wrd 104 reflection 3

7/29/2019 WRD 104 Reflection 3

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Stephanie Macias

Kate Flom

WRD 104- Composition & Rhetoric II

27 February 2013

Reflecting On a Past Conversation

Winter quarter is coming to an end. We are currently in week 8 and we have

covered a substantial amount of material in WRD 104. As a another major writing

assignment, we wrote conversational analyses regarding sources we could potentially

incorporate in our final research papers.

Prior to this assignment, I had only written a short synthesis essay in an English

class in high school. I was a bit apprehensive approaching this assignment due to my lack

of experience with it and because I did not know if what I had learned a synthesis essay

constituted the same elements as the one we were being asked to write now. After

learning the requirements I realized that the general concept of my high school essay and

this paper were basically the same in which we had to discuss how different sources

addressed the same topic either in similar or different ways. The only difference here is

that we had to get the sources from three different discourse communities.

I found this assignment more hard than easy. I do not think this was due to my

experience with this type of work but rather with the different requirements of this

assignment. I found it difficult to tie in sources from three different discourse

communities. Especially because two sources, from social and psychological sources,

were so similar that it made the third, an economic source, seem irrelevant. As I wrote the


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conversation analysis I found myself having to constantly review the sources to see if

there was more information I could work with.

Another challenge I faced with the conversation analysis was the length of the

sources I used within the paper. I will admit it was mainly because I put off the

assignment to kind of the last minute. So when it came time to write the paper, I had to

attempt to fully read, annotate and, most importantly, comprehend them in a short amount

of time. Throughout high school and such, I have procrastinated a lot of my assignments

but mainly my writing assignments. I guess this is because I am not completely

comfortable and satisfied with my writing so I always put off writing until close to when

the paper is due.

Now looking back at it, I could have most likely done a much better job on my

conversation analysis if I had started before hand. That way I could have carefully read,

annotated and understood the sources. I could have probably found better ways to tie in

the three sources in which I demonstrated their similarities and/or differences. Other

assignments in this class but especially this have emphasized the importance of beginning

the writing process early on so that the overall outcome is better. Also, using sources

from different discourse communities is a helpful step in the writing process for my final

research paper. So taking my time on it would have been beneficial in the long run as

well.

Writing a conversational analysis incorporating sources from different discourse

communities relates to some of the bullet points in the FYW Programs Learning

Outcomes. For example, I defined and focused on the purpose of each source within my


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conversation analysis. I also found, analyzed, and synthesized sources which was another

outcome.

Having been in WRD 104 for eight weeks now, writing a conversational analysis

and afterwards was definitely a time that reflects my progress but also what I need to

work on. Although, I experience difficulties writing the analysis, I understand the

purpose of a conversational analysis and how it falls under an element of WRD.

wrd 104 reflection 3

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