Reflective Letter - High Range Scores
Over the course of this fall semester I have been enrolled in an intermediate English
writing class English 3010, where I have improved my writing skills and learned to begin to
master concepts taught in this class to help me in future writing situations. Before being enrolled
in this class I had some confidence in myself as a writer and did not find writing to be real
challenging. With this in mind, I still dreaded having to sit down at a computer and begin a
writing process, whether I began to just type my paper and edit as I write, or free write until
words began to form sentences and concrete thoughts. When I signed up for this class I
immediately hated the fact that I was going to have to write papers again because since this class
was a 3,000 level course I knew the papers were going to have to be lengthy. I originally
believed that this class was going to be a complete nuisance and a waste of my time because this
course was going to be a repeat of English 1020, but at a more advanced pace. I thought what
can I possibly learn or improve from this previous course that I already have a firm grasp on.
Once I stepped into the classroom that non-anticipating late summer day in August, I knew that I
had been wrong.
Throughout this semester, my English 3010 class focused on writing theory and its main
component, a discourse community. The class and I read many concepts and ideas that related to
the idea of what a discourse community means, and how learning the writing theory will help me
learn to write in my future professional discourse community and also in other subject areas in
the future. The main goal or fulfillment of this class is by the end of the semester, I and my
classmates should be able to master or at least begin to understand the learning outcomes based
on this course. I began to learn how the methods that I am being taught and the knowledge that I
gain can help to influence how I write in the future and convey information by argumentation or
persuasion to others. By learning to write in various writing situations, because of this class I am
confident that whether I am a student enrolled in another course at this great university or a nurse
in my future discourse community, I will be able to write in any writing convention.
The objective of Learning Outcome 1 is to produce writing in my discipline or profession
from various genres, conventions, etc., while being able to describe, cite, and analyze from a
rhetorical perspective. One of the main projects where I believe I have demonstrated my ability
to identify various writing genres in my future profession is the Data Collection Report. For this
project I had to incorporate primary and secondary sources to illustrate the knowledge I had
gained when performing my interview and forming my genre analysis to effectively achieve how
I found an issue in my discourse community based on the writing genres I obtained. In the
interview section of my DCR, I was also able to learn about some of the various forms of genres
from highly qualified nurses (11). The writing genres that I found such as patient notes, using the
electronic medical records database as a method of taking notes, and email, helped me to connect
the genres to technology and its importance within the nursing discourse community. These
genres helped me to understand how they work within not only my discourse community but the
discourse community of the health field as well. One of the genres, the electronic medical
database, is used to record a patient’s health information, such as their history and in the hospital
setting, a patient’s vitals. This specific piece of writing or communication helped me to
demonstrate how the health professionals were able to communicate with one another and the
patient (11).
Through my coding process for my DCR, I was able to make a strong argument in my
DCR and Project 3 that technology can be helpful when assisting nurses or health professionals
with their daily tasks, but these professionals should not let the technology or the device overtake
their other job duties and affect the patient. I was able to demonstrate why these health
professionals such as nurses need to learn repositioning, a term by Joseph Harris, one of the
writing theorists I studied for all three of my projects. By proving that if the health specialists can
learn to master the concept of Harris’s repositioning, they will be able to communicate through
their primary and secondary discourses, but also be able to navigate back and forth between
technology and communicating with people, such as a patient. This I believe is crucial for my
audience, who would be nurses and health professionals because this identifies an issue of a
genre related to technology and its possible hazards while also explaining how to solve the
problem through repositioning. This helped me to analyze how repositioning can not only be
useful to master in writing terms, but how it affects other forms of communication with patients
and other health professionals. For instance, one of my articles in the Genre Analysis section of
my DCR helps to provide reasons why technology within the nursing community can be
dangerous because nurses tend to depend on the device to help them perform their job, “RN
Marjorie Funk believes that technology is seen as “seductive and self-perpetuating” and that it is
important for a nurse to be a “master of technology, but not its servant” (15). This article helped
in my analysis of the genres such as email and the electronic medical record because I not only
learned about the writing methods in nursing, but also how they function within the discourse
community. Most of the genres are computerized or in some form technologically efficient, so I
was able to see how the communication became faster and efficient, which then helped in my
analysis of how and why repositioning is necessary.
The second Learning Objective required that I produce writing of research methods and
genres where I draw extensively from primary and secondary sources. In all of the three major
projects required in the class, I believe have begun to slowly do so. In the first project, I began
my whole research process with the secondary sources of writing theorists read in class. I
incorporated theorists such as Swales, Gee, Harris, and Johns into my project. This project
helped to identify what theorist I was going to incorporate into my next two projects and helped
to draw ideas extensively. It is this project that helped me to form an argument for why
repositioning is helpful to my audience, nurses, and why it is helpful. “In this field, nurses cannot
simply use one form of discourse over the other because their patients and coworkers belong to
different discourses” (39). Project One was a device that after revision, I could draw on some of
these ideas to help explain the importance of repositioning in the field of nursing. Another
project where I did extensive research was my DCR. This project was the most time consuming
because it is the backbone of the third project, and it is where I began to develop mastery of this
learning outcome. For my DCR, I collected primary sources, two interviews, and three secondary
sources, articles that helped me to draw conclusions about the two writing theories I was going to
pursue, reposition and multiliteracies. This set of research data helped me draw conclusions and
answer my research question. Through my coding process, I was able to pick out categories for
my DCR that would help show my analysis for my research. Tony Mirabelli’s multiliteracies
helped me to connect my interviewee, Nancy Madro’s importance of “eye contact” to patients. I
inferred that mastering multiliteracies for nursing, in this case being able to understand the
genres such as an electronic medical record or vitals machine not only helps with writing, but
with patient care. “The technology is helpful if the nurse fully understands its multiliteracies and
incorporates it into their practice. A nurse will use the electronic medical record to help treat the
patient and update any health changes, but will devote most of their time to the patient and not
the device” (19). In the discussion section of my third project, I was able to link these two
concepts and provide not only how, but why these components are important, “If the technology
that is used to help nurses with the process of diagnoses is used and understood correctly, a nurse
will then master the concept of repositioning. The nurse will be able to perform both job duties
without limiting or constraining time for the patient or their writing tasks” (19).By incorporating
Mirabelli’s theory of multiliteracies with Harris’s concept of repositioning, I illustrated the
knowledge I had gained from research, the genres I had obtained from my interviews, and placed
emphasis on the importance of a hands- on approach in nursing.
After a rough draft has been completed, the next step is the revision process. Learning
Outcome 3 is supposed to establish writing that illustrates a flexible writing process which
includes generating ideas, drafting, revision, and editing. I find that this learning outcome has
been the most helpful and hardest to accomplish. Before entering this class my revision process
consisted of looking and fixing any spelling and grammatical errors, and every once in a while I
would have to describe my writing process, such how I formed and generated my ideas and
argument. I never had to actually describe how or why I made a change to this section of a paper,
or which area I found to be really strong. My reflections that I have written not only helped me
revise my papers, but also helped with improving ideas that I could carry on to my next paper.
During the first revision for project one, I made changes based on comments of weak or strong
areas in the paper, but the catch was to explain why I made these changes. As much as I hated
doing this, it was helpful because I did not have to completely change my research question and
find new secondary sources to support a new question. Instead I based my research question on
the main writing theory that I planned on using in my DCR, “One of the writing theories that I
am using to frame my research question is the idea of repositioning not only as a way of
communication or through language, but how also the changes regarding technology and the use
of computers reinforce this idea” (48). Once I established repositioning as one of the theories I
would include in my research, I then was able to connect Mirabelli’s multiliteracies to
repositioning. This gave a central argument because I concluded “that nurses need to learn and
understand multiliteracies to not only help them write in their field but to also better focus on
their patients” because they will be able to reposition themselves from the technological device,
and also the writing form or genre to the patient (39).
Another key component that helped me to accomplish the revising and editing portion of
learning outcome 3 is my rough draft of the DCR. The writing workshops in class have been
extremely helpful. During this workshop, I only had my first category section satisfactorily
completed. I had the beginnings of the remaining two categories formed, but was unsure if they
would be successful. With my peers revising my paper, I was able to get feedback on what they
believed to be helpful in completing these sections, as well as other areas of the rough draft that
could use improvement. For example, in my rough draft I wrote “This is a key statement in
regards to Harris’s idea of repositioning”, and then went on to discuss another idea. Adrienne,
who reviewed my paper, suggested that I add an explanation for why or how this is helpful. After
that sentence I added “A nurse must be able to adapt not only to technology, but also learn when
to use the technology when it is not needed” (16). My peers suggestions and revisions of my
papers have helped me to accomplish learning outcome 3 more effectively than me just revising
my papers.
The final Learning Outcome that I have began to accomplish is to discuss how I have
used reflection to make choices and changes in writing and how I can apply it to future writing
situations. Before beginning any writing process, it is often advised to pre-write or outline your
plan for any writing process. One assignment in particular that helped me with revising my
second project, my DCR for the next project was my project three worksheet. My project three
worksheet helped me outline my third project, first by stating things that I am going to change,
write out my thesis, and draft my discussion and conclusion sections. This worksheet was helpful
because based on the comments that I received on my DCR I was able to identify the changes
that I needed to make such as “In my discussion section, I will analyze my data as opposed to
explaining it in my results section” (50). This helped me to conclude for instance that not only
has technology improved patient care, but because of technology, the hospital setting as a whole
improves because it provides for a better experience because the nurses and other professionals
are able to devote more time on patients instead of the paperwork, which helps patient with a
faster healing process and they can spend less time in the hospital (50). This worksheet helped
me to stay focus on what I needed to accomplish and help me map out my goals and expectations
for the third project.
This Learning Outcome also establishes skills that can be used as avenues for future
writing. Some of the skills that I will take with me for future writing situations will be a new
form of reflection. Instead of revising my paper, I will write a reflection or at least look for areas
in my writing that I can improve and ask the questions what, why, and how to improve this part
of the paper, or why this particular section is strong. When beginning a writing process, I will
use the research skills I have learned, such as using a form of genre analysis for my primary and
secondary sources. I will try to establish a form of a coding process to help group similar ideas
together. Some of the writing theory presented in class such as the concept of discourse
community can be helpful when remembering who my audience is when I am writing future
papers. I believe I can utilize Harris’s concept of repositioning to help navigate main ideas in
future writings. Finally, Mirabelli’s multiliteracies will be help me to be able to understand a
future project or task as a whole, such as asking myself what do I need to know, research, and
accomplish to fully understand and master the concepts or ideas needed to express mastery of
this subject.
This past semester I have learned a lot about myself as a writer. At times it has seemed
like an overwhelming task full of repetition, but practice is what helps with improvement. I can
now locate and use genres for various writing occasions that fit well with my audience. After
writing a data collection report and implementing this data into my third project, I have obtained
a better research method for future genres and ideas that I may write about. This class has taught
me how to change my proof reading skills from a revision of change to a reflection with an
actual meaning. Since I have written multiple reflections in this class, I can now make changes or
corrections to a paper and understand why that change was necessary or what it improved. I feel
that because I have learned these learning outcomes I can now take this information with me and
be able to write successfully in my future classes or professional nursing discourse community.