Reflective Letter
This portfolio contains a selection of my academic work from ENGL 458, Advanced Writers Workshop, which was taught by Dr. Kevin Brooks. Most of the works herein were also prepared explicitly for ENGL 458. In essence, each of the major projects completed in ENGL458 has been included: 11 Rules for Writing; a 7th Grade Literacy narrative, titled “A Novel Way to Teach Piano”; an Audio Essay, also tilted “A Novel Way to Teach Piano”; an Argumentative Blog, “Wake up! Sound Sleep and School Starting Times”; and a Crafting Digital Writing Project, “Name of the Wind Book Talk – A Compilation of Booktubers”. I’ve also included three additional pieces from other courses of the English Department, which I selected based on their merits for demonstrating my achievement of departmental outcomes 3 and 4. The three pieces are: an essay tilted “The Reformative Effects of Experience-taking on Readers of Stockett’s The Help”, prepared for Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences; a professional sketch of Sharon Crowley, prepared for Introduction to Writing Studies; and my capstone project, “Unearthing the Fracking Rhetoric”.
Outcome 3 of the English Department states that English majors will be able to conduct research effectively using a variety of research strategies and sources and documenting their sources according to standard guidelines. I did not have to do too much research for projects in ENGL 458, but one project that particularly stands out is the Argumentative Blog. For this assignment, I researched sleep habits, psychology of adolescents, the consequences of sleep deprivation, and the policies of school districts in the United States regarding school starting times. As per the standards of the genre, I documented my sources by using hyperlinks to other websites in the text of my blog.
For my essay on Experience-taking and The Help, I had to research reader response theory, “experience-taking”, a concept of reader response theory, as well as Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. For my explication of Dunn's "Here and Now" in Literary Analysis, I had to research the poem, including various articles, and primers on poetry, all of which were included in a works cited page. Additionally, the project included a bibliography where I cited the sources in MLA fashion. Finally, my capstone project incorporated over fifteen different sources, including the webpages that were analyzed as well as articles from academic journals and multiple books on rhetorical theory.
Outcome 4 of the English Department states that English majors will be able to manage sophisticated writing and research projects, planning, documenting, completing, and assessing work on-time and within constraints of the project. To avoid redundancy, it will be best for me to discuss all of my projects in ENGL 458, Advanced Writers Workshop, as a whole. This is because each of these projects consisted of relatively the same process. I began by developing seed ideas in order to pick which direction it would be best to go with the project. I next drafted the projects, relying on Anne Lamott’s concept of Shitty First Drafts and prepared my work for peer review. The goal for all of these was to then have them ready for pencil-grading so they could be revised, however, some of my projects did require extra time beyond the projected date for pencil-grading.
Since my Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences class took place during a summer semester, the completion of the essay “The Reformative Effects of Experience-taking on the Readers of Stockett’s The Help”, and its corresponding research had to be planned and executed efficiently due to the condensed time frame of the class. The explication of Dunn's "Here and Now" required me to propose the paper topic and give a progress report that was peer reviewed. My capstone project, “Unearthing the Fracking Rhetoric”, required a project proposal, progress report, and final paper with a presentation.
As stated when reviewing Outcome 4 above, ENGL 458 required a similar process for completing each of the projects. Work would begin by drafting seed ideas, and sharing them with others, in order to get a good idea of how best to proceed with the project. It was then suggested to make a first draft Anne Lamott-style before preparing for peer review. Peer review consisted of side-shadowing our documents with notes about the worries, concerns, and questions we had about our own writing in order to get more focused feedback from our peers. The process of revision would continue after this, with the additional aspect of “pencil-grading” which effectively was a preliminary grade given for the project, with suggestions about how to revise it before finally including it in the portfolio. I found this process to be particularly effective for me, and would be likely to use it in any classes that I teach in the future.
Some of the projects in the class weren’t merely writing projects per se, but were more so digital writing projects. That is, they included the components of digital technology to enhance their presentation and distribution. While the Argumentative Blog pretty strictly followed the process for the “print-based” writing projects, it did additionally include reflection on the CRAP principles of design. The Audio Essay and Book Talk I completed also adhered fairly closely to the same process as the “print-based” projects. The main difference was in the act of translating the plans from paper to the digital medium, and in the revision of the digital products; basically, I tried to minimize the amount of revisions I would have to do because of how time-consuming these projects became with regards to producing the digital product.
I believe my greatest strength in writing is my ability to continuously revise my work and make it better. A clear demonstration of this can be observed by comparing my earlier draft of my 7th Grade Literacy Narrative with my audio essay. While my earlier draft was mildly engaging, it left the reader asking “So what? Why’s this important?” Continual revision helped me to focus my story into something much more tangible. My finished product focused on the decisions that my piano teachers made and why they were important. It also included improvements to the dialogue and voice. For example, the introduction morphed into a complaint, which would befit the voice of a 7th grader. I also included a mocking impersonation of my piano teacher, as I would have likely viewed her when I was younger.
I also believe that my persuasive writing skills have shown growth recently. In particular, my argumentative blog effectively used relevant research and evidence, combined with my personal experiences to create an argument that effectively got others to spread the message and sign a petition supporting the cause. Not only did this piece turn out very good, but the writing seemed very natural to me—that is, I didn’t find myself constantly revising my work as I wrote, but rather things seemed to come out right the first time.
That being said, one of my greatest weaknesses in my writing has been procedural. Often I find myself writing very slowly, pausing and revising before even finishing a draft. During this semester I've been experimenting with making my first draft Anne Lamott-style, and this appears to be helping to some extent, though it does feel extremely awkward still. I believe that as I continue to use this technique it will become more and more natural.
Intrinsically linked to this issue, I also struggle with idea generation. That is, I can have unrealistic expectations with regards to the quality of my ideas for writing, and let this hold me back when beginning a project—or sometimes rather not beginning a project. Dissatisfaction with my ideas occasionally leads to multiple full restarts on projects, which, in turn, can potentially put me significantly behind schedule.
Sincerely,
Douglas Chase Kostecki
Outcome 3 of the English Department states that English majors will be able to conduct research effectively using a variety of research strategies and sources and documenting their sources according to standard guidelines. I did not have to do too much research for projects in ENGL 458, but one project that particularly stands out is the Argumentative Blog. For this assignment, I researched sleep habits, psychology of adolescents, the consequences of sleep deprivation, and the policies of school districts in the United States regarding school starting times. As per the standards of the genre, I documented my sources by using hyperlinks to other websites in the text of my blog.
For my essay on Experience-taking and The Help, I had to research reader response theory, “experience-taking”, a concept of reader response theory, as well as Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. For my explication of Dunn's "Here and Now" in Literary Analysis, I had to research the poem, including various articles, and primers on poetry, all of which were included in a works cited page. Additionally, the project included a bibliography where I cited the sources in MLA fashion. Finally, my capstone project incorporated over fifteen different sources, including the webpages that were analyzed as well as articles from academic journals and multiple books on rhetorical theory.
Outcome 4 of the English Department states that English majors will be able to manage sophisticated writing and research projects, planning, documenting, completing, and assessing work on-time and within constraints of the project. To avoid redundancy, it will be best for me to discuss all of my projects in ENGL 458, Advanced Writers Workshop, as a whole. This is because each of these projects consisted of relatively the same process. I began by developing seed ideas in order to pick which direction it would be best to go with the project. I next drafted the projects, relying on Anne Lamott’s concept of Shitty First Drafts and prepared my work for peer review. The goal for all of these was to then have them ready for pencil-grading so they could be revised, however, some of my projects did require extra time beyond the projected date for pencil-grading.
Since my Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences class took place during a summer semester, the completion of the essay “The Reformative Effects of Experience-taking on the Readers of Stockett’s The Help”, and its corresponding research had to be planned and executed efficiently due to the condensed time frame of the class. The explication of Dunn's "Here and Now" required me to propose the paper topic and give a progress report that was peer reviewed. My capstone project, “Unearthing the Fracking Rhetoric”, required a project proposal, progress report, and final paper with a presentation.
As stated when reviewing Outcome 4 above, ENGL 458 required a similar process for completing each of the projects. Work would begin by drafting seed ideas, and sharing them with others, in order to get a good idea of how best to proceed with the project. It was then suggested to make a first draft Anne Lamott-style before preparing for peer review. Peer review consisted of side-shadowing our documents with notes about the worries, concerns, and questions we had about our own writing in order to get more focused feedback from our peers. The process of revision would continue after this, with the additional aspect of “pencil-grading” which effectively was a preliminary grade given for the project, with suggestions about how to revise it before finally including it in the portfolio. I found this process to be particularly effective for me, and would be likely to use it in any classes that I teach in the future.
Some of the projects in the class weren’t merely writing projects per se, but were more so digital writing projects. That is, they included the components of digital technology to enhance their presentation and distribution. While the Argumentative Blog pretty strictly followed the process for the “print-based” writing projects, it did additionally include reflection on the CRAP principles of design. The Audio Essay and Book Talk I completed also adhered fairly closely to the same process as the “print-based” projects. The main difference was in the act of translating the plans from paper to the digital medium, and in the revision of the digital products; basically, I tried to minimize the amount of revisions I would have to do because of how time-consuming these projects became with regards to producing the digital product.
I believe my greatest strength in writing is my ability to continuously revise my work and make it better. A clear demonstration of this can be observed by comparing my earlier draft of my 7th Grade Literacy Narrative with my audio essay. While my earlier draft was mildly engaging, it left the reader asking “So what? Why’s this important?” Continual revision helped me to focus my story into something much more tangible. My finished product focused on the decisions that my piano teachers made and why they were important. It also included improvements to the dialogue and voice. For example, the introduction morphed into a complaint, which would befit the voice of a 7th grader. I also included a mocking impersonation of my piano teacher, as I would have likely viewed her when I was younger.
I also believe that my persuasive writing skills have shown growth recently. In particular, my argumentative blog effectively used relevant research and evidence, combined with my personal experiences to create an argument that effectively got others to spread the message and sign a petition supporting the cause. Not only did this piece turn out very good, but the writing seemed very natural to me—that is, I didn’t find myself constantly revising my work as I wrote, but rather things seemed to come out right the first time.
That being said, one of my greatest weaknesses in my writing has been procedural. Often I find myself writing very slowly, pausing and revising before even finishing a draft. During this semester I've been experimenting with making my first draft Anne Lamott-style, and this appears to be helping to some extent, though it does feel extremely awkward still. I believe that as I continue to use this technique it will become more and more natural.
Intrinsically linked to this issue, I also struggle with idea generation. That is, I can have unrealistic expectations with regards to the quality of my ideas for writing, and let this hold me back when beginning a project—or sometimes rather not beginning a project. Dissatisfaction with my ideas occasionally leads to multiple full restarts on projects, which, in turn, can potentially put me significantly behind schedule.
Sincerely,
Douglas Chase Kostecki