Sarah Joy Richards
3/3/15
Critical Reflective Essay
From a Whisper to a Roar: Finding My Writing Style
Transferring into Georgia State University in the Fall of 2012 has proved to be a
transformative experience. I had previously attended a small school with only a literature
track for English majors. The writing courses were scarce, but the ones I took I enjoyed
for the creativity they allowed me to tap in to. I knew I wanted to strengthen my writing
skills at Georgia State, but at the time, I don’t believe I even knew what that meant. I
believe I thought it was going to mean learning about proper comma placement and
sentence structure (and that’s part of it!). However, with my first course in the rhetoric
and composition program, I tapped into a new part of the writing process that had gotten
lost in research papers and book reports: style. Though meek at first, my voice, or style,
as a writer has gotten louder. In the Spring of 2013 it was barely a whisper, but it was
there.
Visual Rhetoric (ENGL 3135) with Dr. Hocks in the spring of 2013 (I took all
CORE classes my first semester in the preceding fall) was an exciting class. Coming
from a more literature based coursework a room full of computers had me confused. I
was not a computer person. I could turn computers on, but that was the extent of my
knowledge. At once intimidated, I considered dropping the course the first day. I decided
to give it my best and by the semester midpoint I was versed and comfortable in more
technology than ever before. The work was exciting and I found my intimidation ebbing
away and giving over to curiosity. I could feel my worth as a potential employee grow as
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I learned about these new technologies and how online content should be presented to
different audiences.
In the first piece I chose for my portfolio, I created a Storify project with an
accompanying essay about the pros and cons of the “Don’t Be That Guy” ad campaign. I
chose this piece because I believe it is a strong work in its own right; however, in
comparison with my other portfolio pieces, it shows that my training was still in its early
stages. Looking at the work now, on the other side of my coursework, I notice areas
where I would have changed the design of the content to be easier for the audience to
read. For example, I did not do a good job of “chunking” text in the finished product,
which is essential to ensure viewers do not just scan large portions of text. My project
had a target audience of ages 18-24 (the same as the campaign itself) and the tone I took
on in the work reflects my first attempt at finding a writing style that was relatable to that
audience, yet sophisticated enough to be taken seriously. It took another semester before I
started to find that voice.
This portfolio piece is one of the most personal in my portfolio. When I took
Electronic Writing and Publishing (ENGL 3120) in the Fall of 2013 one of my
assignments was to maintain a blog throughout the semester on a single topic. I chose to
do my blog on living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Talking about such a personal issue, I
wanted my tone to be relatable to those who didn’t have CF, and show a side of CF that I
wasn’t seeing in my research of other CF-related blogs: humor. What I had originally
intended for a small class to read, resulted in being read my medical students, doctors,
and even Emory researchers and scientists the following spring. I was invited to speak at
Emory University about my blog as well. Seeing my writing humanize the disease for
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researchers was a surreal experience. They each said that the style of my writing was
what kept them reading. It was the ultimate compliment but that style wasn’t achieved
easily.
Each post on my blog was a balancing act! In coming up with material for the
blog I would try to think of CF patient daily life, or recent events in my health that caused
me to roll my eyes in annoyance. I’d write it out and then find everything I found
humorous about the situation. I wanted to ensure that through my writing others could
find that humor too even in the most serious of situations discussed on the blog.
In my constant writing and rewriting process I started to find a specific voice. My voice. I
was finding my writing style. When I read through this class blog I don’t feel I was trying
to stretch my writing style like I did in my portfolio piece for Visual Rhetoric.
The style of this blog feels very organic and the design is much more reader
friendly. I learned to be more concise in my posts, chunk text, and balance text with
visual images. These are all components my courses have taught me make up a strong
blog. While other courses in the program taught me how to interpret or rework existing
content, Electronic Writing and Publishing taught me to how to create my own.
The department also taught me to market myself as a potential employee by
broadening my knowledge of technologies and providing me with internships. In the Fall
of 2013 as my ENGL 4500 course, I was an intern for South Atlantic Modern Language
Association (SAMLA). At this point, I had yet to take Document Design, but my main
tasks for the internship were to update multiple documents for the upcoming SAMLA85
conference.
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Under the supervision of Dr. Diana Eidson I spent the semester editing the
documents down to essential information. Next, I researched and compared SAMLA’s
style guide with what I had been taught in my classes so far. Sometimes, new challenges
would arise as I worked on the online versions of the documents. The style guide for all
SAMLA documents didn’t transfer online in a way that followed the same design rules I
had been taught. When I hit moments like this I went to Dr. Eidson for advice. We would
talk through the pros and cons of differing from the style guide in the name of design.
The finished products are much easier to read and both versions have more prominent
and organized headings for getting information to session chairs at the next SAMLA
conference.
My internship allowed me to gain experience in a work environment and to
manage multiple projects on a deadline. It also taught me how to brainstorm and
collaborate with coworkers towards a common goal. In addition to these skills, Dr.
Eidson also had each intern produce four business writing samples so I was able to
produce a resume, cover letter, memo, and official letter with feedback and critiques.
Again, I was slowly learning how to market my degree through my experiences as an
undergraduate. The rhetoric and composition program has been amazing about explaining
how the work done in class is a marketable skillset for employment. At this point in my
degree, I was learning what different paths my writing could take me down. However, I
knew I still lacked in some areas, like strong research skills. The following semester I had
the chance to study genres of writing that let me strengthen my research.
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My annotated bibliography for Dr. Holmes’ ENGL 3100 is my next portfolio
piece. I wanted a work in my portfolio that showed a strong area of research. In this
course we discussed many different genres of writing and practiced writing in a few of
them. This assignment in particular called for creating an annotated bibliography for my
portion of research for a group project about teaching ESOL students. I was very
intimidated about doing an annotated bibliography but by the time I finished with this
piece I felt comfortable in the genre. The steps I had to take to complete this assignment
made me a stronger as a researcher.
Through this work I was able to see how doing an annotated bibliography forced
me to do more than scan my sources. I was able to make a stronger claim in my final
presentation for the group project because I was well versed in the subject matter.
Learning to evaluate the source I was reading for credibility and relation to my topic were
valuable skills because it helped maintain the integrity of my research. Since working on
this piece, I’ve had to create other annotated bibliographies for classes. I no longer feel
intimidated by them. This taught me not to allow something new to break down my
confidence.
My most recent piece at GSU is my sonic rhetoric response for ENGL 4320.
Learning to attune myself to sonic rhetoric in senior seminar class has been a unique
experience. I’ve enjoyed the process of constantly asking myself, “What am I hearing?”
and “how does it affect me?” I’m learning to listen to music as noise first, music later.
Songs are just layering of sounds. I feel that sonic rhetoric and visual rhetoric are all
about slowing down your own mind and questioning why it jumps to conclusions in a
split second when it hears a noise. Learning how connected I am with sounds has caused
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me to be much more self aware in different environments. The piece I chose for my
portfolio has a breakdown of a song and the rollercoaster of sensations and emotions one
can encounter even when we don’t recognize it. Though still new to sonic rhetoric I’m
excited to see how much I’ve learned by the end of the semester.
For my final piece, I wanted to include my research essay from my English 3050
with Dr. Lopez. The reason I wanted to include this research paper is because I feel it is
my strongest piece of academic writing. In the same way that my Visual Rhetoric piece
shows the areas where my writing was weakest at the start, this piece shows how my
rhetoric and composition coursework at Georgia State has strengthened those areas and
challenged me to grow as a writer, rhetorician, and critical thinker.
In the paper, I was to write about rhetoric in some form. I chose to research how
social media was affecting the way we ingest our daily news. From there, my research
narrowed to how breaking news came across Twitter. I learned at this point in my project
that I would have to narrow my research even further in order to create a strong
argument. In class we were encouraged to discuss our concerns with our peers.
In past courses, peer review had often failed to help in terms of how to make my
papers stronger in content, only stronger in grammatical mechanics. In this class,
however, I found that the group discussion really helped stimulate more critical thinking
about my paper. As I was discussing my topic and its relation to rhetoric with my peers, I
noticed I was learning to discuss rhetoric on a higher level. All of my classmates were.
As a result, peer review quickly turned into a useful tool. The key was the broader
knowledge of rhetoric itself.
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When I read through this paper, I feel that my argument is supported in a very
organized way. All of my points are stated along with their supporting evidence, as well
as counterpoints for the main argument. I wanted to discuss how Twitter has affected the
world of journalism in both positive and negative ways. I argue that journalistic
credibility might be sacrificed with the introduction of breaking news on Twitter, but that
in some instances, Twitter allows reporting to be done in areas where traditional
journalists could not go. This work is a milestone in the road to strengthening a weakness
in my writing: maintaining a strong argument throughout my paper. This was a paper I
really enjoyed working on. Since turning this paper in for a grade, I have continued to
revise it and submit it to academic conferences.
At the beginning of my coursework at Georgia State, I didn’t feel motivated to
push myself past what was asked of me. Here, at the end of my coursework, I’m planning
paper topics with the idea of where I can take them beyond the classroom. Seeing that
change along with so many others has been immensely rewarding. My skills as a
researcher have increased exponentially, my online writing is better formatted for the
webpages, and my ability to market myself as an English major has expanded. Through
all of these mediums I feel that my personality still comes though. Writing style is how
the writer conveys who they are. I’ve discovered and gained more confident in my
writing style. Through my rhetoric and composition coursework at Georgia State, my
voice as a writer has swelled from a whisper, to a roar.
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