Reflection on Project 2

Reflection on Project 2 

Reflecting on the writing process is instrumental in helping yourself become a better writer. Below is my reflection on project 2.

OUTRAM, RICHARD. "Snowdon Reflection" 12/6/08 via Wikimedia Commons.  Creative Commons Attribution.

• What was specifically revised from one draft to another? 
• My first draft for the rhetorical analysis project had mostly summary and not enough analysis. That being said for the second draft I tried to mainly work on revising the amount of analysis which I had. Additionally, I tried to focus on the logistics of different types of punctuation which was a main focus during project 2. I tried to revise in efforts to use varying sentence structure and implement different tactics at getting the reader interested in the topic at hand. 
• Point to global changes: how did you reconsider your thesis or organization? 
• My original thesis was somewhat dry and boring for a reader to read. In my revision of the thesis I tried to make the two sentences have more fluidity and be more interesting for the reader to read while indicating that the paper would be about something interesting rather than just boring and informational. Additionally, I tried to break up the paper into a number of different paragraphs rather than just a few long one. This made it the writing less boring while splitting it up into number of different topics for the reader. 
• What led you to these changes? A reconsideration of audience? A shift in purpose? 
• I decided to make these changes based on the audience that would be reading my writing. Project 2 was supposed to be an informational piece showing a freshman in my subject how to write a rhetorical analysis. That being said, I decided to incorporate more of the rhetorical situation into the writing rather than just analyzing the different types of appeals present in the article. 
• How do these changes affect your credibility as a writer? 
• I think that by revising my writing in order to encompass more of a variety of things shows that I am a more credible writer because I understand the concepts of rhetorical devices more thoroughly and not just on the surface level. Additionally, by adding analysis to the writing I show that I don't just know how to restate what is said in an article but I am able to show understanding of meaning in it. 
• How will these changes better address the audience or venue? 
• Due to the fact that the audience is comprised of freshman in my field I think that by providing more evidence from the article which I analyzed they will have a better understanding of how to craft a work of writing in the field of engineering. 
• Point to local changes: How did you reconsider sentence structure and style? 
• Based off of the various points in punctuation that I have read up on I tried to vary sentence structure in efforts of keeping the reader's attention. I think that by adding different types of sentence structure and style I am better equipped to help them understand the lengths they must go to in their own writing. 
• How will these changes assist your audience in understanding your purpose? 
•  These changes will be more effective in indicating to the reader what is necessary to include when crafting a paper in the field of engineering. By varying the sentence structure it shows the reader how to also keep their future audience involved. 
• Did you have to reconsider the conventions of the particular genre in which you are writing? 
• I did not have to reconsider the conventions based on the genre that much. During our first project there were a number of new and foreign conventions which I had not dealt with before but during project two I was more familiar with the various conventions of the essay and understood them from the beginning so I did not have to change much in the revision. 
• Finally, how does the process of reflection help you reconsider your identity as a writer? 
• Reflection helps me to recognize my strengths and my weaknesses in writing as I continue on with my various genres of writing. It helps me to understand the different conventions in the genre I am writing in and capitalize on those to take with me into my future writings. 

Reflection:

 I read both Chris's reflection as well as Olivia's reflection. I felt like I could really connect to Chris because both of us focused on adding analysis to our writing through the revision process. I think that this is a really important step in the revision process and it was nice to know that others were focusing on the same sorts of things. After reading Olivia's reflection I realized that she had used a number of peer suggestions in her revision process similarly to what I had done. Although I did not use all of the suggested revisions on my writing I feel like I could connect with Olivia because I often find it difficult to find what to revise without the help of others. It was interesting to hear about other's reflections on the drafting and revision process of Project 2.