Reflection Statement

After considering the work I have done through the lens of The Five Core Values of

First-Year Writing Program, I realize what components made such a difference in my work.

Revisiting these core values was particularly easy because of the lengths we studied them last

semester in College Composition I. To prove that I understand and have met the requirements of

the five core values, I have several pieces of work and in class tasks that do so. The five different

core values can be found throughout the course of this class, from beginning to end, and are all

represented differently.

To begin, at the start of the semester core value two was quickly reintroduced to us

within the process of finding a topic that would contribute to deep and meaningful, semester long

research intensive. This part of the class was for sure the most important because the rest of the

class was going to be based on this topic and all it had to offer. Quickly, I realized that I had a

strong gravitation towards women's rights and equality within the country. I thought to myself

“how can I make that the focal point of my research?” and “what can I incorporate to give me a

wider playing ground?” I decided that since I was an athlete and a woman of color that I would

make my research focus on the Title IX legislation and how it affects me and other students in

their everyday life. That was a huge step for me and soon after, I knew that it was the right way

to go. I headed to RefWorks and started the search for sources that would give me the upper

hand in creating the perfect basis for my soon to come essays. As core value two states, “close

and critical reading/analysis is necessary for listening to and questioning texts, arriving at a

thoughtful understanding of those texts, and joining the academic and/or public conversations
represented by those texts.” After my search for sources regarding Title IX, discrimination,

women’s right/ equality, and sexual harassment within educational settings, core value two

presented itself the most. I had to dive deep within the sources and annotate them with ofcourse

an open mind. It was important for me to do so because that was the only way that I could then

challenge the theories of authors and come up with proposals of my own. Completing this part of

the process made it easier for me when the time cam to write my argumentative and proposal

essays.

As more time passed in the semester, core value three stood out to me within a particular

assignment. I had to create an Issue Background Presentation. This presentation’s sole purpose

was to introduce my topic and its components to my classmates and professor. For example, I

included the definition, history, significance, importance and impact of the Title IX legislation.

This was a crucial part of my research because even though I already had a topic chosen, the

feedback and response from my classmates and professor would show me if I had enough

information to support a whole semester's worth of research or if the topic was even making

sense/ catching their attention. As specified by Rowan University’s First-Year Writing Program,

“Writing is an act of communication that involves an author writing for a purpose and for an

audience in a specific context”. That of which core value three states. Along with the feedback

given from my Issue Background Presentation, we often had class sessions where we would read

each others essays and give constructive criticism or even just a status on where each others

essays where in terms of completion. That was known as peer review days and especially after

learning how to give proper feedback, I found that my writing came out much better. Peer review
made it easy to go back and revise my essays based on what my classmates and professor

thought my essay lacked or did a great job at including.

Further along in College Composition II, core value five presented a great point to aid in

the writing of our first essay. It states that, “writing has power and comes with ethical

responsibilities”. Understanding those two key terms was very important and reminded me that it

was crucial to remember the purpose I had for writing my essays, particularly my argumentative.

In order to state points and recognize theories from authors represented in my chosen sources, I

had to make sure I was properly citing the authors ideas and accurately representing their work.

Taken from my essay, Disregard of the Title IX, I specify that the vivid picture of the ideal future

was given to us by one of USA Today’s sports journalists, Christine Brennan. I enjoyed the

picture she made readers see when she wrote her excerpt and for that reason, I cited her work and

built off of her ideas. My professor had said to us during the writing process that it was

completely okay to find an idea that we felt strongly about and build from it in our own way.

That was a really helpful piece of advise and I always remembered that during my writing

process.

To continue, the core values continued to reveal themselves as the semester went along

and especially in this particular part of the semester, core value four was very helpful. As

opposed to the argumentative essay, the proposal essay pinpoints the main ideas of the topic and

proposes a solution to the problem at hand. This essay gives a sharper view on the issue and what

can be done to prevent it. Core value four states that, “you will need to develop the skills

necessary to locate and evaluate source information in a digital environment, to determine which
information to incorporate into your own writing depending on the rhetorical situation, and to

document your sources appropriately.” In other words, we need to possess information literacy

skills so that we don’t entertain unimportant and useless information when given a lump some of

it. It is easy to ramble on about what a topic has to offer and all of its implications. The easiest

way I knew to stay away from doing so was to give testimonials of my own so that the insight

was given directly from me and broken down so the point of the matter was tackled head on.

Being A student athlete, let alone an African American female, is stressful at times. I made sure

to use my experiences and hardships to get the message across that the Title IX legislation is still

struggling. With all that being said, it was easy to propose an idea that could prevent any type of

hardship from occurring to anyone, let alone a student who pays a lot of money to attend higher

education. By using the testimonials of my teammates as well and what they went through with

Rowan University and the media, a proposal for change seemed like the only logical thing to do.

Last but not least, core value one was one of the most frequently used core values not

only in this semester, but the whole year. As stated by Rowan University’s First-Year Writing

Program, “writing is a practice that involves a multi-stage, recursive and social process. In other

words, any body of work written requires intensive development and research over time to

produce the best results.” This core value can be used amongst every aspect in the writing

process, especially the revision process. After the completion of an essay, it goes through a peer

review process and then a re-revision is done to make sure that it is the best it can be. This year

has taught me that once copy of an essay is never the end and that there can always be
improvements made on research proposals and essays that include information on any given

topic.

Throughout my freshman year here at Rowan, I have become a stronger writer and even a

more helpful and productive peer reviewer. Learning those special skills is definitely going to

take me very far in my college career. When it comes to the core values stressed to us students in

the First-Year Writing Program, we will always remember them and writing reflections like

these help us realize just how useful they really were. From the beginning of the semester, when

the workload isn’t as heavy, all the way through the end where the execution of essays

determines the amount of success you have, the core values are instilled in us and are a huge part

of our success. There is always improvement to be made and with the core values, our goals that

once seemed difficult and unreachable can be achieved.