Assignment Four: Revision & Reflection

Due Dates:

Draft of Revision & Reflection, 4/26

Polished Draft of Revision & Description, 5/1

Polished Reflection Letter, 5/10 (in my office between 2:40 – 4:30 pm in lieu of a Final Exam)

The Assignment

This assignment, the last in the course, asks you to review and reflect on the work you have done in ENG 101 and 102. Specifically, you are asked to do the following things:

1. Reread all of the papers and revisions you have written for this course.
2. Then write a description of the changes you made, and tell me why you made the changes. You may revise any of the three assignments.
3. Decide which of the papers you have written ought to be revised. Write the revision.
4. Compose a Reflection letter, written to me, that discusses your growth as a writer during the course. This letter should both explore and demonstrate in what specific ways you have developed your reading and writing skills as you worked your way through the course (see below for help with composing this letter).

The completed package, then, should include a reflection letter, a revision that you wrote specifically for this assignment along with a description and explanation of that revision, and any earlier version(s) of the paper that you handed in previously. The package also ought to include copies of any paper or revision referred to in the reflection letter, with passages referred to in the reflection letter clearly marked. All documents should be clearly labeled so that I can quickly determine the purpose of each item in the portfolio. Include any front or back material for the portfolio itself that you think will assist me in making this determination.

Note: you may turn in your reflection letter with your final portfolio package or at some time before or during the scheduled final exam period (held 5/10 in my office LL 317 2:40 – 4:30 pm).

Invention

Composing the Reflection letter:

The Reflection letter should clearly explain what you have learned in this class. Be as detailed as you can, using examples from your writing and from your partners' or my comments on your writing to illustrate facets of your learning. The letter should also tell me what each item in the portfolio demonstrates. Your reflection letter might also consider your future development as a writer, commenting on how you plan to use your rhetorical knowledge and your composing skills after class is over. The following questions should help you to compose the reflection letter:

1. Where and in what ways does the work in the portfolio demonstrate that I can anticipate and accommodate the needs of specific readers?
2. Where and in what ways does the work in the portfolio demonstrate that I can recognize the differences among rhetorical situations?
3. Where and in what ways does the work in the portfolio demonstrate that I am able to use appropriate strategies to generate, organize, revise, and edit my work? Is there any work in my portfolio that illustrates my ability to use responses made by readers to improve the quality of my work?
4. What examples can I point to that illustrate the improved clarity of my writing? What examples show my improved ability to supply details and to name names?
5. What examples can I give to show that I can use the conventions of format, organization, and language appropriate to specific rhetorical situations?

Composing the account of your revision:

Once you have decided which paper you want to revise, ask your workshop partners to reread the paper and/or its first revision and to note places where its quality could be improved. Revise the paper. Then ask yourself the following questions:

1. Make a list of the revisions you made in the paper.
2. Have I followed my readers' advice? Why or why not?
3. What places in the text can I point to that show I have taken advantage of a reader's comments on my work?
4. Have I reconceptualized the entire piece to take audience and situation into account, or have I simply responded to my readers' comments?

Your analysis of the revision may contain the answers to these questions or any other comments that you think are relevant. Minimally, it should contain a list of the revisions you have made to the paper you decided to revise. Remember to include both the original and the revision of this paper in your completed portfolio.