Alina Hadzovic
12/18/2022
Learning Objective Statement
In my portfolio, I included the three main papers with their respective reflections. These three alone include examples of my mastery of the eight course objectives for the class. I have included the eight objectives at the bottom of this page for your reference.
The first paper, where we had to come up with a situation where an opinion or belief of ours has changed throughout our life, was probably my favorite. I wrote about my developed opinions on the ability to have my dreams and aspirations grow in New York City. This assignment covered the first, second, and fourth course objectives. In this paper, I had to explore a different genre of writing- personal narration was a genre of writing I never really gravitated towards because I had always favored analyzing different stylistic decisions an author/writer made in their piece. Furthermore, we spent time in class for this assignment discussing and brainstorming different ways to stay organized while drafting and collaborating by conducting peer reviews and combining ideas in guided in-class conversations.
The second paper of the class was focused on analyzing rhetorical decisions made in a movement of our choice and comparing them to the old rhetorical strategies from ancient philosophers like Aristotle and Cicero. This assignment covered objectives one, three, five, six, seven, and eight. For this assignment, there was no class-mandated peer review because we were not graded on our writing itself, but rather on our skill. However, I did explore and analyze the development of rhetorical strategies in the settings of this social movement and practice these rhetorical strategies in the presence of others in my own writing. I also had to use different sources for this assignment, exploring the City College archives in the library with the class and researching digitally for articles on the current analyses of the Schools Strike for Climate movement. Since I used a variety of sources, I also had to cite them for the sake of allotting credit where it is due and avoiding plagiarism.
For the third and final written assignment of the semester, we had to write a research paper on, again, a topic of our choosing, so long as it fit the criteria provided in the rubric. I chose environmental racism, which I was very enthusiastic to learn more about. This paper covered, realistically, every learning criterion. We went through two rounds of peer review (learning objectives two and four), which narrowed down ways to improve our writing with fresh eyes and colleagues in the same boat. This paper also required extensive research (objectives five, six, seven, and eight), dialing in on the importance of education on a topic that is not so well researched. By spending so much time gathering data and other information and understanding the value of a reliable source, I was able to analyze the purpose of each data point in reference to my overarching thesis very effectively. This writing assignment was somewhat foreign to me in an English class since I was so used to writing research papers in classes like science or history. However, since we had to include different rhetorical devices in these papers that we learned in class (objectives one and three), it felt more natural and appropriate for this class in my head.
While there were only eight objectives, I learned a lot more about myself as both a reader and a writer. Spending so much time in different genres of writing truly allowed me to perceive language and composition differently than I did walking into my first semester of college. I think that with my next composition class, writing for the sciences, I will be able to continue applying these strategies and goals with a more targeted approach for my major. I am truly excited to see where next semester will take me after such a strong foundation in college composition.
- Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.
- Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.
- Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.
- Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.
- Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.
- Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazines, and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias.
- Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.
- Practice systematic application of citation conventions.
