Self Reflective Essay

I can positively say that the thing that I have most come to understand in the process of this class is the genre translation. In the beginning I did not get that at all. I must have read the information in the book more times than any other subject. I was driving home from Utah County one morning and saw a billboard advertising Moab as a great place for “wheelin’”, and it finally hit me, a genre translation is a way of using rhetoric in a significantly different way than in a simple essay, something that would be within the scene of my issue. Suddenly I began to put all the pieces together and everything that I had not understood up to this point about scene, issue, genre, began to make sense. Then I thought of many ways that I could present a genre translation, an advertisement, a magazine cover, t-shirts, bumper stickers, a pamphlet, letter to the editor of a magazine, a poster for a car parts place. I was so excited to create something for my genre translation. I have a design for a t-shirt for our family to wear to Cruise Moab 2007, and I have done a magazine cover with my sons on it to go along with the article that is my Researched Argument. Finally, understanding the concept of genre helped me to further my writing to a higher level.

In my writing I struggled with mainly how to narrow a subject to a specific detail or issue. I seem to always want to present more than is necessary and make my writing difficult to engage in. I used a great deal of input from my peer group to grow a couple of really good ideas and scrap the rest. Specifically, Michelle advised that I write the article using the move that I am writing from a woman’s perspective. I thought that was clear in my original draft, but come to find out it was not. I definitely incorporated that into my second draft. I also needed to specify that I was writing about the fun that our family had on the adventure, rather than to cover so many other alternate arguments, such as secondary trails, or alternate ways to explore the area. I needed to stick to my issue more clearly.

My peer group also suggested that I address the issue of safety. I seem to say it is a safe, fun, family event and then drive some laughs by writing about the “scarier” aspects of the sport. I need to address the transition better to lighten and at least advise on my feelings and reaction to the dangers, especially if I am appealing to the family fun aspect of four- wheelin’.

I used most of the advice given to me, specifically to keep with a voice throughout the paper. I did not address the specifics of safety, because I chose to take out the quote context from Todd Kaderabek and specifically address the issue of it being a fun event for our family. I decided to stick with the folksy travel voice. This would work best for the audience that I will be addressing. I still think that my paper will require a few additional peer reviews and some serious consideration prior to submitting it to the magazine. Much that I included for the classroom style argument will be deleted and I will generally address the travel adventures of the Cruise’ Moab event.

In the beginning of the course I wrote that good writing was writing that is easily engaged in by a reader. I still believe that good writing has to have a few specific elements. It has to appeal to a specific audience, the audience that is intended for the writing. Writing has to be written in a way that the reader does not have to struggle to involve or interest themselves in the reading. And finally, writing has to be interesting and address the issue in a way that keeps the interest of the reader. I think that with so many different areas of writing that the concepts taught in this course really have given me a better foundation for writing. I will be thinking of so many more things than I would have before, which will only help me to be a better writer, specifically things such as the scene, the audience, the way that my words impact the reader, and the opposing viewpoints, to name a few.

I have really enjoyed the visual rhetoric concepts in my research and writing. This too has influenced me greatly. I specifically really began to understand alternate viewpoints using the cartoon in the book on page 81. I better understand angle of vision and writing to a specific audience. I also was better able to understand a lot of other areas when I engaged in visual rhetoric.

For my presentation I plan to use a visual rhetorical move to present the process of writing as an adventure. I want to engage my topic, my issue, but not really talk about my issue, only use it to make a point in my presentation.

For my final researched argument, I plan to create something that is light and interesting, using humor to engage readers in the idea of wheelin’ being a family fun adventure. I will submit the article in January to Toyota Trails for possible publication.