December 2, 2013 Gail Richard

Introduction
The first year composition course at UALR had certain outcomes that they believed each student should progress forward having learned. The WPA outcomes that the students should have learned are broken into the following groups: rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading, and writing; processes; knowledge of conventions; and composing in electronic environments. This cover letter will address each of the five areas and five reasonable evidence that my time in composition I taught me each of the WPA outcomes.

Rhetorical Knowledge
Focus on a purpose
Throughout this first year composition course I have learned how to focus on a specific purpose by writing three different pieces. In writing the memoir I learned how to focus my writing with the sole purpose to entertain. This memoir could be classified with such a purpose because it was written with no certain audience in mind but rather so that anyone could read it and the only objective was for them to have an enjoyable experience. However, the rhetorical analysis was written with the purpose to inform. To be exact, its purpose was to tell my boss how a particular letter had been ineffective and how it could be fixed. Finally, the proposal allowed me to focus on the purpose of persuasion. It allowed me to assess a situation and propose our ideas, through writing, to ultimately change what I was trying to fix for the better.

Respond to the needs of different audiences

The tone, language, and attitude that is carried through a piece of writing is determined by the audience. For example, in writing the memoir there was no specific audience I was writing it for so the tone and language could be the natural one of the writer. On the other hand, in writing the rhetorical analysis to my boss the tone, language, and attitude had to dictate total respect and professionalism to the authority over me. Therefore, as the audiences changes the message of your writing can stay the same but the way you let your audience perceive it does need to change.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

Use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating
Each one of the papers I have written this semester has involved inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. The rhetorical analysis used all of them. I used: inquiry to analyze why the author did what he did, and found learning simply by discovering how to write a rhetorical analysis. Finally, I used thinking and communicating by thinking about what the author did wrong and then communicating that information appropriately to my boss.

Understand a writing assignment as a series of tasks, including finding, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing appropriate primary and secondary sources.
The proposal made me find a source outside of my own range of knowledge that I then had to synthesize together with my paper to increase the effectiveness of the case I was trying to make. After I found the appropriate place in my paper to incorporate the source I then had to place and cite it correctly using MLA standards.

Understand the relationships among language, knowledge, and power

The proposal presented the perfect chance to use language and knowledge to persuade those in authority to implement my ideas. This demonstrates a direct link between language and the power it can give you. I was also able to demonstrate the relationship between knowledge and power in the rhetorical analysis. My boss gave me power to use my knowledge of logos, pathos, and ethos, to edit and correct a very important letter.

Processes
Be aware that it usually takes multiple drafts to create and complete a successful text
I have become aware this semester that in order to create a complete and successful final text there has to be a large cycle of writing and revising. This awareness came to me first after having my first then second peer review on my rhetorical analysis. After receiving the information for how it could be improved upon I revised it and had it checked again which only required little adjustments to reach my complete and final copy.

Develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proof-reading

By not only having my own papers peer reviewed, which gave me as I said earlier a great chance to revise and edit my papers, but actually peer reviewing others papers gave me an insight to their ideas, views, and perspectives about the writing assignment. This then helped me to revise and edit my own papers. One great way I have been shown to proof read has been through finishing my final draft and then to read back over it solely looking for grammatical errors and nothing else.

Learn to balance the advantages of relying on other with the responsibility of doing their part
The group proposal allowed us to get help from the people in our group but when it came down to it the responsibility for our section was laid on us as an individual. Another example of this would be when you allow others to review your work. You cannot trust that they caught every mistake that you made so you must also review your own work many times to catch as many mistakes as possible.

Knowledge of Conventions
Learn common formats for different type of texts
In the process of writing three different text the formats have changed from letters to memos to just a common essay. The rhetorical analysis and the proposal called us to address a certain audience. This caused me to write both of these in a letter format but they could have been just as effective in a memo format. The first writing assignment, the narrative memoir, had no specific audience so I found its best format to be a common essay.

Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics
For the rhetorical analysis and proposal the structure was very formal, which included sub headings. The tone for these two text required much more formality and professionalism than did the narrative which called for a relaxed tone.

Control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Each text has called for the review of syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. These have been accomplished by either a grammar and spell check on word, having a peer review my papers, or rereading my own work to check for errors.

Composing in Electronic Environments

Use electronic environments for drafting, reviewing, revising, editing, and sharing texts
Each of the writing assignments have been drafted and finished on the computer. The blogs have been created and shared with peers using the internet. The computer has also come in use when I would edit and revise my papers.

Understand and exploit the differences in the rhetorical strategies and in the affordances available for both print and electronic composing processes and texts
The differences between composing for print and for electronic are very different. In an electronic environment it is much easier to compose and therefore rearrange your text. While trying to arrange and rearrange in print can use a lot of eraser.

Conclusion
Overall my first year composition class has taught me much about writing and adequately covered each of the WPA outcomes, as illustrated by the many examples here. Although my depth of learning in this class was not limited to each of these examples they are enough to cover the basics of how I learned each outcome in these divisions: rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading, and writing; processes; knowledge of conventions; and composing in electronic environments.