As a writing class, UWP 1 challenged and taught me a lot.

In this class, I tried much

new stuff. I tried a number of activities and wrote papers in different genres—narrative paper,

research paper, poster, and brochure. At first, it was hard for me to face the challenges. However,

after finishing them and looked back, I found I have deep interpretation toward good writing

and writer. Before this class, I thought good writing refers to expressing the author’s meaning

clearly and effectively, and audiences can get the points in reading. However, I didn’t know

how to make it. Now, I understand. To create good writing and make it works for various

audiences, writers are supposed to tailor content for various audiences and adjust the format for

the audience. Moreover, from trying new stuff in UWP1, my writing abilities grew and became

more comprehensive. Among the growth, the most important three abilities I gain were to write

the first draft, tailor content for various audiences and genres, and revise.

Before UWP1, I didn’t pay much attention to the first draft. I didn’t treat it seriously

since I would revise it later. However, by reading related articles and doing the activities, I

learned the importance, necessity and the effective method of doing the first draft. The first

draft is shitty. Yet, it is unnecessary to afraid of the unperfect. The function of the first draft is

to provide the writer with a base to build and craft. What I should pay attention to the first draft

is the adequacy of substantial content, rather than perfect grammar and word choice. In this

class, I learned how to build a concrete base. I tried a number of ways to find prospective ideas,

such as mapping, bubbling, and freewriting. For instance, freewriting inspired me a lot. I used

to write an outline before the first draft, which was limited by the structure. However, by doing

freewriting, creativity was maximized because there was no limit of grammar or structure. By

typing any possible content related to the topic, I would write subconscious interesting ideas.

Then, in outlining, I organized and ordered those ideas in a logical way, which was effective to

stimulate good ideas and thesis. Thus, UWP 1 taught me to write the first draft.

Moreover, I learned to convey and tailor content for various audiences and situations

in different genres. For the various audience, writers are supposed to adjust the format and

content of the writing. As a writer, I believed I am capacitated to display content to different

audiences in various genres. In the portfolio, I tried three different genres—narrative paper,

research paper, brochure. Those three writings target various audience. To be more specific, in

the research paper, I used many resources to introduce the background. These resources helped

the audience know the current research field of online fake review and have an interest in my

research question. Yet, in the literacy narrative, I didn’t use any references, since it was my

story and didn’t need other professional research to examine my growth. Additionally, for the

same content in different genres, I adjusted differently. The topics of the poster and brochure

were similar. However, the target audiences of the poster were more academic, and the situation

was more formal and serious, students in the conference. Furthermore, the major function of

the poster was to introduce my research. In this case, I introduced the method and data of the

research in details. I also used the graphic to display the result more vividly. However, the

prospective audiences of my brochure were Chinese UC Davis students who shop online, and

their interest was knowing more about online fake reviews and avoid the fraud. The situation

of displaying the brochure was more casual and less academic than the poster. Moreover, the

function was to introduce fake online reviews rather than my research merely. Thus, I added

more images to make it looks more interesting and attractive. To avoid making the brochure

looks complex and unreadable, the words were very precise and effective. I only introduced the

participants and result of research briefly. Consequently, my capacity for writing for various

need was enhanced in UWP1.

Furthermore, my revising ability was improved in this class. Among revising activities

I have done, the most impressive one was the colored organization. Firstly, thinking the color

used to highlight was a good process to figure out the function and necessity of sentences. To

define a clear function of the sentence, I revised it to be more specific. After all, sentences got

highlighted, looked through the color, found the part with disordered color and took a close

look at it. I revised it when found sentences were too unorganized. To make it more organized,

I would adjust the structure of the sentence or the order of the sentences until the highlighted

color more consistent and ordered. This method helped me focus on the organization in revision
and learned the function of sentences deeply. Moreover, the peer review activity also provided

me good advice to refer in revision. According to the suggestion from peers, especially five by

five section, I had the more real diagnosis of my writing since peers’ advice was from audiences’

view and more objective. Based on it, I did much revision on the organization and thesis. For

example, in the first project in the portfolio, based on the feedback that the process I realized

the importance of interest, I added more details and stated more about how I got inspired and

determined to insist on my interest. After the revision, I found it looked better since the thesis

of the literacy narrative is the transition of my growth and explanation of how I made the

decision helped audiences understand my growth. Those Furthermore, in the portfolio, there

was also revision based on the feedback from the professor. According to the feedback in the

draft, the research lacked a deep discussion. In the discussion section, I only summarized the

result of data in a few sentences. However, like the professor’s feedback, it needed to be

discussed deeply. To revise it, I added more content about what does the data of the research

means and the fact the data indicated.

To conclude, from UWP1, my writing abilities to write the draft, adapt content to

various audiences in diverse genres, and revise were improved. This is the result of trying new

activities and facing new challenges. Even though I made the progress, the portfolio is still not

perfect and has room to improve. Current word usage is simple and repeating due to the

insufficiency of vocabulary. If I have more time, I will pay more attention to the express, such

as the word choice, to make it more effectively. The portfolio is to show my learning outcome,

the progress I made in UWP 1, rather than a perfect project, and I made it. Moreover, that

progress not only uses in this project, but I will also apply it to my future academic life and

career. The skills will help me every time I need to write. I am glad to take the UWP 1 and hope

to have a chance to learn more about writing in an upper-level class.