Jacoby Cook

ENGL 2116
Professor Intawiwat
Spring 2018

End of Semester Letter

The individual assignments we have had over the semester have helped me write in several types
of communication proficiently. Going from something that was familiar like writing an email or
drafting a letter to someone to writing a complaint letter and creating an infographic ended up
being a smooth transition for me even though I have not done a complaint letter or infographic
prior to taking this class. In terms of utilizing technology, the infographic was one of the more
technically new undertakings for me as it required using a program other than Word, and writing
in very simplistic language that still got the point across was a challenge for me to get the hang
of, and felt like a genre unto itself. The individual assignments spanned many genres and
allowed me to take on different perspectives to complete them, such as an angry customer for the
complaint letter, an apologetic HR person for the adjustment letter, and a business man happy to
approve a proposal in the good/bad news assignment. Overall though I feel like the individual
assignments helped me get comfortable writing in these unique styles.
The individual assignments helped me in my research skills by having me look up examples of
the assignment I needed to write. For instance, I researched other infographics so I could learn
some of the conventions of the style and how I could effectively communicate via infographic.
Another assignment I had to do research for was the instructions/policies/procedures assignment.
For that assignment, I wanted to look up some policies that would be believable for a company
like Stratton Oakmont, since I was unfamiliar with that topic. To accomplish this, I searched a
few policy handbooks from companies that had them available and compared to see if what I
wanted to do would work in that setting.
Many of the individual assignments assisted me in improving critical thinking. Mainly, the
assignments that deal with responding to existing work like the good/bad news assignment. For
that one, I had to analyze the proposal made to us by another company and make decisions based
on if that proposal would be good for my company. Critical thinking is also important for the
adjustment letter, due to it being from the perspective of a person representing a company. In this
case, I had to come up with a solution to the complaint of an angry customer that can satisfy both
the customer and the company.
Overall, I feel that these assignments have made my writing stronger. Most of the choices I had
to make regarding individual assignments were how to approach a topic, and I found for the most
part the best way to do it was to be mindful of the perspective I need to be writing from and
being more cognizant of what tone to use.
Rhetorical Knowledge is an important aspect of the individual assignments due to the repeated
style of many of the tasks. Most of the assignments were either memos or letters, both of which I
was familiar with by mid semester. The variety of the assignments helped develop an ability to
switch between these various genres of writing and having the flexibility to emote different tones
and intentions through writing. The second SLO I found important in the individual assignments
is Knowledge of Conventions. This is because many of the assignments had the same format of
being a memo or letter, so being able to distinguish them from other forms of writing and being
able to accurately use the tropes of that type of document is very important to understand.
For the group projects, I found that the proposal assignments had helped with my research skills
the most. Since the requirements were so detailed and in depth, we had to be able to gather as
much information as possible on the topic to ensure we were in the correct ball-park figure of
where we needed to be. The final presentation also required research into how companies make
pitches that are aimed towards prospective employees. I had never had to write a presentation
like that, so it required a lot of research into how they normally need to be.
One of the major SLO’s I found in the group projects was the composing process. As a group,
we struggled with our process midway through the semester and had a communications
breakdown along the way. We were still able to get all of our work done, but it was more
disorganized than I would have liked it to be. We were able to get everyone back on track by
using the communication tool Slack to keep in touch with one another and better manage the
workload so that everyone gets an equal share of the work and everyone knows what they need
to do. Another SLO that had a large part in my experience with the group was the Knowledge of
Convention. Much like the individual assignments, the group assignments were varied in
content, and required a solid understanding in how to work together and come up with solutions
to the problems presented to us throughout the semester. One such challenge was the inquiry
memo. We were having a hard time coming up with a suitable topic that we could approach the
Krusy Krab with as a financing company to act as a legitimate business model. After
brainstorming ideas and researching possible routes we could take with it, we eventually came
up with acting as an investor to their business and help them expand globally.
Attribute Me Misha Christopher Christian
Participated in 5 5 3 4
group
discussions
Helped keep the 5 5 4 5
group on task
Contributed 5 5 5 5
useful ideas
Quality of 5 5 5 5
completed work
Contributed 5 5 3 3
equally
Total 25 25 20 22
I found the exercises to be very useful in practicing the concepts that are discussed throughout
the class. Doing these drastically improved my rhetorical knowledge on the conventions of
assorted styles of writing. For example, Exercise 3, Page 77 reinforced how to write and format
memos. It also helped that many of the exercises flipped between being formal and informal,
giving me exposure to both. This way, I can confidently write in any of the given genres we
discussed both formally and informally. Formatting was also a large focus in the exercises, and
now I feel that I am able to properly format these documents as well as be able to spot errors
easier whenever I am proofreading documents. Evidence of this can be seen in Exercise 4, page
365, where I examine and make suggestions to edit a resume for a friend, and in Exercise 4, page
109 where I critique and give feedback on a memo for a coworker.