March 11, 2016

Hodaa Nadeem
Dear Matt,
I have learned many different things throughout this Writing 2 course. From WP1 I have
learned about the many different genres and conventions. This essay helped me use the audience
and purpose to analyze what genre is being written in. I am now able to analyze how certain
conventions of a genre add to its meaning which helped with the following WPs. After writing
the first draft of this WP, I realized how important drafting, revising, and editing are to the
writing process. I needed to make big changes after peer revisions and your comments. WP1
showed me that evidence is necessary to make stronger arguments and that I do not always need
to use quotes to bring in information from other sources.
In WP2 I applied what I had learned in WP1. I analyzed an academic discipline and how
texts from that discipline used different conventions than a different discipline. This assignment
taught me that Accountants and Political Scientists used different conventions which showed me
how to narrow down who the audience was and what the purpose of the text was. I had to
thoroughly analyze research based texts to recognize the different conventions of the genres to
fully grasp the meaning and purpose. This allowed me to build a stronger ability to rhetorically
analyze different documents. This project gave me a better understanding of what a discourse
community is and the intentions they have when writing.
An aspect of both WP1 and WP2 that was a great learning process was the MetaCognitive Reflection. The Meta-Cognitive Reflection made me examine my WPs and question
the choices I made. This helped me realize the purpose and audience of my projects. I had to
point out which parts were the best and what challenges I faced. This allowed me to learn from
the mistakes and repeat the better parts. This reflection showed me the most important parts of
the writing process.
Lastly in WP3 I learned how to tie together rhetorical analysis, research, editing, revising
and reflection. I had to apply my knowledge of conventions and genres to translate an academic
journal into a Buzzfeed article. This is where I was able to pull together the definitions and
information from the previous WPs to write within a certain genre. This assignment reinforced
the importance of knowing your audience and purpose. The comments I received back from you
on PBs and the drafts helped me understand what were important parts of my writing like certain
ideas and evidence.
In my portfolio I chose to revise WP1 and WP3. I chose to revise WP1 because I did the
worst on that assignment. I did not fully understand the different conventions of the genre I chose
to analyze. I also received many comments from you which helped guide me in the revisions I
made. I knew I could improve upon my information flow which I learned to be very important in
WP2. I also now have a better understanding of what genre and conventions are and how they
shape different writing. The new audience of this project also helped me narrow down how I
would approach revising it. I needed to be more thorough and concise and so I added more
analysis and definitions. I took out many unnecessary sentences that did not add to the essay. I
also tried to make my thesis less drab which was another motivation for me to revise this
essay.
I chose WP3 for my second revision because I was very unsure of my work. I was not
sure what to expect back from you. I continuously doubted myself until I received the grade

back. Once I saw the grade I knew I could do even better. Your comments guided me in the
changes I needed to make. I first addressed the problem in my part 1. I was not clear on why
women should stay away from men with anxiety so I went into more detail. I then saw that I
needed to tie in my conventions with Buzzfeed articles so I added more about how these
conventions are necessary in Buzzfeed articles. I also changed my audience for my translation
because I thought about it more and came to the conclusion that fourteen and fifteen year olds
are too young, immature, and vulnerable to be able to take this article light heartedly. With this
audience change, I tried to make it clear why this Buzzfeed article does not accommodate
children and older adults. Even though I did well on this assignment, I knew that I could do
better because Anne Lamott taught me that there is always room for revisions.
This Portfolio is one big revision. I took what was supposed to be my final drafts and
continued to revise it. This allowed me to apply all the things I have learned in this course. The
most important thing I have learned is that the final draft is not final. There is always more you
can do to change your work to make it better. I have learned how to be a better writer with the
useful revising methods like reverse outlining and the I believe and I doubt method. I will use
these types of methods in my future essays. I also now clearly know what is expected of me in
my introductions, conclusions, and body paragraphs. I hope to take all of this new knowledge
and apply it to my work in my other classes. Thank you for being a great professor and really
caring about your students learning.
Sincerely,
Hodaa Nadeem