Robert Lewis Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37 12/02/2013

Personal Reflection When I discovered that I would be in an intensive writing class that extended two and a half hours on Monday and Wednesday, I felt rather discouraged. Although I am aware of its importance, reading and writing have never been my niche. I initially disliked the idea of having a seemingly endless amount of grammar modules, writing assignments, and in class presentations. However, despite the occasional feeling of being overwhelmed with the workload, throughout the quarter I have gained an abundance of knowledge and skills that are not only necessary to advance as a scholar but are relevant in a future career. Something that made this particular class interesting was the theme centered on zombies. One of the first and key assignments we had was to establish the origin of the zombie genre. We did this by watching and analyzing conventions found in George A. Romeros Night of the Living Dead, which is considered the original zombie picture. After assessing the conventions of the classic zombie movie the class broke off into groups of four, where each group would decide on a different zombie film we would analyze. After deciding on the British zombie film 28 Days Later, we started our notes and analysis. As we would come to find out, the first set of notes consisted mainly of plot summary and there were not many signs of critical thinking. In response

to this, I watched the film for a second time, this time examining the text for less obvious conventions and themes from the film. After watching 28 Days Later, it was time to start our first ten minute class presentation where we would analyze the rhetorical situation and conventions of the zombie genre found in the film. One Habit of Mind that stood out to me in this instance was responsibility because of the division of work strategy we used in order to be successful. After dividing up the work and meeting with my group at the library, we put the presentation together and ended up with what we thought would be a decently sized PowerPoint. However, as we would come to find out, ten minutes was a very short time to explain all the information we had. After receiving feedback from our peers and instructor we learned about the essential creativity required in presentation. In order to represent our ideas, the utilization of a variety interesting visuals is absolutely necessary to make ones purpose engaging to the audience. Following this presentation the class started our first writing assignment on genre theory. For this assignment I analyzed the conventions that cause 28 Days Later to be categorized in the zombie genre. As the class learned from literary critic and expert Kyle Bishop, these genre protocols include not only the zombies and the imminent threat of violent deaths, but also a postapocalyptic backdrop, the collapse of societal infrastructures, the indulgence of survivalist fantasies, and the fear of other surviving humans. During my first draft I simply transcribed everything that I observed in the film. Although I was writing conventions that, I was analyzing superficial conventions such as the appearance of zombies. This led me to create a paper that was strong in audience and the rhetor portion of the rhetorical situation, but felt weak in the analysis of the text. After having my peers and professor express their opinions on my paper, I knew there were several changes that I needed to incorporate in my next draft. Some things that were

important to change were the conventions I was analyzing which I changed from the zombies appearance to what their appearance and aggressiveness means to our culture. By analyzing the picture a second time I was able to spark my curiosity of the metaphorical meaning of the zombies. This gave me the desire to look further into the genre and allowed me to be engaged in the topic. Because I was curious and engaged I began to invest more time in what I was writing about. This was not because I had to in order to receive a good grade, but because I was genuinely interested in the topic. After analyzing 28 Days Later and determining the conventions found in the zombie genre, my next project was to write another rhetorical analysis on World War Z. The first step in writing this next major assignment was to read World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War. At first I was a concerned about reading the novel as I am not an avid reader but because the topic was interesting to me and I found myself committed while reading the novel. While I started my first draft I found it initially difficult to decide which characters to write about in order to do a rhetoric analysis. Metacognition was a key factor in writing my early drafts. After reading my blogs concerning the strengths and weaknesses of my previous essay, I decided to focus my analysis on the convention of fear by give several examples of the cultural contexts found in the novel. To do this I referred to my forum response questions in which I analyzed the importance of Todd Wainio and Hyungchol Choi. After rereading their accounts of the zombie apocalypse, I was ready to write about Todd Wainios relation to the 9/11 and Hyungchol Chois relation to North and South Korean conflicts. After I finished my first draft I received peer review and instructor feedback where I discovered that I had summarized more that I had analyzed the text. This is when I had to be open to suggestions and allow myself to change my thought process in order to create a better paper. I began my revision by adding in Breck Scott

because of his reference to the prescription drug problems and fears in America. Although I made these changes, there was still not enough analysis. After I came to this realization, I decided to rewrite my essay one last time. This time I focused all my analysis on Todd Wainio as a commentary from Max Brooks on the Iraq War. After researching the Iraq was I was able to determine many relationships to the war with Todds narrative. After revising my essa y three times, I was proud of the analysis I put into the character. Flexibility was the most important habit of mind in this project. It allowed me to change my original ideas into an essay that I believe meets the demands and expectations of a rhetorical analysis at an advanced level. All of the work we had done thus far led to the final presentation: the RIP seminar. For the RIP seminar, it was my groups task to prepare food for everyone attending the seminar and to create final power point presentations based off of the in class presentations we gave throughout the quarter. This included: a revised presentation on the conventions of 28 Days Later, a presentation on three characters and their significance in World War Z, and a presentation on two cultural connections found in World War Z that reflect on modern culture. For each portion of the seminar I contributed by speaking to the classes. For the first presentation I created a PowerPoint presentation on 28 Days Later concerning isolation, and the danger of humans compared to the zombies, as classic conventions, as well as the modern revisionist convention the film displayed which was important in the revival of the zombie genre. In the second presentation I contributed by analyzing and presenting Todd Wainios significance in World War Z as a central character who appears multiple times and presents a perspective of the frontline soldier who is fighting in the war rather than simply surviving. For the last portion of the seminar I contributed by creating a presentation on the cultural connection regarding the conflict between North and South Korea by analyzing Korean CIA director Hyungchol Choi as

he reflects on the disappearance of North Korean citizens. This relating to the lack of information the United States has on North Korea and the fears of possible nuclear attacks. I felt fairly confident about presenting to the class after the various practice presentations we had given to prepare for the seminar. However, I was initially more intimidated due to the larger audience and having to recall the three parts of the seminar I was presenting on. Something that was very important to the success of our classs presentation was the run through of the seminar which allowed us to better prepare mentally for the seminar. This proved to be beneficial as there was very little problems during our presentation. After our class finished presenting our portion of the seminar it was time for the other class to present. After watching their various technical difficulties and watching the students presenting stumble on their thoughts, it became obvious that we had been much better prepared than the other class Over the past ten weeks I have learned a lot about writing that I can apply not only to the rest of my college career but also to the rest of my life. One of the most important things Ive learned from this class are the importance of persistence in my studies. Something that set this class apart from other classes was the addition of a grade contract with which one will receive a B by completing all assigned work on time. With the implementation of this policy, I was able to focus and be persistent on my writing and not worry as much about the grade I am receiving. This caused me to strive for improvement on every writing assignment in order to receive an A in the class. The most important thing I learned in this class was to be aware that the language we use and how it affects the audience we are writing to. By understanding this I can effectively write to a specific audience and find an authors purpose or message in their text. These are lessons that I will not forget as I continue to grow as an analytically capable scholar.