Dear Dr. Hartman, I can easily see a change in my writing over the duration of this semester.

When I look back on my reflection letters and working drafts in chronological order I realize I have become more comfortable as a writer. For example, when you look at my second working draft, descriptive writing, and compare it to its polished piece you will see that the polished piece is less formal and more relatable than the working draft. The change in formality throughout my descriptive writing piece is most evident in my thoughts which are represented in italics. I really struggled with making this piece realistic because my mind was set that any piece of writing being turned in for a grade needed to be formal. However, I have learned through this class by development of rhetorical knowledge that is not at all true. Part of being a writer is being able to express your work in your own way as well as being able to produce various genres and modalities. If every piece of my writing was strictly formal I would have never produced a successful descriptive writing piece, an infographic, a fun video for a multimodal piece, and the design of letters for my research position piece. I am extremely thankful to have learned and experimented with different forms of formality. I would say my most formal piece is working draft one as it is a narrative that sticks with many traditional rules of writing and grammar. My most informal working draft would have to be my multimodal piece as it is clearly full of jokes with my friends and all around goofiness. Nonetheless, my multimodal piece contains an important theme of happiness which is pulled together at the very end of my video with the still black and white picture of a group of friends. I have also managed to combine different levels of formality within the same piece. In my fifth working draft and my second polished piece I have used the technique of letter writing between two conversations. The first letter, which is from me, is less formal than the response letter. I allowed my letter to be less formal than the second one to reveal my true frustration with working out and allowed the second letter to appear more formal so it would seem more professional and encouraging. For me the most significant objective of this course was to gain an understanding of the importance of process work. As mentioned in my second reflection letter in paragraph five I have never continued or planned a piece with multiple drafts or even an abundance of process work. Of course if I had to write a research paper I would research my topic, but on any other writing assignment the most I would have was an outline. All throughout high school I would write my paper, read over it for spelling or grammar errors, and turn it in for a grade. I did not pay much attention to a teachers feedback either because they never seemed to give critical feedback. However, I have definitely learned from this course that a writing assignment is a series of tasks. When I glance through my day book it is so clear that I have fallen in love with process work and when reading all of my reflections I have found my process work to be useful. Since I now focus on process work I have increased my critical thinking because I take word vomit, like the sixth day book entry in my portfolio, and then use it to analyze and make sense of my thoughts and ideas, and produce drafts that potentially lead to a polished piece. I have also realized other tasks in preparing certain pieces such as finding, evaluating, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources. These tasks appear in my third working draft, my infographic. I researched and analyzed information on the importance of a continued education past a bachelors degree and also conducted a survey of my class to see how many students planned to continue from Gardner-Webb University to masters school as a primary source of data. Along with research, I have learned to

integrate my own ideas with the ideas of others, which is especially present in the third paragraph of the second letter of my second polished piece. In this paragraph I have combined my own thoughts, feelings, and experiences of exercise with the cycles of change I found from triumphwellness.com. Apart from process work through my day book I have become aware of many other types of processes. I am aware it takes multiple drafts to create and complete a piece, which is evident in all of my process work shown with each working draft. I have also developed new strategies for changing drafts. For example, I read my first polished piece out loud to check for any funky sounding places, and then I read it backwards to check for spelling and grammar issues. Also with my first polished piece I have learned to become flexible and appreciate others feedback. Being able to meet and speak one on one with you really helped me get going with how I wanted to turn my second working draft into a polished piece. As mentioned earlier, I never realized how goofy my formal thoughts made the text sound. So I am very thankful for feedback and my developed ability to re-think and revise my work. Another process that has helped me tremendously throughout this course has been the time I have spent in our reading and writing groups. This gave me a chance to give and receive constructive feedback. Examples of others critiquing my work during a writing group day can be found as the third and fourth entry of my day book pictures. I found feedback especially helpful when I was working on my infographic. Since an infographic was a new concept for me I was struggling on how to compose one. But the feedback I received from my classmates, day book entry three, revealed I needed more information to back up my topic as well as a few more visuals to find a healthy balance in my piece which set me up for success. However, it was important to remember that if I or anyone else in my group got behind, or did not do, their work it affected us all because we could not rely on one another if we were not responsible enough to do our part. My knowledge of conventions has improved as I have experimented with many different types of formats and texts. I used the approach of a narrative for my first working draft, moved into a less formal essay that focused on descriptions for my second working draft, played around with and educated myself on infographics for my third working draft, learned how to combine different modalities like pictures, words, and videos into one story for my fourth working draft, and used the format of letters for my fifth working draft. When turning my fifth working draft into my second polished piece I also played with the fonts in an attempt to complement my letter format. I chose two different fonts that resemble two different peoples handwriting the way it would appear if someone were to write a letter and receive one back. I have learned and practiced appropriate means of documentation, especially in my second polished piece as I used in text citations in the first, third, and fourth paragraphs of the second letter and I have also included a works cited page with the piece. I will forever have one memory of punctuation that I am very thankful for. In my multimodal piece one of the slides in my video contains multiple question marks. It was brought to my attention that multiple question marks or even multiple exclamation points can appear insincere and take away from the seriousness of the question or statement. This piece of advice has definitely helped me with punctuation because I used to think it was so cute to have more than one question mark. I figured it would add to the question, but instead it takes away from it.

All throughout this course I have had the opportunity to compose in electronic environments. It is evident that my third and fourth working drafts were composed on environments other than Microsoft Word. Also, I have the chance to learn how to properly use databases through our schools library which was a large part of my research for my research position piece. The abundant use of different electronic environments has proved to be a challenge for me, as I am not a big fan of computers. However, I am appreciative of the experience because it not only taught me patience, but it has given me new tools and strategies to use in my writing. I feel more educated now that I am aware of how to use electronic sources and I know this knowledge will benefit my future. I am so pleased to look back on my working drafts and see everything I have accomplished. I especially celebrate my two polished pieces and find confidence in my portfolio. It is evident I have grown as a writer through rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading, and writing, processes, knowledge of conventions, and even composing in electronic environments. Thank you for your time, Kristen Laney