PurvaPatel

Dr.Haas
Writing39C
1June2015
Reflection
OverthecourseofmyWriting39Cclass,Ihavenoticedasignificantamountofgrowth
inmywritingandresearchingskills.Fromthefirstdayoftheclass,Irealizedthatthecourse
wasgoingtoverydemandingandtimeconsumingwith.Comingintotheclass,Iwasuncertain
ofwhattoexpectfromtheclasssinceIamnotthebestatwritingandfoundthewordsresearch
andargumentwereintimidatingbecauseargumentshavealwaysbeenaweakpointinmy
writing.However,asIbeganresearchingonatopicthatIfoundinteresting,thewritingprocess
becamemoreenjoyable.Forthemostpart,myessaysbeforethiscoursewerepoorlywrittenand
prettymuchwrittenonthespotwithoutanyplanning.InmyhighschoolEnglishclassesIwould
getawaywithminimumeffort,whichIthoughtIcoulddointheWriting39sequence.Dueto
thismentality,IwouldfindmyselfrushingeveryessaythenightbeforetheyweredueinWriting
39B.
WhenthewritingprocessforthiscoursebeganIquicklyrealizedthatwritingonedraft
andeditingitoncewasnotsufficienttowriteagoodresearchpaper.Thisrealizationwas
supportedbythefactthatboththeHistoricalConversationsProject(HCP)andtheAdvocacy
Project(AP)requiredvariousdraftsthatwereconstantlysubjecttoacycleofresearching,
writingandrevising.Through
metacognition
andthecontinuousprocessofresearch,writing

numerousdraftsandrevisionusingfeedbackIwasabletodiscovermystyleoforganization,
revisionandwritingprocessandimprovewitheveryassignment.Imadeitaprioritytoplan
whatIwantedtowriteandorganizemyessayinawaythatwouldmakeeffectivelymakean
argument.Althoughitwasadifficultprocess,Iamnowmoreawareofmywritingprocessand
abletoeffectivelymakeanargumentinawellorganizedscholarlyessayandvariousother
mediumsusingrhetoric.
SinceWriting39Cisdesignedtointroducestudentstoscholarlywritingandutilize
digitalrhetorictoformarguments,researchwasfundamentalfortheHCPandtheAP.Before
Writing39C,IdidnotknowhowtousetheonlinedatabasessuchasANTPACthatareusedat
UCIorhowtofindacademicjournalsthatcouldbeusedforanessay.Tobeginourwriting
process,awholeclasswasdedicatedtoasessionwithalibrarianfromLangsonLibrarywho
walkedusthroughhowtousethelibrarydatabasesforourresearch.DuringthisprocessI
learnedtheimportanceoffindingtherightkeywordsandfollowingthebreadcrumbswhen
searchingforscholarlyarticles.TheAnimalMindspresentationswehavepresentedtheweek
beforehadsparkedmy
curiosity
onanimalmourningandhowtheyfeltgrief,soIdecidedto
writemyHCPondolphingrief.FindingsourcesformyHCPwhichwasverydifficultatthe
beginningbecauseIwasnotusingthevaguekeywordssuchasdolphingriefordolphinsocial
groups.UsingthosekeywordsinthedatabaseswerenotgivingthetypesofarticlesthatIwas
lookingfor,soIstartedtosearchforsourcesusingcetaceangriefandcetaceansocialization
whichgavemearticlesthatweremoreappropriateforascholarlyaudience.Althoughthe
processofresearchingwastediousIlearnedthatitisveryimportanttobe
persistence
when
usingthedatabasestofindthebestsources.

ThefirstdraftofmyHCPhadmanyerrors,themostimportantbeingthatitdidnothave
anyresearchinit.
Theresearchthatwaspresentinthedraftwasasummaryofasummary
becauseImadethemistakeofnotfindingtheoriginalsourcethatactuallydidtheresearch.
ThoughwiththesourcesthatIdidhave,Ihadahardtimepiecingthesourcestogethertoforman
argument.IalsodidnothaveanyhistoricaldimensionsintheessaysowhenIstartedtorevise
thedraftIbeganbygoingthroughallthearticlesIhadusedandsearchedfortheoriginalstudy
thatwasdoneontheanimal.Forexample,Figure1displaysasectionthatIrevisedafterthe
peerreviewtoincludeactualsourcesinsteadsummarizingtheeventfromKingsnovel.I
introducedthesource,biologistJoanGonzalvo,andtheyeartheeventwasobserved.The
changesthatweremadeduringtherevisionprocessaredisplayedwiththepurplehighlight.


Figure1.Beforeandafterofarevision.Iaddedactualevidencefromtheoriginalsourceinsteadofrelyingonthesummaryfrom
HowAnimalsGrieve
byBarabaraKing.

OnceIfoundthesourcesIincorporatedthemintomyessayandremovedthepartsthatwere
fromsourcesthatwerenotrelevant.Ithenaddedmoreaboutthehistorybehindthestudiessuch
asCharlesDarwinbeingthefounderofethologywhichisthestudyofanimalemotionsandhow
thepeoplebegantorealizewhenanimalshavetheabilitytofeelemotions.OnceIfinished
addingthetwoelementstomyessayIrealizedthattheessaydidnothavetherightinformation
topointoutaproblemandadvocateasolutioninmyAPsoIwentbackandaddedsectionson
dolphincognition,dolphinsocialgroupsanddolphinsdisplayinggrief.Iwasverysatisfiedwith
theorganizationofmylastdraft,however,Ithinkitcouldhaveusedmorerevising,specifically
withthegrammarandwordchoice.
Ultimately,thescientificarticlesthatIencounteredduringmyresearchprocessshaped
myargumentfortheAP.SinceIhadcreatedasomewhatsolidfoundationaboutdolphin
intelligenceandtheirabilitytomourn,theAPwasnotasdifficulttoformulateanargumentand
researchsourcesforevidencesincemostoftheworkforthatwasdonefortheHCP.Itriedto
keepan
openmind
aboutthedifferentissuesthataffectdolphinssuchasoverfishing,bycatch

andpollution,however,Ikeptgoingbacktotheissueofcaptivity.Thiswasbecauseduringthe
researchfortheHCPIencounteredanarticlethatdiscussedhowcaptivedolphinsdisplaygrief
whentheyareseparatedfromtheirsocialgroups.Mywhatstheproblemdraftwasontheright
track,IjusthadtofixafewwordchoiceerrorsthatIhadmade.Definingtheproblemwasabit
difficultatfirstintermsofdefiningtheprobleminascholarlywaybyappealingtoethosand
logoswithoutaddinganyappealtopathosintheargument.So,asIwaswriting,Ichosetofocus
moreonlogosbyincorporatingasmanystatisticsandfactsasIcouldtoeliminatethechanceof
pathosintheargument.IalsohadtobepreciseinwhichanimalIwasadvocatingasolutionfor.
SoinsteadofreferringtocetaceansIwentbackandchangedittodolphins.
BythetimeIgottomyfinaldraftoftheAPIhadahardtimecuttingdownmy8page
HCPtofitthe45pagerequirementintheAP.ToeditmyHCPtothefitthereviewofscience
sectionpagelimitIremovedtheinitialintroductionthatIhadwrittenfortheHCPandreplaced
theintroductionwithastoryofapreviousdolphintrainersexperienceswithcaptivedolphins.I
thoughtthiswasagoodintroductionbecauseitforeshadowstotheproblemthatIdiscussedlater
onandgrabbedthereadersattention.ThepartIfounddifficultwhilewritingtheAPwas
connectingallthedifferentsectionsthatIhadwrotetocreateonepaper.Ihadtoreviseafew
topicsentencesbutIstilldidnotthinktheyconnected.So,asIwrotemythenewsectionssuch
asthephilosophicalquestionanddefiningtheproblemsection,Ireferredbacktoprevious
scientiststhatIhadmentionedduringmyscientificreview.Forexample,whenIwasdefining
theproblemIreferredbacktoneurologistLoriMarinowhostudiesdolphinbrainsizeandIalso
referredbacktoresearcherShaneWatsonwhoobservedgrieflikebehaviorindolphinswhen
theywereseparatedfrommembersoftheirsocialgroups.Ithinkthispaperhelpedme

understandhowtonarrowdownmyinformationandmakeitasconciseaspossible.Duetothe
pagelimitandthemultiplecomponentsthathadtobeputintothispaper,Ilearnedhowtocut
outrepetitiveinformationandpartsofmyessaythatdidnotadheretotheoverallargumentthatI
wastryingtomake.
AlthoughtheHCPandtheAPhelpedmeunderstandhowtomakeanargumentina
scholarlypaper,applyingthoseskillstothesocialmediacampaignwasachallenge.Withthe
socialmediacampaignwehadtopracticeourskillsinmakinganargumentandpracticedigital
rhetorictospreadawarenessof
anadvocacyissuethatwechose
inourgroups.Insteadofusing
logosandethosappeallikewe
haddoneintheHCPandAP,
wefocusedontryingtogetthe
peoplesattentionusingpathos
appeal.Duringourcampaign
wehadtoutilizevariousforms
ofmediaandconformingtothe
normsofthesocialmediasites
thatwewereusingtomakean
appropriateargumentforeach
mediatoreceivearesponse.To
beginoursocialmedia

campaigneachmemberwasgivena
responsibility
:TylerwasresponsibleforFacebook,Ayaka
wasinchargeoftheinfographicandIwasresponsibleforTwitter.Wefoundithardtoform
argumentsonthesocialmediaswhenweactuallystartedtopostonoursocialmedias.For
example,onTwitter,clickbaittitleswithhashtagsandimagesworksthebestatgettingpeoples
attentionsratherthanjustpostingsentences.Sincethereisa140characterlimit,formingashort
butstrongargumenttooktimetogetusedtosincepreviouslywehadbeenpresentingour
argumentsusingatleast6pages.Althoughitwashardgettingadjustedtothecharacterlimit,it
wasveryeasytoreachouttopeopleandgetattentiononoursocialmediacampaign.With
Twitter,Iwasabletolearntheimportanceofeachtweetsincewedidnothavetheluxuryof
expandingourargumentovermultipleparagraphs.Facebookwasabiteasiertoadapttosince
postsarelengthierandareusuallyaccompaniedbylinkstoarticlesorvideos,butitwasvery
hardtogetattentiontothepage.However,bothrequiredutilizing
creativity
.AsseeninFigure
2,thepoststhatwerecreativeseemedtogeneratethemostresponsesfromtheaudience.Using
theclickbaitYourcannedtunahasadirtysecretgeneratedresponsesandalsousingacomic
aboutwhalesgrabbedtheattentionoftheaudience.
NowattheendofWriting39C,IamverysatisfiedwiththeworkthatIhaveproduced.
LookingbackattheworkthatIproducedinhighschoolandevenlastquarterIseethatmy
writinghasevolvedandgottenbetter.ThemostsignificantchangethatIseeinmywritingis
thatIactuallyhaveanargumentthatisintroducedandresolvedattheendofmypaper.Iam
alsoabletorevisemypaperandlearnedthatthebestpapersaresubjecttoacontinuouscycleof
researching,writingandrevising.
Flexibility
isveryimportantwhenapproachingapaperofthis
kindbecausethereisalwayssomethingtoimproveonorrevise.Theresearchandrhetorical

skillsthatIhavelearnedinthiscoursehavecomeinhandyformySociology1class.Aswe
beganwritingtheHCPandlaunchingoursocialmediacampaignsIsawanimprovementin
sociologypapersthatwewerewritingintheclass.ForthesociologypapersIwoulduse
ANTPACtofindmoresourcestolearnmoreaboutthetopicsthatwewerelearninginclassand
applythemtomypapers.Alsotryingtomakeaconciseargumentalsowashelpfulbecausethe
professorbegantoreducethewordlimit,soIhadtobeabletomakemyargumentbrief.The
historicalconversationsprojecthelpedmedevelopmyresearchskillsandhowtousesourcesI
havefoundtomakescholarlyarguments.Ontheotherhandtheadvocacyprojectandthesocial
mediacampaigntaughtmetomakeconciseargumentsusinglogosandethosappeals.Ialso
learnedtoappreciaterevisingmypapersandpeerreviewsbecausetheyhelpedmeimprovemy
writingskills.IbelievetheskillsthatIhavelearnedinWriting39Cwillbeverybeneficialin
myfuturewritingandcoursework.