Kluender 1

Anna Kluender
WR 13300
Dr. McLaughlin
May 2, 2017

Reflective Writers Statement

When I entered this course, I had some preconceived notions about writing, especially
about my own skill in writing. As Ive made my way through the assignments and papers
throughout the semester, Ive come to learn a thing or two about writing and, more importantly,
about myself. It sounds kind of funny, but Im most proud of the very first assignment in this
class: my Oral Narrative. That was the first paper Ive ever really dug into and seriously revised;
it was the first example of how to view writing as a process. The original draft of my narrative
isnt included in this portfolio, but trust me, it was a far cry from what you see now. As you will
note in my Narrative Reflection, I struggled with being concise yet powerful in my phrasing, as
well as working on my delivery. In the end, I pushed myself to make a draft that I felt did justice
to the event that I described and that I was extremely proud of. That was a large reason that I
chose not to do revisions on my Narrative; I was proud of the product Id created, and I felt that
my grade accurately reflected that.
Though my writing as a process may not be as outwardly evident in the Narrative
portions of my portfolio, I feel that other portionsespecially my Research Essayhighlight
how I moved throughout the writing process. In one of my very first blog posts, I wrote about
how I preferred to write fiction or prose instead of academic writing. Now, I feel that Ive grown
to appreciate and enjoy academic writing as I analyze its steps and complexities. This is most
evident in my Research Essay, the only assignment on which I performed major revisions. Just
like my Narrative, I was happy with my provisional grade for my Rhetorical Analysis, so I chose
not to revise that either. My Research Essay, however, did have room to improve, and since I
spent so much time invested in my topic, I wanted to do it justice. I chose to rework the
introduction and conclusion with a goal of being more specific and pointed in my descriptions. I
chose to add in a little more cited evidence and included a more substantial definition of critical
media literacy at the end. I feel that my new intro and conclusion anchor my paper and help to
set the scene for my analysis. I also tried to back up some more claims throughout the paper as
 Kluender 2

well as strengthened my composition by working to take out passive voice (which Ive learned I
have a problem with). As can be seen in the supporting documents I uploaded with my Research
Essay, I changed my focus and sources quite a bit throughout the writing process, but ultimately
feel that this process helped my draft to become stronger and more effective in its persuasion of
readers.
Since this is a multimedia writing course, it seems fitting that my conclusion of my
research paper focuses on critical medial literacy as a solution to one of the problems I discuss in
my paper. As Ive worked through the various assigned readings using the lenses provided to us
by authors like Herrick and Lancioni, Ive learned to look past overt messages to see what
authors and creators have at stake in what they create, as well as what rhetorical tools they use to
accomplish that. Though I discuss critical media literacy in an in-depth manner at the end of my
Research Essay, I feel that my Rhetorical Analysis also shows how I can be engaged with a
sourceespecially a multimedia oneand analyze it through a rhetorical lens. In my Rhetorical
Analysis, I display my skills at picking out subtle messages and arguments in multimedia
sources; in my Research Essay, I prove why thats important.
In working through my Rhetorical Analysis, I became very acquainted with rhetorical
techniques and how the director of Happy targeted his claims to his American audience. That
entire paper was based upon my ability to identify and analyze rhetorical concepts, and it truly
helped me to see what can be hidden in the multimedia that I take in every day. While I also use
a rhetorical delivery in my Oral Narrative and Ted Talk, as well as an analysis of the strategies
present in ads and music videos in my Research Essay, I felt that the Rhetorical Analysis was the
clearest example of my ability to analyze and identify rhetorical arguments. It also gave me
experience in identifying context, audience, and appeals in a medium that is often not thought of
as rhetorical.
Since I invested the most time and work into my Research Essay, and it was sort of the
culminating project of the course, I feel that it serves as a great example for many of the goals of
the class. For example, I had to be creative in how I used the sources that I found. Even with
using the research techniques we learned in the library, my argument had to be explained by
using my sources as a lens to analyze other pieces of media instead of as an authority on which
to base my argument. I had to be inventive in how I analyzed especially the music videos, as
most academic sources that I found analyzed the exact opposite kind of music videos than those
 Kluender 3

on which I focused. I feel that this helped me strengthen my research and analysis skills
throughout the writing of this paper, and I know that these will be useful as I continue the rest of
my collegiate writing career.
What I think is most important to take away from this portfolio is the high level of
engagement I felt with both my first and last papers. As I mentioned, I loved the Narrative
assignment because it felt like I was telling a story, which has traditionally been my preferred
method of writing. However, I felt a similar level of engagement with my Research Essay by the
end of the course. This huge, academic research paper with an oral presentationI shouldve
hated it, based upon what I said about my writing preferences coming into this semester.
However, I ended up loving my topic and enjoyed pushing myself to craft a thoughtful, rhetorical
argument. Creating an engaging yet academic presentation full of academic sources across all
types of media and genres became very interesting and Im glad I had the opportunity to explore
that through this class and that assignment in particular.