Midterm Reflection

-modes of blogging and informal writing: academic, political/community-based, and personal:

I have created my own blog at the beginning of the course, and I am updating it regularly. The form of blog allows me to write more comfortably, focus on the subject of the writing, and it makes interacting and adressing the audience easier.

-situating your writing: Analyzing, synthesizing, and composing with sources:

The ability to use links, both to other pages on the wiki, and to any page on the internet, is without doubt a great tool. The fact that we are blogging on the internet allows me to search quickly for the necessary information when I'm writing, to strenghen the logos of my assignment. I can also add a hyperlink to the page with the information I used, in order to make the ethos of my paper stronger. Those possibilities are crucial for me while I am writing a paper, and I want to enhance it, and make it more reliable.

-composing processes: argument and persuasion:

I choose an argument that interests me, since it makes the writing process easier and more enjoyable. If the subject is interesting, I can write more, and I can put more heart into writing, thus making my paper better. When I want to persuade a reader, I think about my personal stand on the matter, and I look for the arguments to support it. I also look for the good techniques of the persuasion, to show my point clearly, and to make it understandable for the audience I have chosen.

-multimedia: visual analysis and composition, aural analysis and composition:

I really enjoy an order, so I keep an order in my work. I try not to use too long sentences and paragraphs, and I try to make everything visually attractive. If a reader will find my paper enjoyable to read, he will be more likely to get my point, and to be persuaded by my paper. I try to give my paper a flow, and to construct it logically, so one point will follow another, and there will be no sentences that will not fit with the sentences that precede and follow them. I rather don't use pictures in my assignments.

-collaborative, coordinated, or distributed writing: linking, interacting, and responding in writing to/with peers:

We didn't have too many occasions to review and respond to each other's work yet, but I find that part very enjoyable. I try to tell others what I really think about their work, and to give them some hints to improve their essays, and I try to grade their papers justly. I think that peer reviewing and grading is a great tool that helps us to improve our work, to look at it more objectively, and to understand better, what we really value in an essay. A person that gives a review or a grade learns to analyze a work, to look more critically at it, to voice his or hers opinions, and to give the hints to others, in order to help them to improve their work.

-writing in the disciplines: connecting your writing to research and scholarship in a specific field:

My interests are pretty broad: from various social studies to economy and science. I didn't get the chance to write about many of them, but I always can link my work to at least some of them, thus making my paper more interesting for myself, which is crucial in making my paper interesting to my audience. When I'm writing my work, and when I read other students' work I broaden my knowledge, and I constantly learn something new.

Community Writing (outside of academia):

I was always a person that preffers to read than to write, and to learn than to teach, yet I write sometimes outside of academia, both for myself, and for persuasion purposes.

Rhetorical Knowledge:

One should always think about an audience he or she is adressing in his paper. The audience defines the purpose and style of a paper. One needs to find a purpose that will fit his audience, but at the same time, it will fit also the writer and his beliefs. The writer needs to find techniques and genre that will help him to approach his audience. Writing context is what defines the paper more than anything else - it is the meritum and the point of a paper. One needs to choose a topic, and to conduct the necessary research that will help him to find information that he needs in order to write a good paper. One needs also to find a tone he will use in his paper, a tone that will fit the purpose of a paper. Different contexts fit different genres, and different genres help to approach an audience in different ways. One needs to choose which genre will fit his purpose the best.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing:

I was trying to find a topic that will interest me, and I wanted to approach it in an effective way, but always keeping everything in an order. I was thinking until I found the best topic to focus on, I was trying to find some interesting aspect in it, and to formulate thesis with which I will agree. I think that points that approach the main topic directly, and that help to explain the thesis are the most important ones. I was trying to interest my audience, to show them my point, and to give them an opportunity to learn something new. I conducted most of my research on the internet, since it is the largest source of information. I was also using the sources that I was adressing in my assignment. I think that I have conducted enough research to show my point. I have learned to focus more specificaly on my main topic, both when writing and looking for the necessary information, and I hope to improve that skill in the future.

Composing Processes:

In my composing process, organizing of the ideas and showing my point clearly were crucial. Usually I was brainstorming, until I found the idea that was interesting to me, that I considered worth to be a subject of a paper, and about which I felt that I can write a full paper focusing on that idea. When I was writing a paper, I was thinking if I would understand it, if I would be the audience. I was trying to explore the topic, so I would be able to write more, to explain my point better, and to include more information.

Conventions:

Since I am foreign, I had some problems with sentence structure and my gramma, although I was trying to be careful, and to avoid mistakes.

Writing Technologies:

The ability to write and at the same time to look for the information on the internet was very useful. Sometimes I was writing directly on the wiki, sometimes I was using word processing program, and I was copying and pasting my text later. I don't see any real drawbacks of using those tools - at least as long as I can use them, and I am not left without them, because they can be pretty addictive, and without them the writing process might be less pleasant. That is probably the only real drawback of using those tools and possibilities constantly.