Kevin Rutledge

Professor Hoenhe 

Composition for WCGI 

3 December 2019

Throughout this course, I was able to step back from my preferred way of writing to see it’s advantages and flaws, as well as how other styles can help in delivering a certain message. The process was a bit struggling at times, but I feel like I have become a better writer because of that same struggle. The different things I’ve learned from the class can’t be seen in every one of the essays I’ve written for the class, but rather, each one serves a unique purpose (sometimes multiple purposes) that end up representing what I’ve learned. 

The first essay, the Literacy Narrative, served as a way to reflect on a style that we are all familiar with to some extent; storytelling. At first glance, this assignment appeared to be a cakewalk, as any of us could recall a memory that involves writing. However, after reading some of the narratives in the Norton Field Guide, we learned how much of an impact dialogue can have on how the story is perceived by the audience. For example, in my narrative, Wrongfully Accused, I described in-depth what was probably going on through my head when I was called by my teacher after being distracted. I could have written the scene much simpler by stating something like, “My teacher called me over to his desk. I was scared that he was going to give me a study hall or detention for drawing…” and so on. Yet by including the inner monologue, I believe I helped the reader better understand the tension in that situation that couldn’t be expressed in a dull, straight-to-the-point statement. Additionally, the inner monologue sets an expectation in the reader. By knowing the character is already expecting to have a certain punishment, the reader also believes it, which makes it that much more surprising when the truth is revealed that my teacher believes I have plagiarized, allowing them to yet again relate to the reader. It’s important to note that this style of retelling this scene wouldn’t have come about without the use of the Norton Field Guide to Writing. In fact, while this wouldn’t be too prevalent in this genre, we as a class would soon understand the importance of using the resources we have at our disposal and determining what is a valid source and what isn’t. 

Next, we covered the Exploratory Essay, which had to be the most difficult for me. In high school, we had become so accustomed to either trying to tell a story or convincing the reader to agree with my argument that trying to explain a certain problem without taking sides was nothing short of uncomforting. It was simply a style of writing I wasn’t familiar with. We had the comments from our last essay this time to help, but with the styles being so different, they didn’t aid much aside from perhaps grammar. However, this is where the peer review classes were able to shine. I might not have been able to understand the concept of exploring a topic without taking sides or being biased, but my other classmates did. By relying on their input and advice, I was able to understand the concept (somewhat) which allowed me to realize how important it is to have multiple people look at your work. When we receive a book, the first contributor to the story we know of and the one that stays in our heads afterward is the author. This leads us to believe that writing is something you do independently from start to finish, and while that may be true in some aspects, having other people around to help allows you to look at your piece in a different light, and may even give you the inspiration to create something even better than what you already have created. Another problem I realized I was going to have was sources. I never really used sources in English essays in high school, as I was in a special program that specializes in creative writing known as the Writing Institute. I had to use it maybe 2-3 times in History though, but my struggle with it would be one of the things keeping me from a perfect grade. Needless to say, I wasn’t ready to use the MLA format of citation. Yet, in class, we’d constantly get into groups to talk about what we were doing wrong, and knowing they were having difficulty with that part helped me feel a lot better. The comments we’d receive online were also a big help, as it would tell me specifically what part of the citation I had messed up, and how I could improve. At this point I don’t think I’m perfect at citations, but I know for sure I have improved, and I couldn’t have done that without the experiences I’ve had in this class.

The Research Critical Analysis was perhaps the most exciting one to write and the one the majority of us were the proudest of, and for good reason. The Exploratory Essay acted as a basis for the information and what problem I could tackle, (I tackled how fairytales affect young minds) and the Literacy Narrative was a reminder of how we can keep the reader intrigued and interested in what we have to say. It was almost like the RCA allowed us to put everything we’ve learned in the semester, into one great big essay that shows how the semester has affected our writing. Even my take on subjects had shifted. Take the argument I tackled in the RCA, for instance. Each of us had a certain argument in the Exploratory Essay, but for many of us, we ended up discussing a completely different way of argument in the RCA. I, at least, felt I should change it after we had learned about fallacies in class. We learned that just that calling something “dirty” or “preposterous” is not enough to create a valid argument, how over-generalized statements can end up giving the reader the wrong idea on what you’re arguing, and a slew of other things. With this information, we were able to create stronger, more stable arguments that aren’t so easy to dismiss. 

Each of the pieces we wrote molded us into not only better writers in English but gave us insight on what would be expected of us in the future when writing is involved, and how we can meet those expectations. The RCA obviously teaches us aspects we can use in things like reporting or politics, but if looked at in a certain light, the skills we’ve learned from it, like how to argue and how to properly support your argument, can be used in subjects like philosophy or even science, and the same can be said for the other two essays. Hence, the skills learned in the Composition for WCGI Literature class not only aids in our writing but will likely prove useful to us for the rest of our lives.

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