Class
This course has presented many interesting and new challenges for me to confront and overcome. That sounds really cliche, but honestly this class made me reevaluate my thought process while writing. I consider myself a fairly good writer. I’m no F. Scott Fitzgerald, but for a college student I am not terrible. With that being said, this class required me to step outside of my comfort zone for writing. I am accustomed to academic and creative writing which are relatively easy to understand and are basic to apply, but professional writing is a whole new beast. Add scientific writing and rhetoric on top of professional writing and then it is almost a whole new system to learn. Each assignment presented its own challenges for my writing process. Each reading showed me a new tool I could add to my belt when it comes to scientific writing. I have dealt with similar writing in the past with writing for business organizations (another class offered at RWU), but I feel as though I did not retain any of the information presented to me and had trouble grasping the concept of professional rhetoric. This class put a different spin on learning how to write for the sciences. It was challenging, but refreshing to see scientific writing presented and taught in this manner. In class, it was all examples and questions followed by group activities or discussions. Not your typical college lecture, but that is why it was enjoyable. I am a quiet person, so I tend to just listen, take notes and formulate ideas about the subject. Because of this my verbal involvement in the class was limited, but I promise you I was attentive and learning throughout the whole process. This reflection will be an account of my learning process and will explore the ins and outs of my thought process over the course of the semester and its projects.
Minor Assignments
For the minor assignments in this course, the writing to do after them was quite simple. Just an analysis to help us gauge our understanding of what was just assigned for reading. I have done plenty of assignments like this throughout my life and was comfortable in the task of completing them. The aspect that was new to me were the types of readings we had been assigned. Understanding and analysing these texts was the true challenge of the homeworks. These texts used seemingly complex examples which were meant to teach the reader the subject of the material in an applied way. This was done through means of storytelling or specific written examples of popular text. The challenge was often attempting to understand what exactly the author was trying to convey. You would see the term or main idea that was meant to be emphasized, but upon further review the explanation seems jumbled and confusing. Maybe this was just for me, but I often had to sit and ponder what the actual meaning behind something was. Frequently, I would notice that I had a slightly different understanding of a subject than many other students. It was not as though my understanding was incorrect, but rather I had just thought about the concept in my own manner of thinking which led me to the same conclusion. The only differing portion was our overall description of what the term could mean. This seems vague and confusing when I explain it, but that seems kind of fitting to me. That is what understanding writing is about to me. Things can be confusing when just put on paper and it seems as though they can have many meanings or ways of understanding. This class and its teachings sought to change this and give us, as writers, a clear way to deliver things with the intended voice and purpose. Understanding what I could not conceive before is what I got out of the homeworks. I cannot exactly explain the process in which I learned, as it was gradual and I would have sudden realizations as I sat and thought about the assigned readings.
Major assignment 1
For my major assignment I was a bit lost at first on how I wanted to go about it. I originally planned to analyze business plans, memos and reports that show how effective CEOs communicate with their employees. As a management major this seemed appealing at first, but as I read through some examples I realized that all of that information is rather dull. I would rather focus on something more applicable and close to home. I will probably work in human resources out of college due to my interest in people and how they feel, so with this I thought it would be interesting to examine genres that have to do with ethical and legal decision making in the workplace. This was partly inspired by a prior class in which we examined legal situations and made decisions through reports and memos on whether or not a decision was favorable for the company. I did not do very well in that class as I am more of a creative writer than a professional writer, but the skills and knowledge still transitioned to this assignment. When selecting the genres to analyze I knew it was necessary to look at a legal case (and what better case than one as modern and controversial as Hobby Lobby’s) as well as an ethical and legal mashup such as the EEOC. Both of these provide their own guidelines for how they believe a business should operate. Well, the EEOC does this while legal decisions analyze information based on the facts and make a final decision. These act as lead ins to what I want to really talk about which is the actual ethical decisions made by businesses. Now it is difficult to find a genre that relates to this, so I had to find the closest relating thing. After a lot of thought and worry I chose mission statements. They are clear outlines of what a business wants to be perceived as and how they operate. This was the perfect genre to make the bulk of my analysis. I did not outiline this idea of the lead in to the mission statements in the reflective introduction. Honestly, I think I was nearly out of time and just copy and pasted from my opening paragraph. My new reflective introduction lays out the information more appropriately and addresses the concerns brought to my attention. Also, I did not add Hobby Lobby’s mission statement when I first drafted this analysis. I was blinded by the fact that I held Starbucks in a very high standard for their mission statement, so I wanted to use it as an example, but of course this was far out of context. Because of this I took Hobby Lobby’s and analyzed them alongside each other. I decided to keep both in order to elaborate the importance of the mission statement. For being something so small it carries a lot of weight in the business world. This project was a culmination of all that I learned in the beginning of the semester for my first draft. Upon revisiting it for my final draft I was able to dissect it a bit more rigorously and think more deeply the topic I had chosen. I am impressed by my own analysis of this topic. I chose something kind of out there and put a purpose behind it. It reminds me of how I read the assigned texts. I read it and develop my own creative interpretation that others may not have. A skill that I realized I have by doing reviewing this is finding the small details that typically go unnoticed.
Major assignment 2
Over the course of this semester project my team felt a lot of confusion throughout. There was uncertainty mixed into what we were supposed to accomplish and how we should go about it. We were given guidelines at the beginning by Gloria Gemma to work on their social media and Knowledge is Power website. We all took our own roles in the team and acquired information about our specific topics, so we could bring together our research and create what was asked of us. Each of us worked individually and found information from whatever source in any manner they choose. There was quite a bit of freedom given to each member to find and list their information without any strict guidelines. At the start we focused entirely on the Instagram portion, believing it to be the most important factor, but after your advice to shift our focus more evenly we decided to make a website. The process of putting our information into the posts and website was not an easy decision. We had options for both. Our original idea of using Microsoft Word to make a little database for each post and all its information was utilized, but the issue with the first draft was the lack of consistent formatting. We (Luke, he nominated himself) had to go through all of our individual pieces and make a consistent format for each one. This is where we realized that a more strict research policy may have been more effective. If we all had collected information in a similar way, then we could have simplified the process and cut the time of completion down. For the website most of us were clueless about what to do. We thought we may include qand example page on our Weebly individually, but then Elisa came up with the idea to create a template using Google sites which we could all fill with our information. She had the most experience, so she created the template and we all followed her formatting while filling in our own research and resources. The report itself was a bit chaotic to work on. We always seemed to need to correct its formatting, structure, organization and content. I think it took us about four tries to get it right. The issue at first was one teammate took the document and put it on a non-shareable word document which prevented any of us from seeing or working on it. We could simply recommend what to do. I do not know who thought this was a good idea, but it was not. In fact, I believe this seriously hindered our progress as a team and limited what could be accomplished. We put so much effort into this only to have one person wanting to be a hero take on the responsibility. Sorry I am rambling, but this really hurt our project and needed to be fixed. We put everything back on a shareable document and got to work. We finished everything and brought it all together to give the copy we presented in our meeting with Gloria Gemma. Now there is a slightly updated version available for use which has an updated formatting for the reader. This group project was a struggle to bring together, but in the end our team came together and put all of the hard work into the report and presentation.
Grade
I’ll keep this section short and to the point. I originally went for an A in this class to challenge me to be a hard worker and do some things I would never voluntarily do. I led a class discussion, I was involved in an interview, I worked alongside my teammates with a community partner, I researched and delivered real information for use within a professional aspect. This class made me do things that I thought I was incapable of doing (and for that I thank you). I know I’m still quiet, but I feel more involved. I am able to formulate responses based on what I have listened to and present them accordingly rather than just remaining silent. I have developed in significant ways personally over the course of this class, but I feel as though I still did not make the cut for the A grade. I believe a B+ could be argued, as I feel as though I put a serious amount of effort in during the course, but the work I did did not always translate to an A performance. This is just my own harsh opinion, but I’m sure you agree. I believe a B+ is suitable, but you may disagree for better or worse. Overall, it has been an enjoyable semester and I want to thank you for helping me to force myself out of my shell a bit more.
This course has presented many interesting and new challenges for me to confront and overcome. That sounds really cliche, but honestly this class made me reevaluate my thought process while writing. I consider myself a fairly good writer. I’m no F. Scott Fitzgerald, but for a college student I am not terrible. With that being said, this class required me to step outside of my comfort zone for writing. I am accustomed to academic and creative writing which are relatively easy to understand and are basic to apply, but professional writing is a whole new beast. Add scientific writing and rhetoric on top of professional writing and then it is almost a whole new system to learn. Each assignment presented its own challenges for my writing process. Each reading showed me a new tool I could add to my belt when it comes to scientific writing. I have dealt with similar writing in the past with writing for business organizations (another class offered at RWU), but I feel as though I did not retain any of the information presented to me and had trouble grasping the concept of professional rhetoric. This class put a different spin on learning how to write for the sciences. It was challenging, but refreshing to see scientific writing presented and taught in this manner. In class, it was all examples and questions followed by group activities or discussions. Not your typical college lecture, but that is why it was enjoyable. I am a quiet person, so I tend to just listen, take notes and formulate ideas about the subject. Because of this my verbal involvement in the class was limited, but I promise you I was attentive and learning throughout the whole process. This reflection will be an account of my learning process and will explore the ins and outs of my thought process over the course of the semester and its projects.
Minor Assignments
For the minor assignments in this course, the writing to do after them was quite simple. Just an analysis to help us gauge our understanding of what was just assigned for reading. I have done plenty of assignments like this throughout my life and was comfortable in the task of completing them. The aspect that was new to me were the types of readings we had been assigned. Understanding and analysing these texts was the true challenge of the homeworks. These texts used seemingly complex examples which were meant to teach the reader the subject of the material in an applied way. This was done through means of storytelling or specific written examples of popular text. The challenge was often attempting to understand what exactly the author was trying to convey. You would see the term or main idea that was meant to be emphasized, but upon further review the explanation seems jumbled and confusing. Maybe this was just for me, but I often had to sit and ponder what the actual meaning behind something was. Frequently, I would notice that I had a slightly different understanding of a subject than many other students. It was not as though my understanding was incorrect, but rather I had just thought about the concept in my own manner of thinking which led me to the same conclusion. The only differing portion was our overall description of what the term could mean. This seems vague and confusing when I explain it, but that seems kind of fitting to me. That is what understanding writing is about to me. Things can be confusing when just put on paper and it seems as though they can have many meanings or ways of understanding. This class and its teachings sought to change this and give us, as writers, a clear way to deliver things with the intended voice and purpose. Understanding what I could not conceive before is what I got out of the homeworks. I cannot exactly explain the process in which I learned, as it was gradual and I would have sudden realizations as I sat and thought about the assigned readings.
Major assignment 1
For my major assignment I was a bit lost at first on how I wanted to go about it. I originally planned to analyze business plans, memos and reports that show how effective CEOs communicate with their employees. As a management major this seemed appealing at first, but as I read through some examples I realized that all of that information is rather dull. I would rather focus on something more applicable and close to home. I will probably work in human resources out of college due to my interest in people and how they feel, so with this I thought it would be interesting to examine genres that have to do with ethical and legal decision making in the workplace. This was partly inspired by a prior class in which we examined legal situations and made decisions through reports and memos on whether or not a decision was favorable for the company. I did not do very well in that class as I am more of a creative writer than a professional writer, but the skills and knowledge still transitioned to this assignment. When selecting the genres to analyze I knew it was necessary to look at a legal case (and what better case than one as modern and controversial as Hobby Lobby’s) as well as an ethical and legal mashup such as the EEOC. Both of these provide their own guidelines for how they believe a business should operate. Well, the EEOC does this while legal decisions analyze information based on the facts and make a final decision. These act as lead ins to what I want to really talk about which is the actual ethical decisions made by businesses. Now it is difficult to find a genre that relates to this, so I had to find the closest relating thing. After a lot of thought and worry I chose mission statements. They are clear outlines of what a business wants to be perceived as and how they operate. This was the perfect genre to make the bulk of my analysis. I did not outiline this idea of the lead in to the mission statements in the reflective introduction. Honestly, I think I was nearly out of time and just copy and pasted from my opening paragraph. My new reflective introduction lays out the information more appropriately and addresses the concerns brought to my attention. Also, I did not add Hobby Lobby’s mission statement when I first drafted this analysis. I was blinded by the fact that I held Starbucks in a very high standard for their mission statement, so I wanted to use it as an example, but of course this was far out of context. Because of this I took Hobby Lobby’s and analyzed them alongside each other. I decided to keep both in order to elaborate the importance of the mission statement. For being something so small it carries a lot of weight in the business world. This project was a culmination of all that I learned in the beginning of the semester for my first draft. Upon revisiting it for my final draft I was able to dissect it a bit more rigorously and think more deeply the topic I had chosen. I am impressed by my own analysis of this topic. I chose something kind of out there and put a purpose behind it. It reminds me of how I read the assigned texts. I read it and develop my own creative interpretation that others may not have. A skill that I realized I have by doing reviewing this is finding the small details that typically go unnoticed.
Major assignment 2
Over the course of this semester project my team felt a lot of confusion throughout. There was uncertainty mixed into what we were supposed to accomplish and how we should go about it. We were given guidelines at the beginning by Gloria Gemma to work on their social media and Knowledge is Power website. We all took our own roles in the team and acquired information about our specific topics, so we could bring together our research and create what was asked of us. Each of us worked individually and found information from whatever source in any manner they choose. There was quite a bit of freedom given to each member to find and list their information without any strict guidelines. At the start we focused entirely on the Instagram portion, believing it to be the most important factor, but after your advice to shift our focus more evenly we decided to make a website. The process of putting our information into the posts and website was not an easy decision. We had options for both. Our original idea of using Microsoft Word to make a little database for each post and all its information was utilized, but the issue with the first draft was the lack of consistent formatting. We (Luke, he nominated himself) had to go through all of our individual pieces and make a consistent format for each one. This is where we realized that a more strict research policy may have been more effective. If we all had collected information in a similar way, then we could have simplified the process and cut the time of completion down. For the website most of us were clueless about what to do. We thought we may include qand example page on our Weebly individually, but then Elisa came up with the idea to create a template using Google sites which we could all fill with our information. She had the most experience, so she created the template and we all followed her formatting while filling in our own research and resources. The report itself was a bit chaotic to work on. We always seemed to need to correct its formatting, structure, organization and content. I think it took us about four tries to get it right. The issue at first was one teammate took the document and put it on a non-shareable word document which prevented any of us from seeing or working on it. We could simply recommend what to do. I do not know who thought this was a good idea, but it was not. In fact, I believe this seriously hindered our progress as a team and limited what could be accomplished. We put so much effort into this only to have one person wanting to be a hero take on the responsibility. Sorry I am rambling, but this really hurt our project and needed to be fixed. We put everything back on a shareable document and got to work. We finished everything and brought it all together to give the copy we presented in our meeting with Gloria Gemma. Now there is a slightly updated version available for use which has an updated formatting for the reader. This group project was a struggle to bring together, but in the end our team came together and put all of the hard work into the report and presentation.
Grade
I’ll keep this section short and to the point. I originally went for an A in this class to challenge me to be a hard worker and do some things I would never voluntarily do. I led a class discussion, I was involved in an interview, I worked alongside my teammates with a community partner, I researched and delivered real information for use within a professional aspect. This class made me do things that I thought I was incapable of doing (and for that I thank you). I know I’m still quiet, but I feel more involved. I am able to formulate responses based on what I have listened to and present them accordingly rather than just remaining silent. I have developed in significant ways personally over the course of this class, but I feel as though I still did not make the cut for the A grade. I believe a B+ could be argued, as I feel as though I put a serious amount of effort in during the course, but the work I did did not always translate to an A performance. This is just my own harsh opinion, but I’m sure you agree. I believe a B+ is suitable, but you may disagree for better or worse. Overall, it has been an enjoyable semester and I want to thank you for helping me to force myself out of my shell a bit more.