Christina Dinh

TA: Tym Chajdas

Writing 2

December 6, 2019

Reflective Letter

Initially, before joining this Writing 2 class, when I would think of writing and essays

and things of the such, I really never thought about all the different elements needed in order to

write a compelling and effective work. My understanding of writing itself was very closed

minded and limited to using highly academic language with many sources cited in order to create

what I thought was a strong argument. Therefore, for my final portfolio, I chose the two writing

projects where I felt as though I could improve the most. I chose Writing Project 1 because the

topic of genres was very interesting to me and I learned so much more about genres that I ever

thought I would. Writing Project 2 was the essay where I felt I could stylistically open up more

and change my traditional way of writing. I have always believed my weaknesses lie with how I

stylistically write my essays- I tend to follow the prompt and format without any deviation and I

lacked creativity. By the end of this class, I was able to grow as a writer and learned how to write

descriptively however, without overwriting while still being clear and concise and how to use

different rhetorical strategies to support my arguments.

As I am a stickler for rules, formats and guidelines, I tend to write exactly how the

prompt tells me to. Throughout highschool and even into my first year of college, this was the

only way I knew how to write, and I would receive very good grades for these pieces of writing

so I never thought twice about the way I wrote. However, after being in this class and learning
what I did, I thought about how I could change my writing. I never thought of myself as a

creative person and I felt like this reflected in my writing. ​After I read, “​Ten Ways To

Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students​,”​1​ by Shelley E. Reid, I

really liked the ‘little green ball’ analogy, which states, “After my students and I finish

examining my ball and choosing rich language to show it, the whiteboard often reads something

like this: ‘I have a little green ball about an inch in diameter, small enough to hide in your hand.

It’s light neon green like highlighter ink and made of smooth shiny rubber with a slightly rough

line running around its equator as if two halves were joined together. When I drop it on the tile

floor, it bounces back nearly as high as my hand; when I throw it down the hallway, it careens

unpredictably off the walls and floor.’ Now the ball in your mind matches the ball in my hand

much more closely”1. I found this reading to be helpful in my writing because I began finding

ways to be more creative with my diction and language.

As I began to edit my Writing Project 1 and 2, I found that I was actually writing too

much and maybe over explaining myself. In the process of trying to be descriptive, I ended up

making my writing feel very long and repetitive. There were many phrases and terms I could

have said in one or two words but I decided to write it in a different way. In George Orwell’s

spiel about the English language he writes, “These save the trouble of picking out appropriate

verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an

appearance of symmetry. [...] The keynote is the elimination of simple verbs. Instead of being a

single word, such as break, stop, spoil, mend, kill, a verb becomes a phrase, made up of a noun

or adjective tacked on to some general ​purpose verb such as prove, serve, form, play, render. In

1
​ riting Spaces:
​Reid, E. Shelley. ​Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Students. W
Reading on Writing. 2019.
addition, the passive voice is wherever possible used in preference to the active, and noun

constructions are used instead of gerunds…”2 I noticed in much of my writing I would do exactly

as Orwell describes and found when I changed it to a simpler word, it made my writing flow and

sound much better. It also made my writing a lot easier to follow and understand as there were

less words and flowery language to get through.

My portfolio and the changes I made definitely shows what I learned throughout this

quarter. My Writing Project 1 was about everything I learned on genres and how to explain my

thoughts while still being clear and to the point. Writing Project 2 was on discourse communities

and disciplines. I learned a lot after reading Melzer’s, “Disciplines and Discourse Communities”3

and the reading helped me understand what exactly were disciplines and discourse communities.

Now, I believe my greatest strength in writing is using supporting details and adequate sources to

support my argument. I think being able to change my writing stylistically and not being such a

‘cookie-cutter’ also really helped my writing become better. As I approach new and different

writing projects in the future, I will always remember to be descriptive- but not to the point

where I am over explaining myself, to use shorter words, and to be more creative. I really

enjoyed Writing 2 as a class and am very happy with how I am as a writer now.

2
​Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language” ​gauchospace.edu​, August 19, 2015.
http://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/5494634/mod_resource/content/1/George%20Orwell_%20Politi
cs%20and%20the%20English%20Language.pdf/

3
Mezler, Dan. “Disciplines and Discourse Communities” ​gauchospace.edu,​ 2011.
http://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/5463759/mod_resource/content/1/Melzer%20%282011%29.%2
0Disciplines%20and%20discourse%20communities.pdf/
 Works Cited

1. Reid, E. Shelley. ​Ten Ways to Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Students. ​Writing
Spaces: Reading on Writing. 2019.
2. Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language” ​gauchospace.edu,​ August 19, 2015.
http://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/5494634/mod_resource/content/1/George%20Orwell_
%20Politics%20and%20the%20English%20Language.pdf/
3. Mezler, Dan. “Disciplines and Discourse Communities” ​gauchospace.edu,​ 2011.
http://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/5463759/mod_resource/content/1/Melzer%20%282011
%29.%20Disciplines%20and%20discourse%20communities.pdf/