Core Value I. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
Throughout this semester I did not always utilize the complete process that is involved in this core value. I found myself often times falling behind in getting course work done on time leaving the professor not much time to give me feedback which is only my fault. However, I was able to apply this core value through the help of others around me as well as constantly building on my research to develop my research position piece. When writing my visual argument for the first time I did the assignment all wrong. After receiving feedback from Professor Hodges about not doing this assignment correctly I found time to meet with him to go over how I could improve my paper. After making proper revisions based on the feedback provided and revisiting the assignment page, I produced a very good visual analysis. I also found that because of the assignment of White Pages, I was able to fulfill this value by using my white pages as a place I constantly used to jot down ideas and sources and never stopped adding to and editing. By doing this I was able to compile my thoughts to create my research paper for the end of the semester. The format you designed for this class was confusing to me in the beginning but now makes sense as you needed to go through a process to produce your best work.
Core Value II. My work demonstrates that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
The design of this class was helpful in implementing conversation and ideas into my writing. My thesis for my research paper began being too broad and unclear. Through conversations we had in class as well as conversations with the Professor, I was able to narrow my thesis a bit. After the lecture we had on research tips, I began to think more about my topic and after discussing my ideas with classmates I decided to want to relate my topic to another topic. I did this by relating the age limit on tobacco and the positive affects it had on society to how we could prevent childhood obesity from getting worse. Throughout the entire semester the conversations and lectures that happened in class were extremely helpful. Also I found that the bouncing ideas off other students and classmates help to improve our ideas and writing. I feel I was able to fulfill this core value.
Core Value III. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
In my writing throughout the semester I always considered the purpose, audience and context of my writing whenever I began to write. I found myself being more cautious of this due to our writing being on a blog website that anyone can view. While writing many of my papers, I often would view other works to see how they fulfilled the requirements and to help me make sure I did the same. I also always remembered that other students may possibly be doing the same and with that I found myself constantly analyzing the purpose and context of my papers. I feel when writing my rebuttal argument I did this as I wanted to make sure I was following the proper instructions. I was careful to analyze the text I used in the paper and build the strongest argument possible. When writing this piece, I was very cautious to remember who my audience could be and the purpose of the assignment at hand. Once I completed that assignment, I felt myself analyzing the rest of my work more intensely to make sure I was making the argument I want to make and that it is being portrayed properly.
Core Value IV: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
My research paper is a direct outcome of this value. I was able to use different sources to help support my own ideas through the paper. When reading and evaluating different sources, I was able to identify what pieces from these sources would benefit my arguments and I was able to incorporate them in my writing. I also found that when creating my white pages, that when I listed a summary of what was in each source, I was able to locate what was in each article and how to use the evidence most effectively in my writing. After writing my different papers and beginning to work on my annotated bibliography I found that writing how I used each source in my papers helped me better understand, if the evidence supported my own ideas properly.
Core Value V. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.
At the beginning of the writing process I was very unsure that I was using proper citation and fulfilling my ethical responsibility as a writer. When taking this class previously, as well as another class in the writing department, I was accused of plagiarism by my professor due to not putting an in text citation and instead using a format like “in this article published/written by this person”. Professor Hodges told the class that is not how we should be citing which was confusing for me in the begging as I was afraid to do anything close to what I completed before. After Professor Hodges explained to me how to cite the way he liked I became more confident with how to use appropriate citation. In all three of my argument papers, rebuttal, definition, and causal, as well as my research paper I used proper citation with fulfilling my ethical responsibilities and giving credit to authors when using their ideas.
Rowan Counterintuitive 