WP 1

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My Reflection

When I heard we were doing an assignment that required us to translate an academic

article into a new genre I had no idea what kind of article I should choose or what genre to

translate it into. Then you said we could write about something that has to do with our major but

I didn't really want to since at the time I wasn’t sure if I was going to switch yet. So then I started

to think about first gen students and their struggles. I felt like I wanted to write about something

that has to do with first gen students since I am one too. But what about first gen students?

Should I write about their mental health or struggles when entering college or how they feel like

they don’t fit in? Or should I write about something else that I’m interested in? Then I thought

about what I was feeling throughout my first year and my experiences and thought that the topic

I should write about is imposter syndrome in college students.

When it came to what genre I should translate it to I was still clueless. But I ended up

choosing to make it into an Instagram post but not an ordinary Instagram post an infographic

one. The audience are people who are on Instagram that follow informative accounts and mental

health accounts. These people like to know what is going on in the world and they want to be

knowledgeable in topics they don’t know about. But since my topic is about imposter syndrome I

feel like my audience would most likely be people who follow mental health accounts. The

writer/creator (me) is engaging with the audience because it has slides and they'll slide to the

next one to read more about the topic. My strategy for successfully translating my academic text

is taking the most important information and putting it on slides. Like the definition of imposter
syndrome, why does it occur and who has it? I said that I was going to include the surveys she

made students take but I feel like my post has a good flow without them. At the last minute I

wanted to change my genre translation to one of the students she interviewed writing in their

journal about what they learned about imposter syndrome after taking her survey. I really liked

this idea but I felt like I’m a bit too preoccupied at the time. Even though I didn’t go with my

second idea, I am very pleased with what I’ve come up with.

Translating is not an easy task; you have to come up with what you want to include. Then

ask yourself if what you’re including is too little or too much. When I thought back about our

past readings I remembered about the essay, How to Read Like a Writer by Mike Bunn, and how

as a writer we should focus on what we are reading and ponder the questions why did the author

decide to include that, what was the motive, what do they want the audience to take from that.

Bunn states, “The goal as you read like a writer is to locate what you believe are the most

important writerly choices represented in the text”(72). Taking that into mind, I read the

academic article and as I was reading I kept thinking whether the information is good enough for

me to include in my translation.

Engagement with the audience that's a big one. Am I doing enough to engage? As I said

before I’m engaging with my audience through this post and that they are engaging with it

because they are swiping to find out more about imposter syndrome. Laura Bolin Carroll in her

essay, she said that us as writers should come into a project prepared to engage with my

audience, reflect on my writing choices, and the constraints that could potentially be held in my

place. I feel like I’ve reflected on my writing choices very well. I thought about what I should

include and in what order I should put them in. Writing about imposter syndrome a topic not

many may know of is tough because you have to include what you think is important for them to
remember but sometimes I feel like it isn't enough. I initially started off with the definition

because like I said not many people know what it is. But after receiving some suggestions I put a

quote after my “title page” to entice people and after the quote I put the definition. I also

included examples of how a person with imposter syndrome might feel and who it may be

affecting.

Imposter syndrome is when someone feels like they don’t belong or feel like a phony.

When I first arrived at UCSB, I always thought I didn’t belong. I felt like I didn’t belong because

everyone took a bunch of AP classes while I didn’t. Then one day as I was scrolling on TikTok I

saw a person talking about first generation students and college and how they might feel like

they don’t fit in and called it imposter syndrome. It’s very common in college students and even

more common in those who are first generation. When I read the article, it mentioned how it can

prevent students from reaching their goals and what they wanted to do from the start. They start

doubting themselves and when something good happens we blame it on luck or whatever. We

need to remind ourselves that we do belong here and how we got to be there. For example when

it comes to school, I have to remind myself that I belong here and how I studied very hard to get

straight A’s in high school. I have to remind myself that no one is judging me and it’s okay to ask

for help because asking for help doesn’t mean I’m incompetent. Just say to myself hey, not

everything is about you.

Any person can have feelings of imposter syndrome. It doesn’t matter how old you are or

what your race/ethnicity is. But sometimes it does affect certain populations a little more. This

project was very interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever had to translate anything into a different

genre. I guess for me the difficult part was choosing what I wanted my topic to be about and

what genre I should change it to. The peer review is what made me realize that I could’ve gone
with a different approach on the genre but it’s okay because I am satisfied with what I’ve come

up with.

Bibliography

Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2,
edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Anderson, South Carolina, Parlor Press, 2011.

Carroll, Laura. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Writing Spaces:
Readings on Writing, Volume 1, edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Anderson, South
Carolina, Parlor Press, 2010.