1

Debbie Magallon

TA Allison Bocchino

Writing 2

16 March 2020

My Growth

Entering as a freshman into a Writing 2 course, I was oblivious to what materials I would

learn. As I began to dive into the different assigned readings, like “Backpacks and Briefcases' '

by Caroll, I began to learn more about the different approaches there are to one topic. During my

whole experience in writing 2, I was able to fully understand the different genres and how to

analyze them in-depth. As mentioned, the article by Caroll was one of my assigned readings.

This article was most interesting to me from the beginning of the quarter, given that it was

relatable. I was able to learn about genres having different techniques with a simple analogy

between genres and teachers. I was able to understand how a teacher is judged based on what

they wear, as a genre is judged by “its cover.”1 This article allowed me to understand that each

article or essay is written with a purpose to an intended audience. By being able to analyze these

articles in-depth, I can understand the context of the reading. I began to change my way of

thinking towards different documents I read from the perspective of Caroll. Analyzing papers

and articles became easier to do following the technique of finding the audience, the purpose,

and the exigence. I was able to understand the overall paper and find the different techniques that

the author used to accomplish their purpose.

As I worked on my writing project 1, I was able to analyze the genre that I chose and

describe the different techniques and styles that the genre displayed. When revising my WP1, I

1 “Laura Carroll, ‘Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.’” UB English 101: Spring 2015.
Writing Space, March 30, 2015. https://english101sp2015.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/laura-carroll-backpacks-vs-
briefcases-steps-toward-rhetorical-analysis/.
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was able to create an essay that flowed easily. One thing that was difficult for me when writing

was transitioning from one paragraph or one topic into a different one. During my experience in

writing 2, I was able to learn about the different ways to revise an essay. From the reading,

“Cohesion and Coherence,” I was able to understand how to create an easy path from one area to

another. Something that stood out to me about this reading that I incorporated into my WP1, was

when finishing a sentence, start a sentence with the same topic.2 This will allow you to transition

from one subject to the other, while they are all tied together. Another thing that I decided to

incorporate into WP1 was adding a paragraph on the different restrictions that the genre of the

advertisement has. By doing so, I believe I am able to elaborate more on the different qualities

that make up the genre of advertisements. I was able to elaborate on the restriction of words that

genres have due to the limited amount of space each advertisement has and the audience they are

communicating to. The ideas that I focused most on was making my sentences flow, clarifying

my main ideas of the paragraphs I had written, and revising my thesis to provide an overview of

my paper. It was helpful to focus on these ideas because I was able to stick to the prompt and

make my essay easier to read and follow. I was also able to fix the grammatical issues that I had

in my essay, as well as add transitions that were appropriate to my essay. I believe that by editing

these different things, I am able to show how much my writing has improved upon taking this

course.

The second revision that I chose to do was my writing project 2. Although this was the

toughest paper I had written, it was the essay that I believed I would be able to improve the most

on. This is because when reading “Cohesion and Coherence,” I was able to understand what

techniques I would be able to use in order to organize my essay in a way that is easier for the
2 WIlliams, Joseph M. “Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace Style BIG Collection Compiled - Symphony No. 2.”
StuDocu. Accessed March 16, 2020. https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/studocu-university/studocu-
summary-library-en/summaries/style-lessons-in-clarity-and-grace-style-big-collection-compiled-symphony-no-
2/1041300/view.
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reader to understand.3 I was able to fix my sentences, as well as eliminate those that did not add

meaning to my paper. By doing so, I was able to communicate the difference between the two

discourse communities that I had chosen to write about. Not only that, but I added a paragraph

on the different ways that each discipline communicates with its audience. Even though I had

written about the language, I had not mentioned how the communication differs, as my TA

Allison Bocchino had mentioned.4 With this feedback, I was able to be more specific on the

exact language that is used and for what purpose the language is used for. I was able to elaborate

on the different jargon used by each discipline and how they differ from one another due to their

audiences. The thing that I changed most in my WP2 was the structure of the sentences and

adding sentences to create an easier flow when reading the essay. I also adjusted the different

grammar errors that I had present. I believe this improved my overall essay and shows an

accurate representation of my writing skills after attending the writing 2 course.

After having reviewed and revised my two writing projects, some techniques that I

believe worked in my writing was starting with an eye-catching topic. Something that I was

proud of when I reviewed my essays was that my introduction was a good way to capture my

readers' attention and was related to my topics, so they easily tied into my main purpose. This

was a technique that I learned during a reading called, “Making Choices in Writing.”5 This

technique I learned in WP1 and I continued to use it as I continued to write. From when I first

entered writing 2 to now, I do not struggle with beginning an essay. I have also learned about

revising my thesis after the whole paper has been written. This is because it will provide an

accurate road map to the rest of my paper. Having revised these essays, I believe this is a good

3 WIlliams, Joseph M. “Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace Style BIG Collection Compiled - Symphony No. 2.”
4 Bocchino, Allison. “Writing 2 Lecture.” Writing 2 Lecture. 2020.
5 Department, SLCC English. “Making Choices in Writing.” Go to the cover page of Open English @ SLCC. Open
English @ SLCC, August 1, 2016. https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/chapter/making-choices-in-writing/.
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reflection on what I learned, given that I was able to incorporate all the techniques best suited for

my writing style into the two essays.

As I rewrote, I believe I have greatly improved my writing skills. This is because I

learned about the different ways to begin to write an essay, like using project builders that made

it easier to have my ideas flow. From this technique, I was then able to make a draft, while I

learned it is not my final draft. From this course, I learned that there is always room for

improvement. I learned that reading your paper out loud will help you catch mistakes, as well as

deconstructing your essay will help you improve your overall paper in terms of nouns, verbs,

adjectives, and transitions. Having learned these different things, I believe that I will be able to

use these techniques as a way to improve my future essays. This is because I will be able to catch

the readers' attention, then keep the essay flowing without having extra words that will pull away

from the main topic. Not only did I learn how to revise my essays, but I learned how to find

academic articles based on different topics. This technique will be useful to me when researching

different courses when academic articles are needed to be incorporated. I believe that by learning

this technique, I will be more successful in incorporating outside sources in an essay. Some

concepts that I still believe I struggle with are the grammar. This is because I tend to write run-

on sentences and just include a comma in-between. One way that I believe I will be able to fix

this is with practice and peer-reviewing papers. On the other hand, as previously mentioned,

introductions are a technique that I enjoy using and plan to use in my other writing assignments.
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Bibliography:

Bocchino, Allison. “Writing 2 Lecture.” Writing 2 Lecture. 2020.

Department, SLCC English. “Making Choices in Writing.” Go to the cover page of Open

English

@ SLCC. Open English @ SLCC, August 1, 2016.

https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/chapter/making-choices-in-writing/.

“Laura Carroll, ‘Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.’” UB English 101:
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Spring 2015. Writing Space, March 30, 2015.

https://english101sp2015.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/laura-carroll-backpacks-vs-

briefcases-steps-toward-rhetorical-analysis/.

WIlliams, Joseph M. “Style Lessons in Clarity and Grace Style BIG Collection Compiled -

Symphony No. 2.” StuDocu. Accessed March 16, 2020. https://www.studocu.com/en-

us/document/studocu-university/studocu-summary-library-en/summaries/style-lessons-in-

clarity-and-grace-style-big-collection-compiled-symphony-no-2/1041300/view.