, as they
provide examples of the same discourse used by others. They also break up the paper, which
could possibly seem to be monotonous without them. These factors combined make up the style
of rhetoric and syntax used in my essays.

Writing these essays was different than my experiences in high school composition, as the
process was unlike anything I had done before. To start off, the depth of the prompts were way
past those I had previously responded to. The questions were thought provoking, yet were
difficult to respond to in a complete manner. After the first draft of the essay was complete, we
had peer response in class. In the past, peer response proved to be unhelpful, as my peer
responders found it easier to say my essay was fine rather than critique it. In a college writing
class, I expected the peer response to be more helpful, and really assist in creating better
understanding for my audience. However, for the most part this proved to be untrue once again.
While one or two of my peer responders offered some insightful feedback, most of the responses

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were unhelpful. When comparing my draft before peer review to the one after, the differences
might pass by unnoticed. I appreciated the honest feedback I received from my instructor about
my literacy narrative, as he offered a different perspective on the tone and direction of it. Upon
reflection, I understood his viewpoint, and was able to go in depth to my revision, creating a
better draft. After this second draft, I let the paper sit for a few days, giving myself time to almost
forget what I had wrote. I find this step crucial for creating better understanding and clarity in my
essays. This allows me to read what I wrote with little recollection on the content and structure,
therefore giving me the same reading experience as others. After making even more revisions, I
had what I considered to be a final product.

Another part of the writing process that was new to me was the amount of time I had invested
into my work. In the past, I would often write one draft, and turn that draft in as a finished
product. This course taught me that the process of writing is only getting started after the first
draft. As Anne Lamott says in her work Shitty First Drafts, The first draft is the child's draft,
where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going
to see it and that you can shape it later. The second, third, and even fourth drafts are where the
refining comes into play. Each essay required this, and as a result my essays increased in quality
with every new draft, ultimately culminating in a greater final product.

Learning about conventions of a writing class was another new experience for me. For the
research paper, we were asked to use APA style formatting, something I had not heard of or
utilized before. I learned that this style is widely accepted among writers, and a common form
for essays such as research papers. The community of writers must format pieces of literature

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like this so those writing and reading the works can better understand the information and its
origins. The language required for this course was academic, at least for the most part. During
class discussions, and in my personal journal, this language would often stray to a more informal
tone and word choice to better represent the thoughts that quickly arose in my mind. The
language used among the discourse community I am a part of and analyzed for my research
paper is far from academic, as many terms are not even words. Much of the language that is used
is basic, and mixed with slang. As a member of both this discourse community, and the academic
discourse community of our course, I find the need for multiple discourses in my life. No one
discourse is acceptable or understood in a particular setting, but rather an expected discourse
exists. My academic discourse has grown over the past quarter, as I have learned new terms that
were previously unknown to me.

Research was required for both the following essays, but in two completely different manners.
For the literacy narrative, the research came in the form of the assigned readings for class. I
argue this is research due to the fact that we would read the selected texts, and annotate them for
valuable concepts or information. It is a form of less traditional research, but is still acquiring
information in a way that mimics research of a particular topic- our topic just happened to be that
of writing a literacy narrative.
For the discourse community paper, more traditional research was in order, along with reading
research. I utilized both primary sources directly from my discourse community, and secondary
sources of works discussing the definition. For my primary research, I gathered sources from my
community through online forums and presented my findings, which show that the community in
question is a discourse community. The secondary research provides strength to this argument, as

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it incorporates ideas on what constitutes a discourse community from well respected writers.
Learning how to cite my research, as previously discussed, added another layer to a skill I had
not had to use in high school. Writing the annotated bibliography was something that was
completely new to me, but I understand why it is important to do so. This way, a reader can
better grasp why the source was used, and the significance it has to my argument and the work as
a whole.

With more time, all the works in this portfolio could be improved. That being said, there is not
infinite time for working on these three essays. I would focus additional time on my literacy
narrative to begin. While it gives a decent account of my literacy, at times it does not read like a
story, and begins to adopt an informing and dry tone- I personally feel it might be a bit hard to
understand. That being said, the prompt was the most difficult one for me, and I believe I
extensively answered it. The research paper is how I want it to be- it presents an argument for a
particular discourse community by using primary and secondary sources. If I were to make an
improvement, it could be a little more interesting to the average reader. The subject interests me,
but perhaps could get a bit dry to those who do not share my enthusiasm.

The skills and information I have learned in this course will be beneficial for both my career
and my college education. Writing is a crucial skill that even as an engineer I must master, as it is
a way to communicate thoughts, plans, and proposals to others. In particular, I appreciate that
this course taught me to construct an essay of substantial length. Before this course, writing an
essay this long was a very rare occurrence- now I feel confident that I can consistently do so. A
byproduct of this is I have learned to better elaborate on my ideas, which is a useful skill for both

Kyle Sager
future courses and the job market. It allows me to demonstrate my ideas and thoughts with more
clarity and understanding to those I am communicating with. Finally, I feel this course was
instrumental in preparing me for my future college and work experience. The nature of the
projects was different than most classes I have been a part of- usually, the length and depth of the
projects would be less, but more frequent in number. With this course, I had to employ skills
such as time management, to plan out when I would complete the various components and
revisions of the essays. By starting a project earlier, a better finished product will result due to
the thought and time invested. In future courses and careers, these concepts will assist me to
accomplish more, and with a better end result.