University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Goal Sticker Project

Aurora Krec
800974065
UWRT 1102-025
Ms. Beth Caruso
24 January 2017

Krec 1
Goal Sticker Project
Writing is inarguably the most important subject in existence. Without writing,
humankind would just be a bunch of bumbling idiots running around with no education. Sure,
people might be able to learn common sense, but just think about it. Medicine, math, science,
history, and literally every other subject is learned through reading. If there was no such thing as
a written language, people honestly probably would cease to exist. Since we know that reading
and writing is crucial to human existence in the long-haul, is proper and formal writing equally
as important? Cardiothoracic surgeons cannot study up for their upcoming procedure by reading
a book with the vocabulary of Go Dog Go. Attorneys cannot search through books for
extremely specific loopholes in the law if the books have the organization of the average middleschooler. Hopefully this gets the point across about how critical proper writing techniques are.
In my time, I have written quite a lot. From elementary to high school, I was always
placed in the advanced classes where writing was emphasized more than anything, even in math.
Because of this, I like to think that I am a decent writer, but everyone has a weakness. For
example, none of the writing assignments I have ever been assigned were solely creative. I only
know how to successfully write factual essays, whether it be argumentative or informative.
However, I feel as if I do a great job conducting research and putting it together in an organized
manner so that the reader is intrigued whilst learning.
In elementary school, I never really got into writing because they were trying to teach us
the basics still. Once I hit middle school, my teacher was obsessed with making us cry over
research papers. She taught us how to conduct research properly, how to make organized flash
cards, and how to present the information from the flash cards into an equally organized paper.

Krec 2
In sixth grade, we wrote a five-hundred-word essay on our favorite animal. In seventh grade, we
wrote a seven-hundred-fifty-word essay on a world leader that we believed to be highly
influential. In eighth grade, we wrote a thousand-word essay on a controversial topic and argued
both sides equally. High school was full of Advanced Placement and Honors classes that forced
us to write an essay per week on books, articles, etc. Every class had an essay due each week,
but none of them were fictional. The only creative pieces I have ever written were biographies,
and they only covered specific parts of life. The longest essay I have ever had to write was
fourteen pages for my final assignment in A.P. English Literature and Composition.
You would think that after writing for so long, Id have a pretty awesome writing process,
right? Mine is far from awesome. I wait until the last possible minute and cram everything onto
a rough draft, read it over, and re-write the entire thing. I usually spend at least thirty minutes
trying to formulate the perfect introductory and closing paragraphs, so instead, I write the entire
body and finish with those. My writing process is sloppy and unprofessional, but it works for
me.
During my senior year of high school, I took the equivalent to UWRT 1101 at VanceGranville Community College. In that course, we wrote essays on each of the Student Learning
Outcomes (SLOs) that we will be touching on this semester. I am familiar with rhetorical
knowledge, because in that class we discussed what we read using our prior experiences as well
as what we had just read, and we would also practice shifting tones during writing. For example,
we would make efforts to switch from informative to persuasive writing, or from dull to
humorous, etc. I have been reading critically since middle school. Teachers have always told us
that the first step to critical reading is to use context clues. From using their methods, I have

Krec 3
found that I not only am learning new words every day, but I am understanding sentences and
paragraphs that I normally would not understand as easily if I was simply skimming the words.
Composing Processes, on the other hand, is just the different strategies that writers use to
compose their products. Knowledge of Conventions is the understanding of rules and guidelines
in writing and other scenarios. For example, if you go to a spectate chess match and you have
never even heard of the game, you know nothing about it, while the players know the rules,
loopholes, etc. They have a much larger knowledge of conventions about the subject than you
do. Critical Reflection is crucial in writing. Before anyone finalizes their work, they should
always have a peer review it and reflect on it themselves. By properly reflecting on your own
work, you are allowing yourself to be vulnerable. You are sharing what was going through your
mind in writing, what was happening in your life that could have potentially affected your
writing, what your strengths and weaknesses were, etc. The Student Learning Outcomes are
wonderful things to use to help your writing, but that is not all they are good for; they can be
used in life. For example, you should always critically reflect on yourself. Before saying
something, think about it and decide if it is truly appropriate. Use your knowledge of
conventions to formulate educated, respectful responses to conversation.
This semester, I hope to completely get rid of my procrastination problem. I believe that
the only reason I have not received the grades I know I can get is because I rushed through the
assignments. On top of the procrastination problem, I hope to learn how to write a proper thesis
(they always confuse me), be better at creative writing, and actually revise my own work.
Not many obstacles disrupt my learning. I have always been on top of my A-Game
when it comes to my education, but since college, I have found that there a couple problems I

Krec 4
have. In high school, my mom would constantly be on my case to get my homework done, go to
sleep, eat, etc. Now that I am in college and living on my own, I sometimes forget to eat, I fall
asleep long past midnight, I forget to do my homework, and I spend too much time sleeping.
Also, my high school had less than a thousand people in it. I have never been to a large school,
and I am proud of that. However, walking around a campus that has tens of thousands of
students on it daily is unsettling every now and then. I always have been self-conscious of my
weight and looks, and rather than there being ten girls at my high school that I envy, there are
thousands of beautiful girls that I compare myself to every day. Although this is a personal
problem that has nothing to do with writing, it does cause me to fall into a mood where I do
nothing but sleep and cry, or I go on a not-so-healthy weight-loss splurge (that inevitably never
shows effective). In the long-haul, these end up affecting my grades because I forget about
homework or I rush assignments solely so I can get back on to the crying or working out.
My sticker is pretty plain and can be viewed as depressing to some people, but to me, its
encouraging. The mountains in the background have a special place in my heart. I am a hiker
and a lover of wilderness. The first time I ever went on a hike, it was in the Appalachian
Mountains three years ago with the United Methodist Church. It was the most physically
difficult week of my life because of the pain and stress. There were many times where I wanted
to throw myself off of the mountains and get it over with, but on the fourth day, we came across
an open space with a view for miles. To this day, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever
seen, and it changed my life drastically. Now, every time I see pictures of the mountains, I think
about how hellish that week was, how many times I contemplated suicide, and how I came out of
that week in the best mindset of my life. It gives me the encouragement I need to go through my

Krec 5
day, because no matter how bad it is, it cannot be any worse than forcing yourself up fifty miles
of mountain with a bunch of sweaty boys and no shower. I put a dull filter on it because
whenever I get stressed and feel the need to look at motivating images like that, it is because I
am depressed or moody. Images with filters like that jump out at me the most, surprisingly. The
word resist has many meanings to me. It means to abstain from doing something that you have
an urge of doing. When it comes to schoolwork, I have the urge to hold off until the last day.
When it comes to people, I have the urge to keep to myself and never talk to strangers. When it
comes to life, I have the urge to sleep through everything. When it comes to uncomfortable
social situations, I have the urge to remain silent. This word reminds me to stop procrastinating,
because that is the only way I will succeed in school. It reminds me to talk to strangers, because
that is the only way to make new friends. It reminds me to wake up and stop sleeping through
life, because God put me here to make an impact, not sleep. It reminds me to speak up in
uncomfortable situations, because though there are strangers there that could judge me, if nobody
says anything, it will just happen.