Christina J.

So
7/27/2019
Unit 2 reflection

Within the Threshold Concepts, my experience has been broadened in the way that I now write and read. I find
myself asking certain questions when reading from these concepts such as, “Who is the audience?” and “What is
the writers purpose for this backstory?” I feel more engaged in what I am reading by understanding what I am
looking for. The threshold concept that I connected the most with this class was definitely the Literate Practices &
Processes and would be the concept I keep with me after finishing this class. I have fallen in love with the
importance of annotating to keep focused on the text and being able to go back to a certain sentence quickly has
been so helpful along with doing my own research to evaluate the credibility of sources. Since rhetoric is still such
a diverse vocabulary, I understand most of it but still struggle a bit to make sure it is in my writings.

In the beginning of choosing my topic for my Research paper, I knew right away that I wanted to write about
something I had felt deeply connected to and wanted to better my own research understandings. After choosing
my topic I then over thought and over analyzed what others would think since it was a topic of such sensitivities
that I was almost persuaded myself to change my topic completely but am glad that I did not. Over all, I would say
it was a difficult decision to choose my topic but at the end I was glad that I was able to educate myself more on it.

It was nice to have a librarian on hand and just knowing that I had other sources to reach out to if I needed any
extra help. The extra credit course was especially helpful to have that on hand, in class feel where I was able to
follow step by step of her instructions and ask any questions then and there. Using SIRS from the database was
quite easy to use and I especially appreciated how organized the titles were for us to choose from but I felt the
articles I had chosen from SIRS were a tad shorter than I would have liked to used in my research credibility.
While digging into other websites I had distinguished that certain links had the intention to persuade their audience
into thinking like them or siding with them vs simply educating and providing facts. There were two studies that
countered each other by saying that a particular law affected the rates of an issue while another study showed that
there are no significant changes so I had to go back and do some of my own research to clarify which one to trust.
So with that being said, I had to use articles that did not have their own strong viewpoint belief but simply talks
about a study that was conducted.

I really enjoyed doing this process but I do think I would have tried to use more databases provided by SLCC. I
dove right in and depended on SIRS and Google for my sources. Working with a synthesize paper made it easier
for me to collect information that I wanted to use or not use. I was able to grab info that might help my article and
slowly deleted those that did not make my paper stronger. Although I did use strategies from Unit 1 such as
annotations to pick and choose what was important to me from each article that I read and watching for logos,
ethos and pathos. From this third unit I learned that if your goal is to have your own viewpoint, you must dive deep
into the issue and educate yourself on every other possible sides. We have to be comfortable enough with the
topic and then we will have the right to truly be our own viewpoint.

After completing my research paper I did feel that I had to educate the reader on the debate of my topic because I
feel that people tend to believe what they want without ever researching details or wanting to broaden their belief.
It felt like an open opportunity for me to be able to show proof on my side of the issue. I chose this topic because It
was a subject that I wanted to better educate myself on in my personal life I am very glad that I did. In this course
my writing has definitely changed since I have a guidance on where to start and what readers are looking for. In
the beginning I struggled to understand thesis and forgot how important it was to include one in my writing and
now I feel comfortable enough to not forget about it. The sandwhich technique especially was helpful as well to
smoothly glide my readers into a quote.

Word count: 810