Third Reflection

Looking Back

The second project helped me realize how to be less

emotional in my writing. I wasn’t concerned with being

less emotional because I was clear about who my

audience was and how I wanted to address them. I also

had plenty of research to lean on. I was most challenged

by the organization of the essay this time around. I found

that the flow I had, and the flow required from the project were two different flows. I had a hard

time reconciling the two, but I did my best to. A new process I tried in this second project was to

address my audience directly

using ‘you’ when referring to

them. This made the work much

more personal, pointed, and clear.

A new habit of mind I practiced in this second project was

to organize my work so the ready is led down a path they will

understand. I did not do so well at it in my first try but I tried my

best to clean that up in my second try. The visual I used was

homemade. I made an advocacy urging customers to be kind to

their local barista. I thought the visual of the coffee cup and
smiley face tied in with the slogan “take a smile, leave a smile”. I then added to the end of the

slogan, “practice ordering etiquette, your local barista will appreciate it.” As my call to action

and explanation for my ad. I thought about my own biases in writing the project and decided that

I was justified in my cause. I did not want to berate my audience, but I wanted them to

understand how important the topic was to the writer and act accordingly. I think I took on an

authoritarian tone of voice for the writing of this project.

Some feedback I

received from my peers is

to address my audience

more clearly. I did so and

found my project much

easier to understand and

organized. I could speak to

my audience directly and use the word ‘you’ when addressing them. The feedback aligned with

me as a writer in that I was wondering how to be less emotional in my writing. The feedback

helped me to do that. I am especially proud of every sentence I had with a topic sentence on it. I

tried to add on to every paragraph and re-add them in the second draft. I am also proud of the

fact that I was less emotional in my writing. Speaking directly to the customers helped a lot and

helped focus my writing a bit more.

My vision of myself and my relation to writing has changed immensely. I no longer think

I must rely on emotion to write, nor do I think that my way of organizing my work is the best

way to do so. I really appreciate the new way of organizing my work that was introduced to me

during the course of this project. I see myself as a more understood writer because of this project.
 Looking Forward

Some new approaches to writing I will adopt in the future is to be clear about my

audience and think of the different ways I can address them in my writing. The format of the

paper can influence the way I address my audience, as well as who my audience is. In the case of

Project 2, in my first draft, I addressed my audience as if they were the general public and cast a

wide net, when in fact, my audience was the mind I was supposed to change. My project worked

much better when I addressed the audience, Starbucks customers, directly and used ‘you’ when

addressing them. The project was also a letter. I thought I would be able to write the letter to a

general audience, but I had to speak directly to the people involved in the issue and who has a

stake in it.

A growth I am proud of is the fact that I have gotten better with topic sentences. I could

still use work on both of those things, but growth takes time. I can now get through a paragraph

with much more ease with the use of topic sentences because I know how to end the paragraph

better with one. I used to try to use transition sentences or have one paragraph flow into the next

paragraph, but topic sentences are much easier to follow and make writing a paper less daunting.

A skill I would still like to practice in future is organizing my work. I tried my best with project

two, but I know I could use more work in that area. My hope is that I will be able to lead my

reader through my project or work without them questioning how they ended up at a certain

point or feeling scattered in the middle of the essay, letter, or project. The instructor used an

outline to help me understand how to organize my essay. I then tried to rewrite my letter in the

order she pointed out to me. In the future I would like to try using an outline more closely.

Where I use topic sentences as the points I wish to make in my project.

a less emotional writer. I am clear about who my audience is and how I address them. I also pay

attention to the form of writing I am writing in, whether it be an essay or a letter or a screenplay.

This will impact my writing experience by making my writing clearer and easier to understand.

The types of text I will be writing in my professional life will be code and mainly emails. I am

excited to see how this newfound growth will benefit the email writing part of my career. The

clarity of audience and organization of my writing will make my emails much easier to

understand and hopefully help me receive a quick reply.

The link to my portfolio is here.