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English 101: Assignment Four
Due Dates:
· Draft of Revision & Description Due: 12/4
· Polished Draft Due: 12/9
· Polished Draft of Reflection Letter Due: 12/18 on WebBoard
Description:
This assignment asks you to review and reflect on the work you have done in English 101 to allow you to reflect on your progress as a critical writer and reader. You have three written tasks:
1. Revise your first paper.
2. Write an organized description of the changes you made.
3. Compose a reflection letter, written to me, that discusses your growth as
a writer, reader, and thinker during the course. Tell me in the letter how the
changes you made in the first paper reflect specific ways you have developed
your critical reading and writing skills. 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.
Submission:
The completed assignment is completed and submitted in two parts:
1. First, you submit a revision of your paper that you wrote specifically for this assignment, and a description and explanation of that revision along with the original graded paper. All documents should be clearly titled. Include any additional material with your revision & explanation of changes that you think is important. You may wish to type up a table of contents for this.
2. Second, you submit your reflection letter.
Goals:
Sometimes we find it difficult to assess how much we have developed during a semester, especially if we only look at our grades. To fully appreciate your growth as a writer, you need to analyze and reflect upon it.
Composition:
The Revision
1. Read through your first paper carefully and also reread the assignment sheet.
2. Reread the comments on your first paper. You may wish to incorporate some
material from your second and third papers as well.
3. Revise your paper, perhaps using the strategies we discussed.
Composing the account of your revision:
1. Once you have revised your first paper, make a list of the revisions you
made in the paper.
2. Ask your partners to read the original paper, the revision, and the list
of revisions you made. Ask them to tell you whether or not they think the revisions
are actually improvements to the original.
3. Now ask yourself the following questions:
Have I followed my readers' advice? Why or why not?
What places in the text can I point to that show I have taken advantage of a
reader's comments on my work?
Have I reconceptualized the entire piece to take audience and situation into
account, or have I simply responded to my readers' comments?
4. 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
assignment.
The Reflection letter
The cover letter should clearly explain what you have learned from your study
and revision of the first paper. Be as detailed as you can in the letter, using
examples from your writing and from comments on your writing to illustrate why
you made changes. The letter should also tell me what specific growth was shown
in your revision and in your description of your revision.
Constraints:
· Be detailed in your description of your revision—I should be
able to read and understand this without looking at your revised paper and use
comments from others (me, your peers, and so on) to help you describe the changes
you have made.
· In your letter, use quotations from your drafts, peer reviews, and
my comments to illustrate concretely the growth you are discussing.