Final Reflection

Jessica Mayes
English 201.005
Dr. Micer
8 May 2009
Final Reflection
Through the course of the semester, I have learned a great deal about communicating publicly through writing. The main thing I learned is that writing publicly is a very important skill to possess. By being able to read and examine public texts and generate my own, I feel like I have accomplished so much, and I feel like my writing has really made a difference in my world. The biggest similarity between all public literacy seems to be that it addresses a need that is considered important to the world or community it is addressing. They all seek to change the status quo.
The most challenging problem for me was to take the issue of wearing animal fur for fashion and making it relevant so that I could address it locally here in southern Indiana. Through tweaking my project just a bit, I realized that I could publicly address animal cruelty and neglect more easily, and that it would be more likely to reach people if I focused on issues that could more easily potentially affect the local people.
Now that I have a greater understanding of public literacy, I would approach my Evansville content analysis differently. I found it very difficult when I was writing it, but now that I know what it means to sit down and try to reach an audience myself, I think I would look for different points in my paper, particularly ones that are more relevant to the younger community of Evansville like the college students.
I have become much better at analyzing texts over the course of the semester due to all of the rhetorical précis I lave written. The individual précis and the rhetorical analysis were small assignments that I clearly struggled to gain the right length for. By the time I wrote my content analysis, I found it much easier to write in a way which addressed a question more thoroughly. My ability to answer questions concisely and thoroughly is one of the biggest changes I have noticed in my writings over the course of the semester.
Public sphere week was very helpful because it allowed me to see that communicating my work publicly was important. It showed me that I am able to reach people through writing, and that there is no reason to keep writing private. By allowing others to read what I had written, I felt that I was really beginning to help the animals I want to save. Knowing that I reached someone through my own hard work and effort makes me very proud, and gives me more hope than ever to be able to accomplish any goal I may set out to achieve.
To conclude, I am very thankful I got to participate in such a worldly experience this year. I know that the skills I learned here will be useful and taken with me when I leave the class. I also know that through my own writing, I can communicate to people wide and far. This fact is very comforting. I am glad that I now have the ability to make a difference.