Reem

Zaitoon
Karen Tucker
ENC2135
1 December 2015

Semester Reflection

I can confidently say that my work in this class has thoroughly complicated

my writing practices and theories in a good way. I was always a very curt and
concise writer because I thought that long and decorative syntax in writing was
excessive and unnecessary. However, when done correctly, the use of details and
explanations can go a long way in effectively delivering an argument. Details always
looked ornamental and I usually saw them as an optional element that goes into
writing but this class has challenged my conventional practice of not including
enough details. I learned that doing something as simple as describing the
environment or setting can greatly affect how a reader views a written piece of
work.

Something else that significantly challenged my traditional writing habits

was borrowing from other writers and stealing writers styles and strategies. I
always thought that it was unoriginal and imitative to copy the strategies and styles
of other writers. However, using the magpies nest metaphor that was introduced
to me in class, I now welcome the idea of imitating other writers styles. Using the
magpies nest metaphor I am now able to use the rhetorical strategies of other
writers in order to make my arguments more effective on my audience. For
example, by studying the different genre conventions in class and by observing how
writers incorporate their own styles into the genres, I have learned how to similarly
add my own flair to written pieces.

Reem Zaitoon
Karen Tucker
ENC2135
1 December 2015

The final element in which this class has beneficially challenged my writing
conventions is through format. I have always written my papers and essays in
haphazard manners, not really caring about the rules of margin indents and spacing
rules. Therefore, this class has forced me to start paying better attention to the MLA
format and the use of parenthetical citations. As this classs instructor has put so
effectively, this class has allowed me to be wild and free in my writing but strict and
to the point in my citing.