Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.
User:Annerrs/Anna's Final Reflection Letter
From UMassWiki
In [U.S. American] predominately individualistic tradition, we are primarily accustomed to think of thought as essentially private, an activity that occurs in the head – graphically represented by Rodin’s “The Thinker.” I wish to suggest, in contradiction, that thought is predominately public and social. It occurs primarily on blackboards, in dances, and recited poems. The capacity of private thought is a derived, secondary talent, one that appears biographically later in the person and historically later in the species (p. 15).
- - James W. Carey.
Before this class, I had never considered thought to be “public and social.” Thought is private because it originates from the mind; thought is a product of mental activity. However, once thought is shared by means of communication, thought becomes “public and social.”
Writing is a part and process of communication. I have learned that if I do not write with an audience and a claim in mind then my thoughts will not be accurately read.
This brings us into the start of the semester. For the first unit, students of College Writing are to write a personal identity narrative. I wrote about how my personality is influenced by my past, which consists of my friends, family, and life at school. Because no individual begins as an expert, I did not do as well as I thought I had done. In my first reflection letter, I wrote to myself, “your paper… didn’t really make a clear and concise connection with ‘identity.’ …It was unclear as to what the focus of your paper was based on and how it as all linked together” (“Dear Anna”). I knew I had to work on not losing my audience through confusion. However, the good thing about my identity narrative was my use of pathos. “Throughout the paper, it was apparent that you made it a point to connect with your audience through emotional appeal” (“Dear Anna”). After both pros and cons that I gained from writing the first unit, where would I go on from there?
After writing my first unit, I knew I had to move onto my second unit with my audience in mind. I integrated my ideas with Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” I was careful not to lose my audience through quick transitions yet I did not narrow in on the focus of my paper. In my second reflection letter, I wrote, “So perhaps when you had realized [what the claim was], (or rather, when Steph blatantly pointed it out in your draft), you re-wrote your whole paper according to that claim (“Ma Deuxieme Reflexion Lettre”). My final draft to that second unit was not a piece of cake, but I managed.
By the third unit, I knew what I had to do. I wrote a letter to consumers of the diamond industry, specifically, individuals who were in relationships, attempting to stop the circulation of conflict diamonds. As painstaking as it was, I wrote re-write after re-write. The final product was an achievement. Did I have a claim? Yes! Did I have a targeted audience? Yes! Did my thoughts come across effectively? I definitely think so. Throughout the paper, I think I used logos, pathos, and egos. Logos is for the factual evidence that I incorporated into my writing. Pathos is for the emotion that I tried to capture and pitch to my audience. Egos is for the credibility of my authorship because I developed a strong voice in the paper. Using all the rhetorical strategies and the mechanics that I have been taught throughout this semester, I accomplished an A paper.
Whether it is writing for the class magazine or for the class Wiki, writing is a reflection of the individual. Because of that idea, I write on the Wiki no more differently than I would write on paper. On both venues, as a class, we are still writing to communicate to an audience.
As this semester comes to a close, I am proud to say that I have achieved. I have achieved skills that enable me to communicate to an audience by effective means. I know the formula, I will use it and build on it to further develop my writing.
Because I am writing this letter for you to read, at this very moment, I am enabling my thoughts to be public. My thoughts are different on paper. In print, my thoughts are concrete; my thoughts become real. When I write a paper now, I have to consider what I am writing about, to whom I am writing, and how I can effectively get my thoughts and ideas across.
Annerrs 11:16, 17 May 2007 (EDT)
Bibliography
Carey, James W. “A Cultural Approach to Communication.” Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. New York: Routledge, 1989.
Nguyen, Anna. “Dear Anna.” Anna’s Unit I Reflection Letter. 29 March 2007. 15 May 2007 <http://www.umasswiki.com/wiki/User:Annerrs/Anna%27s_Unit_I_Reflection_Letter>.
---. “Ma Deuxieme Reflexion Lettre.” Unit Three Reflection Letters. 15 May 2007. 16 May 2007 <http://www.umasswiki.com/wiki/Class:Section_71_-_ENG_112_-_Spring_2007/Unit_Three_Reflection_Letters#Annerrs:_Writing_With_Growth>.
Was this article useful? Please spread the word and 
