Rachel Martinez

12/ 10/ 2014

English 120
Reflective Argument
Dear Julia Remsik Larsen,
Throughout this semester, I have worked on improving my writing and becoming
a stronger writer by working toward several Student Learning outcomes. I have done this
through several Major Writing Assignments and Low Stakes Assignments as well as through in
class discussions and assignments. I made more progress toward some of the outcomes as oppose
to others. In this argument I will address two of the main SLOs for the class, which are A, and
F, as well as outcome J. I will also address one outcome that I made a significant amount of
progress toward and one outcome that I didnt make a lot of progress toward.
SLO- A:
In order to improve my writing through outcome A I had to be able to analyze arguments
in various genres by considering the strategies used and the claims made, as well as the evidence
provided. I also had to be able to reflect on others arguments, and compose my own arguments
through different mediums and several technologies that were appropriate to the rhetorical
situation.
There were several assignments in which I had to analyze arguments. MWA#1, the
rhetorical analysis, was the first assignment in which I had to analyze arguments. I had to
analyze arguments made in a specific ALS ice bucket challenge video. I chose bill Gates ALS
ice bucket challenge in which I analyzed his use of ethos, pathos, and logos, as well as his use of
several different rhetorical patterns in order to make his argument. For example, his use of ethos

in his video made his argument stronger because the enthusiasm and excitement that he shows
makes his viewers more empathetic about the cause he is promoting. The second assignment in
which I had to analyze arguments was the documentary. In order to make the documentary, my
partner and I had to analyze other peoples arguments either for or against the authenticity of our
urban legend. In our research we found that some people argued the urban legend was in fact true
while others argued it was false. Because of this we decided to make our documentary unbiased
and let the viewers decide the authenticity of the urban legend for themselves. Lastly, in the
proposal we did in sequence three, we had to analyze arguments that were for or against the issue
that we chose. For example, the issue that I chose was texting and driving, and while doing my
research, I had to analyze the arguments that stated texting and driving was a huge problem in
todays society as well as the arguments that believed texting and driving is not an issue in order
to find out why.
On top of analyzing arguments, I also had to compose several of my own arguments
throughout the three sequences. The first argument I had to compose was in MWA#1. I had to
compose an argument in the genre of a memo in which I had to persuade a fictitious boss that our
company should create an ALS ice bucket challenge video. In MWA#2 I also had to compose an
argument in my documentary. I had to argue that my urban legend was either real or fake by
providing information on the urban legend. My proposal for MWA#3 also required me to
compose an argument. I had to come up with a solution to a big issue in my community. I had to
argue why my solution is a good solution and why it would work better than other solutions that
are already out there. In composing all of these arguments, I had to use a variety of mediums
such as a memo, a documentary, and a proposal.
For outcome A, I also had to reflect on arguments throughout each sequence. The main

thing we did in which I had to reflect on arguments was peer reviews. In the peer reviews, I had
to reflect on my classmates arguments they made for the ALS ice bucket challenge, the
documentary of the urban legend, and the proposal. This was mostly to provide feedback and
give areas in which they could improve. I also had to reflect on my own arguments through the
reflective letters we had to write after each sequence, and when revising my MWA#1 for the
portfolio.
Finally, I had to consider claims, strategies, evidence, mediums, and technologies that
were appropriate to the rhetorical situation. I did this through reading about rhetorical analysis in
Reading like a Writer. When we were doing peer reviews this was also addressed, because we
had to determine if the claims and strategies that our peers were using in their writing were
appropriate and made sense. As for appropriate evidence, I had to consider which evidence were
appropriate to use in my documentary and which evidence were not appropriate. Lastly, in every
one of our MWAs we had to consider which technology was appropriate, and in our MWA#3
we had to consider which medium was appropriate as well.
SLO- F:
In order to work toward outcome F, I needed to be able to describe how I can work
toward my goals by composing writings in several different genres and mediums and by using
multiple technologies in other areas. I also need to be able to evaluate my progress as a writer
and how I have improved over this semester.
I had to write in many different genres and use different technologies in several of my
other classes this semester. For example, in my engineering class, we had to write up several
reports in several different genres. Some reports had to be made through excel, while some were
just basic five paragraph essays. There were also some, where we had to do scientific reports in

which we had to support a hypothesis. In my English classes that I have to take in the future, Im
sure I am going to have to write in multiple different genres and use various technologies as well.
In order to evaluate my development as a writer, I did two things in particular. This first
thing I did was sequence reflections. After each sequence I had to reflect on my writing and
evaluate the work that I had done. The second way in which I evaluated my writing is through
this portfolio reflection. This was a huge part in evaluating my writing because I have to look at
my progress over the course of the semester in order to see where I improved.
SLO- J
In order to work toward outcome J, I needed to analyze the conventions of writing and
research for specific academic fields as well as understand the different ways I am able to
communicate and increase my knowledge.
I was able to analyze writing and research conventions of an academic field in my urban
legend documentary. Urban legends are an academic field in itself, and when creating my
documentary I had to analyze research and several different writings about it.
In order to understand the different ways of creating and communicating knowledge, I
read several chapters from reading like a writer. I learned how to do several different things in
order to improve my writing through this reading. Communicating knowledge was done through
the rhetorical situation. I was able to see how a rhetorical situation can have an underlying
message for its audience.
SLO-D:
I worked toward outcome D continuously throughout the whole semester by improving
my fluency of Standard Written American English. I did this on several different levels. Those
levels are the sentence, the paragraph, and the document.

I feel like I made quite a bit of progress toward this outcome because of several different
things. First, sentence diagraming really helped me to understand the structure of a sentence and
how the words relate to one another. This expanded my sentence complexity in my writing and
increased my fluency in Written American English. Reading peer reviews from my fellow
classmates also improved my grammar and usage because I was able to see why things that I
though were correct were actually incorrect. I could then learn from my mistakes and further
improve my writing. Instructor feedback also played a huge part in improving my fluency. For
example, in MWA#1 there were several grammatical errors that I did not think were incorrect.
After reading the instructor feedback on it, I was able to see my mistakes and fix them. Now, my
writing contains far less grammatical errors and usage errors and is more fluent for my readers.
SLO- E:
The one outcome that I feel I did not make very much progress toward at all was outcome
E. For this outcome, I was supposed to be able to describe the importance of using different
languages, dialects, and registers in my own and others texts.
I was able to consider the rhetorical situation in my own texts by using different mediums
and certain tones and vocabulary to better suit my audience. However, I didnt use different
dialects or languages. Because of this, I was not able to understand the importance of using them.
I also did not see different languages or dialects in others texts either. I feel that in future English
classes I will be able to incorporate various dialects and languages in my writing. I can do this by
using texts that do this for my research, so I can get a better understanding of it and possibly
incorporate it into my own work.
In conclusion, I have made a significant amount of progress toward several of the Student
Learning Outcomes. There were some in which I made more progress toward than others. In

making progress toward these course outcomes, I was able to improve my writing and become a
stronger writer; however, my writing is still not perfect and never will be. I will continue to
improve my writing throughout future English classes and throughout my life. There is always
room for improvement.