My Cup of Coffee with Beth
Jasmin Blue Spring 2016 St. Edward’s University ENGW 1302.18
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 3001 S. Congress Ave.
01 May 2016
Austin, TX 78704 Dear Beth, I am overjoyed to share with you my final Reflection project for Rhetoric and Composition II. This spread aims to educate you on what you have educated me. In other words, this project is a visual display of the knowledge I have gained and improvements I have made as a both a writer and a researcher. I decided to look back on previous annotated bibliographies from my junior year of high school and just last semester here at St. Edward’s University (Fall 2015) in Rhetoric and Composition I. Also, I took the questions you included in the instructions for this assignment on your website and recorded my answers to them to create a mock interview between the two of us over a cup of coffee. I am eagerly looking forward to hearing your feedback regarding my final Reflection assignment. Thank you, Jasmin Blue
Elizabeth Eakman Re teaches in the English Writing and Rhetoric discipline at St. Edward’s University and specializes in a wide range of rhetoric applications. I was lucky enough to land in one of her Rhetoric and Composition II classes this semester and book a one-on-one interview with this busy writer, educator, wife, and supermom. I met with Beth at a local coffee shop to answer any questions she may have about what I have learned in her course, how I have improved from this knowledge, and how I am able to apply it through continuing my education and toward my carreer.
Jasmin:
Beth: What have you learned this semester about writing in your discipline?
Earlier in the semester, when we were assigned the Research Report, I had to conduct an interview with a professional psychologist who explained to me the importance and relevance of APA formatting when composing work for the psychology discipline. The overall uniform style helps scanning articles quickly for important points and key findings. Also, it is important to ensure that specific diction and crucial information are included to properly convey guidelines in a non-offensive, medically accurate way that is understood by the general public.
Beth: What have you learned this semester about writing in general? Jasmin: Everything that is
thought in my mind and th brought from my pen to m paper should have a specifi meaning and imperative purpose. When composing piece of work, I try my bes be mindful of its content, medium, and overall messa
Beth: What have you learned th semester about your hot topic?
Jasmin: From my hot topi research report on the Psychological treatment o Transgender and Gender Nonconforming individua learned the importance of publishing new guideline ensure that each individu receives fair, accurate psychological treatment. Time relevance is crucial writing in the field of Psychology.
Beth: What have you learned this semester about rhetoric?
Jasmin: EVERYTHING IS AN ARGUEMENT! I have learned that how an individual says something has the potential to convey just as much as what an individual actually says. Rhetoric is used to: 1) Perceive how language is at work orally and in writing 2) Applying resources of language in one’s own speaking and writing
Beth: How have you improved as a writer?
Jasmin: The image above is a
research summary pulled from an annotated bibliography that I had written my junior year of high school. I had failed to provide my sources’ credibility, what type of source it was, it’s audience and purpose. My junior year self did include important statistics; but, shyed away from assessing the main claim of my source.
Continued.. Murnen, Sarah, et al. "Boys Act And Girls Appear: A Content Analysis Of Gender Stereotypes Associated With Characters In Children's Popular Culture." Sex Roles 74.1/2 (2016): 78. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 6 Apr. 2016. Sarah Murnen is a social psychologist who studies genderrelated issues from a feminist, socio-cultural perspective and teaches psychology at Kenyon College. This peer-reviewed article, “Boys Act and Girls Appear: A Content Analysis of Gender Stereotypes Associated with Characters in Children’ s Popular Culture” was included in the journal, Sex Roles, in its most recent publication. Murnen determines the extent to which the characters depicted in children’s popular culture had gender-stereotyped characteristics reflecting the power differences between women and men in society. Male characters are more often portraying the body-in-motion, having violent weapons, and having their hands in fists. Female characters were shown as expressive and focused on their appearance. This very recently published article shines some light on the blatant gender stereotypically thinking we are unconsciously showing our children.
Jasmin: This excerpt from a Spring 2016 annotated bibliography provides proper title and credentials of the author, what type of source, the intended audience and purpose, main claim and evidence. It is important to know how to how to collect and identify major information and even contributing details from peer-reviewed articles to effectively include the information in your research findings.
Beth: How have you improved as a researcher? Jasmin: Thanks to Rhetoric and Composition I & II and the St. Edward’s Writing Center I have unraveled poor high school research habits, such as limiting myself to just the Google search bar, and discovered how to locate and decipher credible sources between one another. Also, for the first time in my academic career, for my research and writing in the field of Psychology research report, I gathered my own original data through one-onone interviews conducted with a student, professor and professional of the Psychology discipline. This skill is highly applicable in the future due to the common method of face-to-face interviewing for any purpose.
Beth: What has changed ? Jasmin: Like I had previously mentioned, hopefully, most of my poor high school habits have ceased and now the new instruction I have been given seems increasingly useful to the courseload I had during this semester and everyday life. I have learned the value of writing and discovered how beneficial and constructive effective writing can be; especially when applicable in a certain field of study.
Beth: What are you really good at? Jasmin: What I feel that I am really good at is writing with voice, or author’s voice. However, in some cases, I have found myself appearing to be too bias or my writing becomes askew as I dwell on an idea. A method that I use to help myself work with my author’s voice is constantly brainstorming and going back to my thesis to make sure the dots are being connected.
Beth: How will you use what you’ve learned as you continue your education and toward your career? Jasmin: As I continue my education toward becoming a Child Developmental Psychologist, the methods, concepts, and techniques I learned from Rhetoric and Composition II become more and more necessary for my desired career path. In writing, it is essential to know how to appropriately word phrases and explain situations to the parents of a child seeking psychological help. In research, I have studied the various types of research methods and their purposes used in the field of psychology. Research and writing is crucial for any individual who seeks an upper-level position in their discipline or an individual who aims to get their work peer-reviewed and published. Thus, contributing to the individual’s career and the specific field of study’s conversation expands.
Beth: While
many guidelines for what constitutes “good” (effective) writing are shared across disciplines, others are unique to particular genres or communicatio n tasks. What are these rules, guidelines, or heuristics?
Jasmin: Guidelines and expectations that are comparable between disciplines possess certain similarities which allow the majority to possess the ability to produce “good” writing in each other’s fields. However, disciplines that require a particular genre of writing arrive with their own set of regulations. In the Psychology discipline, APA formatting is required for any piece being subject for review. The specific guidelines established by APA make writing, reviewing, and reading pieces universally accessible from any perspective.
Their cups had emptied a while ago and the interview is coming to a close. Beth had one more question to ask before the two went about their separate ways.
Jasmin: My theory of
writing would be somewhat similar to some ideas from Moderate expressivism. Viewing writing as a medum for intrapersonal expression over social expression. Also, lessening the expectation for grammatically correct phrases and encouraging the writer’s process of discovering their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, teaching an individual how to think and write for themselves; instead of teaching them how to depend on direction and encouragement from is peers or an educator.
Beth: What your theory of writing?