Michael Camareno

Dr. Guenzel

ENC 1102-0M31

22 April 2019

As this spring semester comes to a close, I can truly say that my skills as a writer have

benefited from ENC1102. From the various reading responses to being tasked with rhetorically

analyzing a piece of writing, everything this class required of its students has helped evolve the

way I approach the writing process. All of the work compiled in my e-Portfolio aids in showing

my growth as a writer, eliminating bad habits along the course of the semester. ENC1102 has

also provided me with a much better perception of argumentative and rhetorical approaches,

concepts that can also be applicable to things outside of an English classroom. The four learning

outcomes listed in this self-assessment exemplify what is required of ENC1102 students. These

outcomes represent the understanding and capabilities I acquired throughout the semester.

Outcome 1: Students will be able to analyze and synthesize complex texts in ways that

demonstrate an understanding of the situated and intertextual nature of writing and research.

One of the most stressed aspects of this course was the importance of peer-reviewing and

editing. As an editor, you WANT to find things wrong in the writing in order to give proper

corrections. It does you, the peer-reviewer, and the other person, the author, no good if you have

no corrections/some sort of advice to offer. Just like the editor would like to see things corrected,

the author wants that just as more. It benefits both parties. As I progressed through this course, I
grew fonder of that concept and understood just how significant it is. Below are examples of how

I have reviewed my classmate’s works and how they have reviewed mine.

Figure 1: An example of me peer-reviewing one of my classmate's work.

Figure 2: Example of my classmates peer-reviewing my work.

Another important facet of Outcome 1 is the importance of correctly summarizing and citing a

piece of work. Because of my great familiarity with MLA formatting, this was not seen as an
issue for me. Below, Fig. 3 shows one of the assignments we were tasked with in ENC 1102: a

research dossier. This assignment is an example of how I conducted research, found sources, and

successfully summarized/cited them in MLA format.

Figure 3: Evidence from my Research Dossier, where I summarized and cited my sources in
MLA format.

Outcome 2: Students will engage in a recursive, inquiry-based writing and research process that

is meaningful for a specific community.

As I wrote in one of my earliest blog posts, I had trouble during the beginning stages of

my research process. One of my biggest struggles was forming a research question that was

meaningful for a specific community. In my case, it was forming a research question related to
my major of Legal Studies. Ultimately, my research question involved the topic of attorney-

client privilege, communication between a lawyer and his/her clients. After framing this research

question, it was time to conduct research. Through ENC1102, I was able to access UCF’s library

to explore databases such as Google Scholar, JSTOR, etc. After taking the time to examine all of

my options, I found a considerable number of scholarly articles/websites for my research paper,

and I was able to assemble them all into a Digital Paper Trail (DPT), one of the assignments we

were tasked with this semester. Pictured below is my DPT, which shows the sources I

accumulated throughout my research.

Figure 4: A picture of my Digital Paper Trail (DPT), showing scholarly sources I found during
my research process.
Outcome 3: Students will be able to interpret their research findings in order to produce

arguments that matter to specific communities by addressing real-world exigencies.

The topic of rhetorically analyzing a text was one of the most predominant ones during

this course. In order for a student to demonstrate this outcome, we must be able to "produce an

argument that involves analysis.” When it comes to argumentative writing, it is important that

one is able to identify both sides of an argument. Throughout this ENC1102 class, my classmates

and I were assigned to discover a source, acknowledge the author’s argument, and rhetorically

analyze it. Through this Rhetorical Analysis assignment, I analyzed both the outside of the text

(context and rhetorical situation, kairos, intertextuality, discourse) as well as the inside of the text

(logos: modes of argumentation and narrative).

Outcome 4: Students will examine their own conceptions of writing and research in response to

their inquiry, reading, and writing throughout the course.

Growing up, writing has never come easy to me. It has always been a foreign concept for

me to be tasked with an assignment and know exactly what I want to write in that moment. For

me, the writing process is a long and strenuous one. That being said, this course has tested me in

ways I am not used to. Though it has helped me develop fully as writer, it took a lot of hard work

to get to the point where I am at currently. One thing I liked most about this course was how

everything was related to one another. As the course progressed and more and more assignments

were being completed (or not completed), I had a better understanding of everything I had
learned. I like to think of all the assignments as building blocks, each one adding another layer of

understanding to the other.