Draft of Open Letter

We're on our final project!  I've written my first draft of my open letter, which can be viewed here.

Mostly, in reviewing this draft, I would like to know if I'm answering the prompt thoroughly enough, so if while reading it you have any suggestions about that, they are welcome.  Do you think I covered the semester thoroughly enough?  Also, I didn't do extensive research on the genre (it's the end of the semester and I'm getting a little lazy -- I'm not proud of it), so if you see something that doesn't fit the conventions of an open letter, please note that as well.  And finally, I'd like your opinions on the tone of the letter, and if it seems appropriate.

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Reflection More on My Writing Experiences

To help me draft my final project, I'm answering a few more questions addressing my writing process and experience in this course this semester.

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• What are the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?
• The biggest challenge I faced was probably getting all of the blog work done, and making sure that I fully understood the project assignments and was answering the prompt in my papers.  I'm used to writing a lot (I keep a journal and do creative writing on generally a daily basis), but the sheer amount of work for this class definitely took some getting used to and adjusting for.  I had to make sure that I had cleared enough time out of my schedule to put the work into my writing that I needed to.  In all, doing most of the blog work was helpful in developing my ideas for my projects.  Another problem I had was that initially I wasn't sure I totally understood the prompt, because we were writing in styles that I wasn't used, such as the QRG.  My first draft of my QRG wasn't really like a QRG at all, so I had to change it up significantly.
• What did you learn this semester about your own time management, writing and editorial skills?
• I realized that I am extremely fortunate to have learned from quality English teachers in the past, so for me the transition to this class was probably easier than it was for others.  Like everyone, I was worried about how much time I had to do everything I wanted to, but ultimately I found as long as I spent a few dedicated hours to do my homework every day, I could still get enough sleep and not become too overwhelmed.  I also became faster at writing blog posts, which helped me significantly.  
• In terms of writing, while I had to get used to new genres and more creative prompts, I think I'm a strong enough writer that for me completing the projects probably wasn't as painful as it was for others.  I found for the rhetorical analysis especially, that I knew exactly what to do and felt very comfortable.  Since I improved my initial drafts, that meant I had to spend less time editing and revising.  I found that instead of doing multiple reads over my drafts, which is time consuming and not sometimes overwhelming, instead I would focus on only one problem at a time, and make sure that I had a solution to fix that section of writing before I began revising heavily.
• What do you know about the concept of 'genre'?  Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.
• The type of genre can alter the rhetorical situation.  Understanding what type of genre one must work in, and what the conventions of that genre is becomes crucial to writing a piece that effectively completes its purpose.  Genres are not just based on the content of the writing, but also the media, the readers, the organization, and the tone the writing should take.  In understanding genre, overall writers can become much more effective in delivering their message. 
• What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?
• One of the most important things I learned this semester was how to approach a writing scenario I'm not familiar with, and how to quickly and efficiently produce a quality response.  This will be really helpful, because I'm sure that in my next few years I'll encounter types of writing that I'm not familiar with, in genres I've never written in, but now I know what to do to understand what's being asked of me, and how to write in that new style.
• What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H?
• My most effective moment was probably writing and revising Project 2.  I remember the exercise when we had to write a completely new introduction and conclusion.  I was confused and a little annoyed, because I thought my intro and conclusion were already strong, but when I read more about introductions and conclusions, I realized that what I had written wasn't strong at all, and I rewrote something much improved.  I also found that what I had learned in high school about rhetorical analysis had prepared me well for college, which was reassuring and pleasant to realize.
• What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H?
• My least effective moment was probably drafting the QRG.  I know I've mentioned this multiple times, but I put so much effort into writing that first draft, but most of that time and effort was fruitless, because I wasn't writing in the style of a QRG.  It made me understand the importance of understanding the genre I'm writing in; initially, I had believed that I was answering the prompt in the way I was supposed to.  I ended up having to completely redo my organization, and how I approached the paper in my revision process.

Revisiting My Writing Process

To start planning my final project, I've begun reflecting on my earlier writing for this class; more specifically the first two blog posts I wrote.  I think my writing style has changed throughout even this semester, and my time management has as well.

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When I first wrote "My Writing Process" I thought that I would rely on peer review much more than I turned out needing.  In this class, I found it most useful to talk to the instructor mostly to make sure that I was on the right track and answering the prompt of the assignment, which initially I usually wasn't.  I've also found that I've kept a lot of things from my first drafts, especially with Project 2 and 3.  I think this shows that I'm becoming a stronger writing because what I produce from the start is of much high quality than it was for Project 1 or previous writing projects from high school.

I still believe that I'm a sequential writer, but the writing process is a significantly less daunting task than it was when I started this class.  I find now that I have to spend less time on each of the writing steps.  I am able to think and plan more effectively, and that allows me to draft quicker and write things of higher quality.  Overall, this means that I'm more efficient, which has also helped my time management.  I remember that I spent many hours on Project 1, and had to revise a ton for my final draft, because my first draft didn't really follow the conventions of the genre.  However, for the later two projects, I didn't have to spend near as much time completely rewriting and restructuring sections.

In terms of time management, I have generally been able to stick with my plans of working on deadlines earlier, so I don't have to do everything in only a couple days.  This has really allowed me to help plan out my ideas and writing for projects, which makes it easier to do the actual drafting.

I'm not sure how much writing I'll be doing in Environmental Science.  I know I'm taking a lot of science classes which won't demand the same kind of writing vigor as this one, but that of course doesn't mean I won't have to write again.  I'll probably be writing in different genres, but now I know how to write in a genre I'm not familiar with.  I think this class helped me realize that writing a paper or a project isn't such an insurmountable task, and that as long as I follow my planning and drafting process that I've been doing this semester, I'll be able to handle it, which is reassuring.

Reflection on Project 3

Now that I've finished my Project 3 public argument, I'm reflecting on my writing process and the steps I took to complete the paper, which will help me with our final project as well.

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1. In order to make the article more of a refutation argument, I focused on refuting each of the steps in the drought plan in my final draft, which was a shift from my first draft.  This added more structure and organization to my argument.  I also shifted the audience from city government officials to Tucson residents, because I was already sort of leaning that way, and it made more sense, given my platform of a newspaper, which Tucson residents read.
2. In reconsidering my thesis, I narrowed my focus to talk about how the drought plan should involve residents more specifically, instead of just talking about general weakness in the plan, and how I didn't think we were doing enough.  In doing this, I was able to make much more pointed arguments, and it was much easier to handle my paper, and narrowed how much research I had to do, which instead would have been much more to also try and understand industrial and agricultural water use as well.
3. I made these changes partially because of a reconsideration of audience, and also because it made the paper shorter, more manageable, and fit better with the platform I was working with.
4. In narrowing my topic, as I mentioned I was able to make more pointed refutations, which helped my credibility.  Before, in my rough draft, I was making more broad statements, without actually specifically bringing up a certain part of the plan, and then proving how it wasn't effective and could be improved.
5. These changes will better address my audience and venue because now my intended audience lines up perfectly with the people who will actually read my article given its venue.  This is an issue that Tucson residents should be concerned about, and it will be Tucson residents who will read the Arizona Daily Star.  By addressing how residents should already be working to reduce their water consumption, I'm making the article more relevant to the audience of the venue, than if the article were directed only at city council members.
6. I didn't do a lot of local revisions concerning sentence structure.  Mostly when I write I have varied enough sentence structure in my first draft that it's not as big as an issue compared to global issues.  However, I did work on cutting wordy parts out of sentences.
7. Local changes don't really help my audience as much as global changes do.  Rather, they just make the article to be a more interesting and well-written read.
8. I didn't really have to reconsider the conventions of my genre when revising, because I had already thought a lot about them while writing the first draft.  Mostly I just had to ensure that my paragraphs where short enough that the article was readable with adequate white space.
9. In reflecting, I realize that most of my revisions are global.  I think this year, it's taken me a while to fully understand what the project is asking, and how I'm going to produce a comprehensive response.  Multiple times, I have believed that what I have written in my first draft has answered what the prompt asked, but then in discussion found out I was lacking critical parts, or could redo my organization.  I'd like to think that by now I am a strong enough writer that I can devote more of my time thinking of ideas and the big picture of the assignment, rather than focus on local revisions involving sentence structure and word choice.

Publishing Public Argumnent

I've finished my Project 3 public argument paper!  It's an opinion piece about the Tucson drought plan, meant to be published in the Arizona Daily Star.

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View the final project here.

View the rubric guide here.

Reflection on Project 3 Draft

Now that I've received peer reviews, I'm able to begin the revising process and reflect on what needs the most work in my draft.  I peer reviewed Joy and Chad's drafts.

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1. Zayla Crocker and Austin See reviewed my draft.
2. Zayla's comments about my audience helped me realize that I need to change my audience and Mostly the review was helpful.  move away from what I was originally thinking of.  I realized that the idea of writing to city council members was too restrictive, and that instead I should move towards addressing the citizens more, because that's what I was already beginning to do.  Both of them mentioned that praising Tucson worked against me, because I was hindering my own argument, which was important for me to realize.  I think instead I will leave the praise to the end only, because I want to end on a positive note, since I think that will be most effective.  Austin also commented that he felt this was a mix of a pro argument and a solution argument.  I think that I can make it more specifically a refutation argument by directly mentioning the drought plan that I'm refuting in greater depth.
3. The areas I need to focus on most are audience and argumentation.  As I mentioned earlier, I am shifting my audience, so when I revise my paper, I'll have to be clearer about who my new audience is, and keep them in mind while writing.  Mostly though, I'll be working at how to directly refute points in the drought preparedness plan, which will make this a more effective refutation argument, and add organization to my article.
4. Overall, I can definitely see where I need to improve, which is good.  I have a clear plan of immediate changes I'm going to make that will make my paper stronger.  Having a conference with Mr. Bottai also helped me see where I can work on strengthening my paper.  I'm comfortable with the genre and purpose, so now I will focus mainly on how I am conducting my argument. 

Draft of Public Argument

I've finally finished my first draft of Project 3!  It is an opinion piece concerning drought and reducing water consumption locally, meant for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson's local print newspaper.  You can view the first draft here.

In terms of feedback, I have a few questions it would be helpful if you could try to address:

• Was the organization clear?  Did the paragraphs flow, and the argument make logical sense?
• What did you think of the headline?
• Was the opening paragraph intriguing enough?
• Did you feel like you understood the situation, or did it need to be explained further?  Did you understand in general why Tucson's drought plan is ineffective?  Was enough background provided?
• Anything else you see not working that needs to be improved upon?

Thanks so much for all your help!

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