Yang Xu

Professor Warwick
Writing 2
21 March 2023

Dear Dr. Warwick,

I used to consider my writing education to be very careful and thorough. This is because, as
an international student, I had to do a lot of training on writing in order to deal with the
writing requirements of language evaluating tests such as the TOEFL and the SAT. These
writing skills, such as sentence structure, the five-paragraph essay template, and how to be
persuasive, well allowed me to handle the writing requirements of high school and even the
linguistic course I took recently. Looking back at the writing assignments I had written, they
often did not require extremely deep thinking. Instead, it basically asks me to found the right
words to throw into those corresponding templates and then I get a quite decent essay.
However, after this semester of study, the writing skills and even the standard writing
templates that I once felt so confident in are slowly becoming insufficient. Most of the writing
assignments that I faced this semester were assignments that I had never seen before and
that I was initially intimidated by and scared to start. For example, in project 1, not only had I
never heard of the idea of “Collage”, but I also had never heard of a "writing log". Such lacks
of practical experience led me to worry many times that I would not be able to follow these
steps and thus lose the whole project1 and end up with a bad letter grade. To be honest, I
was hesitant to drop the class many times in the first couple of weeks. However, the turning
point came in the third week when I read about the discussion about genres, and this become
one of the most refreshing things I have learned this semester. In the article "Make Your
‘Move’: Writing In Genres”, the author mentions that "When we repeatedly encounter texts
within a genre, we get a sense of the language and content” (Jacobson Pawlowski Tardy 218).
This statement inspired me to feel that most of the essays I had written for exams or
assignments were limited and focus only to specific genre. Therefore, after constant practice
within these specific genres, I got familiar with them and that is why I am confident. However,
this semester, I encountered some writing genres I had never seen before, which is why it
caused me to panic. This quote from the author made me realize that I just hadn't experienced
it, not means that I lacked the ability to do so. With this inspiration, I had the courage to step
out of the comfort zone of writing that I belonged to. As a result, when I actually followed the
instructions and started each project builders, I realized that these very unfamiliar genres were
not completely out of my reach.

However, obviously, not all attempts lead to the right direction. Therefore, I gratefully
appreciate those brainstorming activities which captured flashes of inspiration and the
guidance brought by each Project Builders. At the beginning of this quarter’s study, when I
saw those lengthy Project Builders and related activities, my impression was that these things
were unnecessary and a waste of time. This kind of thinking may cause by the formulaic
writing requirements in the past, which I was assigned a topic and given a period of time to
complete the entire writing at once. But the fact is contrary to what I thought, after completing
(with some kind of unwillingness) the first few Project Builders, I truly realized the decisive
help brought by these Project Builders. That is, when I look back at these PB tasks I have done,
I find that these are actually the decomposition of a project. Then, just like its name, I can
really use these blocks to "build" the project content I want. I would say that this really gave
me a sense of accomplishment when doing so. Compared with the pain and suffering I felt
when facing the writing assessment before writing 2, this whole process made me feel satisfies.
Such an experience leads me really understand the meaning of "Writing is a Process of
composing. It generally takes time and practice to compose an effective piece of writing
(Wardle 7)” back into week2. My old way of writing may be effective when dealing with some
standard templates, but that kind of boring process often makes me feel painful. However,
these long or short PBs and activities form a process that continuously contributes to the final
project. In this process, I can have a good understanding about those unfamiliar genre and
constantly become more familiar with it to actually construct one. In addition, I really
appreciate the guiding functions of these Project Builders. For example, if I don't know what
a collage is, it would be easy for me to go astray and fail to meet the requirements. However,
the contribution of these project builder has its function to eliminate misunderstanding and
pull me back on the right tract

I see this quarter’s study as a gradual process of transforming myself from an ignorant and
fearful writer to an active writer who is willing to try. Of course, just starting to try does not
mean that one can write satisfactorily. However, I think what is more important than the final
result is perhaps the process of getting there and the insights that came from correcting
mistakes. As Giles mentions "In a nutshell, [reflection] helps you develop more insight into
and control over the composing and revising process" (Giles 193). I think this is especially
important when encountering unfamiliar genres. Each process of reflection and correction
allows me to better understand the language to be used in the genre and the corresponding
purpose. All in all, this quarter has not only taught me the writing skills needed for a particular
genre, but the more important is a proper writing process. With this process of composing
and further improvement, I believe that many unseen genres can be solved in a better way,
and this is what I think is the most valuable thing I have learned this quarter.

Sincerely,
Vincent Xu

Work Cited

Jacobson, Brad. Pawlowski, Madelyn. M. Tardy, Christine. 13 Make Your “Move”: Writing in
Genres.https://app.perusall.com/courses/writ-2-section-500-academic-writing-winter-
2023/make-your-move-writing-in-genres?assignmentId=v9wT3fC4pqfb7zeue&part=1

Wardle, Elizabeth. Downs, Douglas. “Writing about Writing.” pp. 1-16.

https://app.perusall.com/courses/writ-2-section-500-academic-writing-winter-2023/waw-
chap-1-63643984?assignmentId=DGWJhpxkG5XN4HoLB&part=1
L. Giles, Sandra. Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What were You Thinking?. Parlor
Press.https://app.perusall.com/courses/writ-2-section-500-academic-writing-winter-
2023/giles-reflective-writing-and-the-revision-process-
677662177?assignmentId=wgrk9uz2BcwRCkszy&part=1