Soto Villegas 1

Gloria Soto Villegas

Writing 2

Jesse Wesso

25 March 2023

Reflection Letter

Within the quarter I made two separate projects that had no relation to one another,

however, tied in with the concepts that were taught in class. Project one dealt with the translation

from a research article to a chosen genre. Within project 1, we were focused on one specific

research article, the study, and translating it into a different genre while gravitating to a different

audience. Focusing on what genres were and the different kinds was a great part of the project, I

quickly picked up on that skill, but other useful skills we inquired during this project were

composing, understanding translation, literacies, and rhetoric. With the usage of Lisa Bickmore’s

article, “Genre in the Wild: Understanding Genre within Rhetorical (Eco)Systems,” I was able to

define and acknowledge the sets and systems for the different genres. Bickmore explained,

“genres are dependent upon contexts and situations for their meaning,” stating that each genre

has its own specific rules “as if a genre is a thing all on its own, especially when we’re learning

about a particular genre.” Project 2 had the same concept of translation, but this time we

collected twelve different scholarly articles that related to a research question we have always

been curious about; that was also related to academic writing. For each article, we had to analyze

what the author’s purpose was for the research study and how it related to our research question.

From these articles, we had to narrow down the articles and select the most relevant ones and

translate them into a genre where all the writers from the articles are having a conversation. That

is where the material from weeks six and seven correlate with the project as it was about
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conversation and communities. As both taught valuable writing lessons that allowed me to grow

as a writer, the two projects individually had so much beneficial information and concepts from

the materials in class.

Before January, writing was something I would try to breeze by or just quickly would

think of a random idea to jot down so I could finish the assignment faster. However, I noticed I

never understood the concepts of the material clearly and caught being stuck on what to write

about. There were several helpful activities that contributed to my improvement in writing, but I

believe that the free writing we would do at the end of each session was indeed useful. This is

because the prompt challenged me to think on the spot and to continue to write about it for a

certain amount of time. This activity allowed me to come up with concepts quicker and to create

a flow with my sentences as I, at times, tend to jot down points instead of having a flow in my

paragraphs. The other activities where we needed to analyze another students’ previous work and

point out the concepts we are learning, such as: what rhetorical devices are they using? The

activities showed us first hand an example of what is expected and what to include into our

project.

The constant activities and reading that occurred during the quarter have allowed me to

build a skill in translating genres. When first starting the quarter, I did not know about the

different genres in writing. When thinking about genres I first thought about the different genres

of music and dance styles, however I assumed writing could be no different. After reading the

material that was assigned in that given week, Dirk and Bickmore, my understanding of different

genres expanded and I realized that I was relatively good at translating information from one

genre to another. In Kerry Dirk’s article, “Navigating Genres,” she explains how you have to

“approach your writing genres as rhetorical situations.” That is that all genres do not have strict
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rules to follow, but rather more of those rules change as genre changes. Therefore, with the

chosen genre, you have to identify the strongest characteristics and make sure to include them in

the translation of the genre. Another beneficial article that helped me strengthen the translating

skill is the Karen Rosenberg article. In the article, “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading

Scholarly Sources,” she goes into detail about different approaches to take for reading a scholarly

article. One method that she pointed out was joining in the conversation. Putting yourself in the

position where you can see how others approach the issue or situation can be beneficial alone,

you do not necessarily have to have to come up with an argument right off the top of your head.

With these key points and others that were stated in the articles, I noticed how I can contribute

my creativity into the translation of the genre. Choosing a genre such as a poster or script, that

allows my creativity to flow through the project helped me create an easier and smooth genre

translation.

As I have learned a lot of important concepts in the little time that we have in class, I still

acknowledge that I am not a perfect writer. With the amount of time we have in class, we can

only learn so much. Something I need to work on is to not worry about sticking to the five

paragraph essay format. This is because organization is important but it is not always ideal. I try

to focus on a five paragraph essay as it allows me to track and organize my essay, but I need to

break that habit. I usually have no problem with reaching the word count, however, I need to

work on my filler sentences and my run on sentences. I tend to surpass the word count because I

tend to ramble and have unnecessary information in my paper. Therefore, I will continue to work

on the grammar side of academic writing.

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Bibliography

(1) Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Parlor Press. 2010,

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/10674464/mod_resource/content/3/

Dirk%20%282010%29.pdf.

(2) Bickmore, Lisa. “Genre in the Wild: Understanding Genre within Rhetorical

(Eco)Systems.” Open English SLCC, Open English @ SLCC, 1 Aug. 2016,

https://pressbooks.pub/openenglishatslcc/chapter/genre-in-the-wild-understanding-genre-

within-rhetorical-ecosystems/.

(3) Rosenberg, Karen. “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources.” Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, Parlor Press. 2011,

https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/10674611/mod_resource/content/4/R

osenberg%20%282011%29.pdf