Anand Macherla

ENG 120
Mrs. Julia Remsik-Larsen
December 10, 2014
Reflective Argument
As W. Somerset Maugham beautifully articulates, There are three rules for writing a novel.
Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Many individuals dont realize that becoming an excellent
writer means different things to different individuals. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to make
sure that regardless of what we do, we improve. At the beginning of the year in class, it was required
that we read through all of the student learning outcomes in order to understand the desired goals for
English 120. In the thirteen years that I have studied the English language in American schools, I have
noticed that this is a common occurrence. I believe that educators seek to do this because students
understand the purpose and application behind lessons, assignments, and projects. As I progressed
through the semester, it slowly became more and more apparent as to how my writing improved
overall. However, I am entirely cognizant of the fact that my writing still has a long ways to go before I
believe it to be adequate. In regards to the student learning outcomes outlined by the University of New
Mexicos English department, I believe I have significant progress in the areas of outcome A, outcome F,
outcome I, and outcome J, but I dont believe I made as much progress as I would have liked to for
outcome B.
Outcome A specifically addresses the aspect of arguments. Outcome A states that students
should make explicit progress by being able to analyze, compose, and reflect on arguments in a variety
of genres, considering the strategies, claims, evidence, and various mediums and technologies that are
appropriate to the rhetorical situation. My background with speech and debate gave me a very distinct
advantage in terms of Student Learning Outcome A because I had extensive experience with the
analyzing, crafting, and reflecting of arguments. However, in English this year, I also had a very beneficial
experience. When it came to the analysis of arguments, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Rhetorical Analysis
offered me a very unique chance to examine rhetorical strategies in a way I have never done before. I
dont believe that Matt Damon intentionally utilized multiple forms of rhetorical arguments, but
analyzing his video demonstrated to me that many attempts of public persuasion typically integrate
multiple forms of rhetorical arguments. In regards to analyzing others arguments, I thought that the
best opportunity was within Major Writing Assignment 3, where students wrote about a certain
proposal. Although we didnt public debate the merits or faults of the proposals, I had an excellent time
mentally establishing whether or not their respective proposals were a good idea. As for composing
arguments, the rhetorical arguments that I included in the proposal as well as the memo were a myriad
of examples. In order for my proposal to look attractive, I had to frame the benefits in such a way that
would look enticing for my audience. My audience was a class of college students, from the ages of 1820, along with Mrs. Larsen. Catering to that demographic was simple, seeing as how the implication was
that everyone in that room had a very open mind and strongly encouraged the idea of youth
empowerment. Reflection upon arguments (both mine as well as others) was an aspect of all of the
revisions that we performed throughout the year. I will always be the first to testify that the revision of
an argument is critical to ensure the validity and strength of said argument; sometimes, an argument
written at 2 am might not be the strongest possible argument. As I write this, I cant help but smile
because this reflection of the student learning outcomes includes revision (meta-revision or revisionception, if you will). This reflective argument is showing me that my writing skills have improved, even
though I originally didnt think so. When considering the strategies appropriate for a certain rhetorical
situation, I cant help but immediately think about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Rhetorical analysis once
again. During that analysis, we were repetitively told to think like a writer, so that we may make the

strongest combination of arguments possible. Thinking like a writer really challenged me to adopt a new
mindset that I was never really exposed to. I still dont believe that I did a great job of thinking like a
writer, but I definitely recognize that I need to work on that skill a lot more. Somewhat tangential to this
concept, thinking like a researcher was another important aspect of this class. During our
documentaries, it was important to back up our findings with credible and notable research. Once again,
this was a very new approach for me. Normally, I would simply include evidence that supports my claims
and finding, but after imagining a documentary where Morgan Freeman offered evidence that simply
supported claims, I realized that I needed stronger evidence and sources. Thinking like a researcher
prompted me to understand that the sources I choose to utilize in my documentary is extremely
important to the overall validity of the video. As we can see, when it comes to Significant Learning
Outcome A, the plethora of instances that I have had to interact with arguments has led me to
improvements in many areas. In other areas, I have been challenged and mentally tested.
Significant Learning Outcome F is about my growth as a writer through the utilization of
reflection and asks for me to evaluate *my+ development as a writer over the course of the semester
and describe how composing in multiple genres and mediums using various technologies can be applied
in other contexts to advance *my+ goals. In a world where technology allows an individual to reach a
much larger base of readers, it is absolutely important to know how to use technology efficiently.
Additionally, the skill of reflecting upon ones own writing is very beneficial. As my eleventh grade
English teacher Mrs. Bedeaux used to say, One must know where they come from before they can
understand where they need to go. As a writer, I believe that it is easy to detect my improvement as a
writer from the beginning of the semester. Retrospectively, I know what I need to do in order to become
a stronger, more dynamic writer. When it comes to my use of technology, I dont believe that I have
made any significant advancement; I knew how to use technology at the beginning of the semester just
as well as I know how to use technology now.
Student Learning Outcome I was about composing arguments that were research based. In the
middle of October, I had the privilege of joining Dr. Michael Wolffs research team regarding the
significance and interesting aspect of ISIS volunteer base. When I first met with Dr. Wolff, he
emphasized that research papers in the world of academia were largely framed around research and
studies that had already been done. This would be even more accurate due to the fact that the situation
regarding ISIS is located nearly an entire world away, which means that doing on-the-ground research
would be impossible. However, in order to retain a high level of credibility and validity, Dr. Wolff
explained that the methodology behind sources and studies was imperative. Identifying secondary
sources was one of the first lessons we went through together, keeping in mind that the validity of both
studies had to be of the highest caliber. Additionally, evaluating and analyzing the methodology of
sources was important. Thankfully, this was not a new subject to me. In speech and debate,
methodology behind studies was very important, seeing as how a faulty piece of evidence could make or
break an argument. Incorporating these studies and sources was a skill that I became very familiar with.
Throughout this semester, as I utilized this skill more, I could definitely notice that I became better at
this.
Student Learning Outcome J goes hand in hand with Student Learning Outcome I, but rather
than focusing on the composing of a research-based academic argument, J focuses more on the
presentation of said argument. In order to prove proficiency in this Student Learning Outcome, I had to
analyze and describe the writing and research conventions of an academic field in order to understand
the different ways of creating and communicating knowledge. In the documentaries that we made (or
in my case, the mockumentary), Baylee and I had to present a base of knowledge that was appropriate
and accurate per the academic field of study. In order to do this, we had to expressly analyze the writing
and conventions of those prominent Bigfoot studies. Although I dont know that I made significant
progress in Student Learning Outcome J, I can recognize that I did improve slightly.

When it comes to Significant Learning Outcome B, I unfortunately did not make much of an
improvement. Outcome B asks to be able to describe the social nature of composing, particularly the
role of discourse communities at the local, national, and international level. Sadly, I cannot claim that I
have gotten better at this in any way. When doing an assignment, I naturally entertain the interest of my
audience in mind. In the case of my English class this year, a majority of my assignments and essays
were crafted to the interests of my fellow classmates. When Baylee and I were writing the script for the
documentary together, there was very little contention between the two of us; neither of us disagreed
with what the other thought was important to include in the script. Although this was super cool, I feel
that the experience didnt really challenge my collaborative skills within the discourse community very
much.
Looking back to the beginning of the year, I can definitely distinguish the Student Learning
Outcomes in which I have made significant growth. During the process, I could not gauge any sort of
improvement, but I suppose thats how all advancement is made. From day to day, no difference is
noticed, but when one looks back, everything changes. I have made particular development in Student
Learning Outcomes A, F, I, and J, but made no progress in Outcome B.