Writing2 Final Coverletter
Writing2 Final Coverletter
Writing2 Final Coverletter
When I was in primary school, I was taught that it is important to develop the habit of
questioning things constantly. But in China, kids were brought up knowing that we were not
supposed to question things for it was impolite. Therefore, I listened to my cultural convention,
and I play by all the “rules” like most people. After I came to UCSB in the US, course writing 2
started to once again tell me the importance of keeping questioning things. This time, I took the
one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
I learned many things from this course that opened my eyes to things I never knew could
be comprehended this way in the practice of writing. First and foremost, like what Madelaine
Donnell, the author of Teardrops, said that there are conventions and not rules. Many students
know the “rules” of formal writing since high school, such as using only the third person,
including a thesis statement, having both an introduction and conclusion, and so on. But they are
only conventions followed by most people. According to Sara P, “standard written English is not
an objective set of criteria. It is an ideal system of writing built by white, upper-middle-class, and
male, lacking any form of variation”. Following these conventions could generate many
downsides that have negative impacts on ourselves. The purposes of writing are to persuade and
express. If we only do what others do and we write like how others write, what is the difference
between our writing and everyone else’s writing? Thus it is extremely essential to have our own
voices in each one of our work. Surrendering to the conventions is only limiting our choices in
teacher’s draft and the final revised in comparison under the project page. Another huge element
I plan to include in my portfolio is Eli Review because I think peer feedback was one of the
biggest surprises I encountered in this course. I will then talk about my revisions in the
In the translation project, I turned an academic article into a series of Instagram posts,
telling people the benefits of adopting pets during the social lockdown. I got to play around with
the “hashtag” function on Instagram, learning how to target the appropriate groups of audience.
My main problem was I concentrated on advertising that adopting puppies not only benefit
human physically but also give puppies a home in the teacher’s draft. I was neglecting the future
advantages brought by living with a puppy. Living with a puppy actually encourages people to
become a better version of themselves for puppies give them a sense of responsibility, and teach
people to take care of others, so I added a post highlighting this point. One of the most
interesting thing I encountered during project 1 was the mistake I made on the lab report. I didn’t
know that lab report should be about my translation project, not the original academic article. I
did not realize this issue until my peer pointed out to me in the Eli Review. The moment I saw
that comment from my peer was the same moment I realized why peer feedback plays a such
In the conversation project, I collected the central ideas of each author’s article and I
rephrased them into a form of conversation, a quarterly discussion over “How the peer-reviewing
feedback impact L2 learners and L1 speakers with their writing experience” through Zoom. I let
the authors give their own speeches one after the other. But in this way, not only do the
paragraphs get too long and readers could easily feel bored reading them, but also there are fewer
chances for the authors to interact with each other. So I separated the sentences into smaller
paragraphs and I added more interaction between the authors. Before the Eli review, I put L1 and
L2 in the conversation project without explaining the meaning of these two terms. I did not put
the definitions because I already understood the meanings of these two words, but I did not think
about my audience. Until I saw the peer feedback from my peers, I then realized readers and
writers don't always see eye to eye on the same text, just like what Madelaine Donnell said. So I
One big takeaway from these two projects is that we, as writers, should consider readers’
experiences while composing our pieces, and that is where reflection comes in. Kara Taczak
claimed that writers develop and improve with practice, time, and reflection throughout the
process. This is why we should reflect on our writing even if it comes from ourselves. We should
also value peer review for they ALWAYS provide us with new perspective and places we could
improve. Keep reflecting and improving could greatly promote the quality of our writing.
opened my eyes to many new possibilities about writing and many unknown areas under the
study of writing I could further explore in the future. All the skills such as adding my personal
voice, considering readers’ experience,s or revising my writing based on reflection are building
matter of time before I could live up to my own expectations and write as no one else could.
Lastly, I have to thank you for all your assistance and patience. Writing 2 is so far the most
Sincerely,
Jiahe Sun
Citation:
Taczak, Kara. “Reflection is Critical for Writers’ Development.” Naming What We Know, edited by
Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2015, pp. 78-81.
Christopher Dean and Kathy Patterson, Hayden McNeil, UCSB Writing Program, 2021, pp. 90-
94.
Alvarez, Sara P., Wan, Amy J., and Lee, Eunjeong. “Workin’ Languages: Who We Are Matters in Our
Writing.” Writing Spaces, Edited by Dana Driscoll, Megan Heise, Mary Stewart, and Matthew
Vetter, vol. 4, Parlor Press and WAC Clearinghouse, 2022, pp. 1-17.