Piet 1

Megan Piet
Instructor: Fran Voltz
UWRT 1102
9 December, 2015
Course Reflection
Websters Dictionary defines the word reflective as providing a reflection; capable of
reflecting light or other radiation, or relating to or characterized by deep thought. While I
think that some particularly powerful writing can be seen as providing a reflection of the world
around, I would use the second definition to define reflective writing. I think that reflective
writing is more thoughtful than other ways of writing; it involves digging a little deeper into
yourself and thinking harder about what youre trying to write. All writing should really be like
this, but reflective writing must come from within, because, generally, reflective writing involves
reflecting on yourself and your abilities, accomplishments, and failures. This type of writing is
extremely important, as it forces writers to go back and really think and criticize or praise what
they are reflecting on honestly.
To reflect on UWRT 1102, I have to first discuss what an inquiry is and why the
inquiry project was included, rather than a research paper, because it was such a vital part of
the course. I would define an inquiry as a question with purpose. It wasnt called the Spanish
Questioning, so clearly an inquisition is more than just questioning something. An inquiry is a
question the asker is passionate about. Someone inquiring about a topic desperately wants to
know the answer, rather than the mild curiosity of a question. And this is the difference between
an inquiry project and a research paper. Both require the writer to be curious about
something, but an inquiry project is meant to be more interesting to the writer than a plain, old
research paper. Also, an inquiry project allows for more creativity to be had by the writer, rather
than having to be written in standard paper format. While the option was still available to write a

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basic paper, the project did need to have a little more flare than a research paper. I think thats
why it was included in the course over a research paper; an inquiry project allows students to put
more of themselves into the project.
When I worked on my Extended Inquiry Project, I didnt have a very organized process. I
brainstormed to come up with my topic I first had wanted to write about the effects of coffee
on the body, but realized that was more of a science paper than an English paper, and I hate the
scientific process. So, I switched to a passion of mine: mental health. I could write a book on
mental health, or several books, so I narrowed it down to the mental health of college students,
because of the suicide of Joseph Banks at NC State at the beginning of this year. It had happened
right before I was picking my topic, and I knew that the mental health of college students was
something that needed to be discussed, so I went with it. My proposal was easy enough to write,
because I knew what questions I wanted to answer and where I wanted to go with my project.
Looking back at my proposal, I realize I did have much bigger dreams for the project than what
actually ended up being my final paper, but its the thought that counts. The group workshopping
was entirely pointless for the proposal, because none of my group members did the assignment,
nor did they know the criteria for the assignment, so they werent much help. I luckily didnt end
up having to change anything about the proposal for my final draft.
For the Prezi bibliography, I waited until the last minute before the rough draft was due to
start researching mental health in the school databases. I picked EBSCOhost to search in,
because I have experience using it from past research papers. As I researched, I realized how
much information was out there about the mental health of college students and I understood that
my proposal was a little crazy. I had wanted to go into detail about the different ways college
students with mental health issues could be helped, but there was so much information about the

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epidemic of college mental health that I ended up having to focus on that. I needed to define
what mental health was, what it means for college students, how many college students were
negatively affected, what their issues were, and then I found one article on using yoga to combat
depression and anxiety (which I had just learned were the two biggest mental illnesses that affect
college students). Again, the workshopping of the bibliography didnt go well. I ended up adding
more to the descriptions of each source about how I was going to use them in my project, which
helped me in the long run of finishing the paper.
The Prezi helped me realize that I did need to write a paper for this topic, instead of the
video I had my heart set on in the proposal. Writing the paper felt like pulling my own teeth out,
to be entirely honest. I had no real process for the paper, other than writing and rewriting the first
page over and over again for about two weeks. I couldnt get past it for so long, and I still dont
know why. To actually get the paper finished, I had to force myself to sit down and just put
words on the page until it was finished, and then go back and make it sound nice. In the first
draft, I put two hyperlinks one to link to an article about Joseph Banks death and the other to
link to Franciscan Universitys homepage. I brought it to my conference and Fran told me I
needed to add more visual to my paper, so I took it and found several videos talking about my
topic (there are a million news clips about the college mental health epidemic, because it is, in
fact, a really big deal). I added two videos in at strategic points and thats all I really changed for
my final draft.
Looking over all of my work, I notice that Im very scatterbrained before I sit down to
write my actual essay. All of my pre-essay notes are handwritten, and I cant really decipher
them now. I label them based on the essay Im writing, and most are filled with quotes that dont
seem to relate to each other and brainstormed ideas. Some essays have one or two lines of notes,

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because I only handwrite until I figure out what I want to put in my essay and then I roll with it.
Looking at all of my finished writings, I notice that I talk about conservatives a lot, and I have
several different in class writings, journals, and blogs where I at least mention Planned
Parenthood. I did not realize that I was so interested in politics, but I get very passionate about it
when I write.
I have never had a real writing process. My writing has not changed much (other than
content) over the past few years, and it has really stayed the same throughout this semester as
well. I just write. Thats the only way I can really phrase it. If I have a hard time getting the
writing juices flowing when I start to type, I will put pen to paper (always pen, never pencil) and
start brainstorming, until I feel creative enough to write. Writing is very cathartic for me, I feel
like it lets me get all my thoughts out and it feels good. My best pieces dont require a lot of
thought, theyre all heart. My worst pieces are the ones I had a hard time writing, either because I
just didnt feel like writing that day or because I was struggling with the topic. I have tried to be
more objective about the prompts, and I think thats my biggest weakness when it comes to
writing. I can only write well when I feel passionately about the topic; otherwise, I just feel like
what Im writing is draining me. The only way I have been able to work around this has been to
just push through. The pieces that I dont want to write always take longer than the ones I do,
because I take forever to write them. I spend too long deleting and rewriting words, even entire
pages, but I get them finished.
My best piece of writing was Journal #10, where I had to write about Susan Sontags In
Platos Cave. I loved the article, and I felt like the words just flowed from me when I wrote the
essay. That sounds so pretentious, but thats honestly how it felt. Ive reread it several times
while working on my portfolio, and I find myself wishing that all of my writing was like what I

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did in that journal. My favorite section from it is, I dont want to be sad, so I wont look. I shut
my eyes. I put the pictures away. I pretend that if I cant see the bad things, then they dont
exist. I read that, and I see the influence my favorite authors have had on my writing, and I feel
pride. I wish I could write like that all of the time, but Im so proud that I did it once. The entire
essay reads that way, and I could not be happier with it.
In this course, I finally learned the difference between effect and affect, so that was a
really big deal for me. In all seriousness, I learned more about myself in this course than I did
about writing. I wont claim to know all there is to know about writing, but I think that, for now,
Ive plateaued in my ability, or the slope of my improvement is fractional and rising very slowly.
Either way, I cant say that I feel my writing has improved during this class. I did write some
essays much better than others, but I think thats more dedication than ability. This class
reintroduced me to my passion for writing. I love to write, and I love all kinds of writing. I have
never hated essay writing, and I think UWRT 1102 made me fall in love with it. I was allowed to
talk about myself in my writing, I could say I and not lose credibility. I could write from
personal experience and not worry about losing points from my grade, so I think I was allowed to
experiment more with my writing. I became more comfortable with it, and especially with
writing about myself, which is something I didnt have much experience with.
I think I deserve an A on this portfolio. I worked my ass off on it, and I really would love
somewhere near a 100 on it. I have spent so much time getting it to be perfect over the past few
weeks, I literally procrastinated my other schoolwork by working on the formatting of my
portfolio. I have carefully chosen each assignment I included in it, and I poured my heart into my
EIP and out onto the page in this reflective essay. If I have learned anything about this class, its
that passion genuinely counts, and I swear Im passionate about this portfolio. It is me in a

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website, and I hope you can see that. I have put so much effort into making it perfect, and I really
think its close.