Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Although its not a formal piece of writing, my White Paper best demonstrates my use of the 1st core value. When I started my research I had a general idea of where I was headed. As you can tell from my multiple hypotheses, this direction was not very specific. It wasn’t until I finished writing my 3rd short argument that I actually figured out what my hypothesis was. The difference between my white paper and the final product of my research paper shows that writing is not a linear process. Most importantly, I learned to keep an open mind to all hypotheses when starting a new piece of writing.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Critical reading is a skill that no writer can be successful without. By analyzing various pieces of writing and synthesizing them in my Stone Money essay, I exhibited the 2nd core value. During this process, I encountered a lot of unfamiliar writing such as Milton Friedman’s essay, “The Island of Stone Money.” Pieces like this require careful attention in order to grasp all of the information. In addition, I successfully used the NPR podcast on the Island of Yap to further support my argument.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Rhetorical choices are made in film, not just writing. I feel the Visual Rhetoric assignment best illustrated my ability to recognize these argumentative elements. Each element of the 30 second ad council video has been carefully selected to help create an argument. Recognizing these visual rhetorical elements is just as important as recognizing them in text. For example, the decision to leave the handle of the fork facing out lets the viewer know that the person diner there is planning on returning. As the viewer, it’s our job to analyze what this means.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I would say my Research Paper was the best representation of this core value. Needless to say, I had to conduct an extensive amount of research to find evidence for why underprivileged kids have the upper hand in society, a very counterintuitive topic. The information that I did find was not always very appropriate for a formal thesis paper, such as Sports Illustrated. I learned an important part of my argument would be finding primary sources from those involved in education, business, and social services. Once I gathered enough useful information, it wasn’t too difficult to support my position that these under privileged kids have an advantage.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

There were plenty of occasions where I was a little late starting an assignment or simply didn’t understand what to do. In these instances, I often referred to other Comp II students’ work. At times, it seemed extremely tempting to just copy what some other seemly successful student had posted in the past. I strongly remember experiencing this while completing the Safer Saws task. Whether it was out of fear or guilt, I resulted to consulting multiple works from other students and then created something completely original. Looking back, I can say this was the best decision.