Michael Brockman

ENGW1111First Year Writing

Prof. Christen Enos
6 April 2016
Unit 3 Reflection
For the Unit 3 essay, I chose to write a review of Virgin America. In doing so, I
was able to use knowledge of the review genre that I had picked up from last unit
when the Reviews group gave their presentation. The information they provided
was useful, including tips on what kind of information and details to include in a
review document, as well as a general structure. In addition to knowledge from Unit
2, I was able to utilize knowledge from Unit 1 with regards to choosing the rhetorical
situation, audience, purpose, design, etc. of my document. Having already analyzed
these concepts in detail for an article that another author wrote during the last unit,
it was much easier for me to make choices regarding these areas for the review I
wrote this unit. In particular, I was able to identify and clearly define the exigency
that inspired me to write my review, and was able to establish a clear purpose to my
intended audience.
I chose to target travelers for my review, because they are the group of people
who would find my review most helpful. Furthermore, I would be able to exclude
certain details and information about travelling that non-flyers wouldnt know about.
This helped keep the review to a reasonable length and maintain fluidity throughout
the document. Near the end of the revision process, my exigency and purpose in
writing the review had changed slightly. News of Alaska Airlines acquiring Virgin
America caused me to reshape my review to persuade travelers to fly with Virgin
before they are dissolved, as opposed to becoming long-term loyal customers. The

reasoning behind both purposes are very similar, but the end-goals and readers
courses of action are slightly different. In terms of design, I chose to incorporate lots
of pictures, as well as a hyperlink, since I intend for my document to be published
online. Images and hyperlinks keep the reader engaged by livening up the page and
keeping the review exciting, as intended.
I had the pleasure of having my document workshopped this unit, and was also
able to meet one-on-one with the instructor. All of this feedback gave me many useful
suggestions for improvement, most of which I implemented. However, there were a
few that I did not end up implementing. As the whole class already knows, I kept my
title, since I liked it and so did the rest of the class. My intention was to lighten the
mood of the article initially by giving the review a witty title. Another piece of
feedback that I received was that the images and certain phrasing throughout made
the document seem more of an advertisement than a review. While I changed many of
the sentences to sound less biased, I left the images the way they were for two
reasons: first, because they are professional looking, and thats how I would like my
document to be receivedas professional. Secondly, after having flown with Virgin, I
felt that the coloration and lighting of the images I chose best reflected the actual
appearance of the aircraft interior and company overall, as one would experience
firsthand like I did. Many of these images came from Virgins website while others
were from other internet sources, but the bottom line is that theyre on Virgins site
because they are accurate and high quality. One final change that I chose not make
was not moving the negative aspect of Virgins not having a mobile app to the end of
the review. I left this paragraph in its original location, right after I had talked about

the positives of the website and other external features of the airline. Although the
tone is slightly negative in this paragraph, I felt that it was more appropriate to place
this section with related content, as the rest of the essay is structured, as opposed to
moving it to the end of the essay, right before the conclusion. This would make the
structure of the essay blatantly positive then negative, which is not my intention. It
would also make the other negative comments sprinkled throughout the article seem
out of place.
With regards to the learning outcomes, I feel that I met all of the outlined
objectives for this unit. Clearly, I had to make some difficult decisions in terms of
negotiating my opinions and the opinions of my peers in terms of revision, which also
resulted in personal reflection of my own writing process. In order to obtain substance
for my article, I successfully conducted research, both in person and online. These
sources were appropriately cited throughout the document when they were used.
Through my own personal experience, I was able to explore and represent [my]
experiences, perspectives, and ideas to my audience throughout my review. Based
on these experiences and on my research, I was also able to formulate and articulate
[my] stance on the issue of Virgin America. Finally, I was able to balance out what I
wanted to write about versus what the audience would be expecting to find in an
airline review. These goals were met through my choice of included content, where I
chose to publish my document, and the tone I used throughout the piece.