Reflective- LBirch

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

This class has given me the opportunity to learn about topics and material that I would not always think about in everyday life. All essays written in this course used Core Value One by receiving help from Professor Hodges. This class also gave me the chance to write multiple versions of each essay based on the comments given by Professor Hodges. When writing the definition argument essay, the professor gave me in-depth feedback on the first and second drafts. Another example would be for the Safer Saws assignment, the class discussed multiple videos and articles that were read and given. This taught me to look at claims and possibly find evidence they may have. As the class continues, I will be able to use this core value to improve my writing and research.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

By using Core Value Two, I learned to interpret the meaning of an argument and the message the writer may be sending. All sources used in my essays were read and closely analyzed in order to understand the information presented. Some information seemed questionable or did not have evidence to be reliable. In the PTSD claims assignment, the one source used was viewed and read to clarify the real meaning of each claim. I learned to look beyond what was actually written in order to understand the argument the author presented. Multiple sources were read, and some were not used in any essays because they did not have the valuable information needed. As various sources of information were viewed, whether they were in books or online articles, a vast amount of content was analyzed to give me needed information on a topic I was not knowledgeable in.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

A very early piece of work that was done to analyze the purpose texts was the summaries assignment. The texts read in this assignment were two counterintuitive arguments that had different meanings. Each was looked at in a different way, but the writers for both had their own side to a topic. For example, the author of the free heroin article has their side on this topic. This author showed the side of why institutions giving heroin users free heroin would be valuable. On the opposite side, an article about this may argue why it would not be valuable. I also read an article for this assignment about end of life care and how it was counterintuitive. This author argued spending money on end of life care was worth it, and should not be something you debate to spend on. With this assignment, I learned there may be many different sides to one story.

Core Value 4: 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.

In my visual rhetoric assignment, I needed to show my understanding of a PSA video without any audio. Visual cues and ideas are used to demonstrate the meaning of this video. The evidence I used was only based on the visuals of each frame of the video, and I showed I supported my ideas by writing based on what I saw. For example, the room in the video seemed strange; a stuffed raccoon was on the table, odd ceramic statues were around the room, etc. I used this evidence to determine the tone of the video and what the person may be saying. Another example of this core value being used was in my rebuttal essay. The sources read and used for this article supported my argument that smoke detectors actually cause fires. The sources used in this essay show evidence of how this could possibly happen and times fires did start because of them. Finding sources seemed challenging at first. After time, evidence started to accumulate that supported my argument and helped support my own ideas better.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

The white paper that was started at the beginning of the semester compiles all of my sources and articles used throughout the class. Credit is given to the authors of each source and is cited with all correct information. In all essays written this semester, citations were needed in order to appropriately use this information and materials. I summarize what the authors state, but continuously credit where I get my information from. Throughout my research paper, all information used received in-text citations, and also in a Reference section in the end. No text read should be used in one’s own writing without the appropriate citations (website received from, author’s name, date published, and date used).