D15, HW#4, Reflective Cover Letter

Noe Perez
English 102
Professor Rodrigo
Summer Session #2
WP#4
July 31, 2007


Reflective Cover Letter

As I registered for English 102 this summer I had no idea what I was getting into and what work would be involved. When I started reading the course outline and syllabus, I began to feel nervous because of all the writing that was expected of us during the 5 weeks. Though I am not a good writer, I was up for the challenge. The course outcomes were outlined so that you had no trouble losing site of what you were supposed to accomplish throughout the weeks. If only I followed them with more discipline maybe I wouldn’t of struggled as much in completing my work on time.
Writing project #1 was a good start in preparing you for the long task of writing your first draft. The rhetorical situation was somewhat confusing to understand in the beginning. I visited the rhetorical website and that brought some insight to the context. I felt I did use the 5 elements that make up the rhetorical situation in WP#3. The topic, audience, context, author and purpose seemed to make the draft come together.
For number #2 of the course outcome, I used the Wadsworth Handbook (pg. 103-104) to organize my thesis topic ideas. I learned to do free writing as well as clustering which allowed me to get my thoughts in order. Also used peer reviews to get added information where I needed to explain or add more info to my specific writing.
In Writing Project #3, I was able to achieve outcomes No. 3, 4. I did quite a bit of web browsing for this assignment and evaluating of the site was time consuming. Most of the sites I visited were very full of useful information for my topic and some just repeated data from other sites. Also the grammar exercises in the Wadsworth helped me correct my pronunciations and I was able to revise sentences that needed commas and proper quotes in them. Outcomes No.5, integrating through summarizing, paraphrasing and quotation was accomplished in WP#2, by doing an annotated bibliography outline. I think outcome #6 was also linked to this bibliography. I became more familiar with APA style when doing my work citations and quoting others work into my paper.
I enjoyed the peer reviews. Outcome No.7 and 8, using feedback from others and assessing one’s own writing strength were put into action in my reading reflections and peer reflections. They had great inputs and helpful hints to find other types of resources which had activities to revise a draft.
Course competency #9 was interesting. I’ve learned new technologies in becoming a better writer through the different tools given to us by the instructor. GMAIL, Gliffy, Docs, Blogs, Delicious, and others were instrumental to our writing process.
Despite all the work for this on-line course, I had a great learning experience by using all the different resources in my grasp. I have become more aware of my weaknesses and also my strengths through all the writings and readings. I hope to continue writing so that I will not lose the information I gained in this class.