Since the first day of ENC 1102, I knew i was in for a whole new level of writing. I could see by the age differences alone in my fellow peers that I was not in for the transitional phase that I endured summer term. The conversations were more intellectual, the teacher was more avid about writing, and the attention span grew worse and worse as the class began to be overwhelming. This unfortunately was nothing knew to me. I always started classes feeling overwhelmed and helpless to fail alone until that turning point that usually happens when I realize that I can pass this class as long as I put the hours of work needed to get the grade deserved. Although my surroundings were different, there were some things however that remained. I have come to believe that these recurring elements of writing are fundamental to any young writer or writer period that wants to take his knowledge and experience of writing to another level.

     The first of these elements would be rhetorical knowledge. It is important to know the audience and purpose before beginning to write. For example, in my writing to inform piece I wrote to inform readers on a specific problem and clearly put together an essay that could convey the thoughts I found. More specifically I wrote about consumption and how well developed countries, like America, over consume thus causing horrible effects on the environment. In this essay it was important to be clear and concise because the audience had to know what the issue was and be able to grasp the main points found within. In my writing to explore piece, I explored the various characteristics found in leaders, whether good or bad, that brought them to the success that they reached on their journey to triumph. In both these writing I had to ask several rhetorical questions, for example why is this writing being done?, to be sure I was on track with the purpose and not veering off onto another style of writing.

     Critical reading, writing and thinking were also elements from the writing strategies that proved particularly helpful in my writings. Critical reading helped to enforce what I learned from other areas of research to connect them with my own writings to further support other information in my writings. For example, in my writing to explore I made several connections to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life to show the many leadership qualities he possessed. In my writing to inform I brought information from all over to connect and support statements I made within my writing piece. But the most important reason by far that I found to be is reading critically to understand. If you are reading information and cannot understand what you read, you might as well have not read it. It is like when someone is talking and what they say to you goes in one ear and out the other. It is worthless. But if instead you grasp what that person is saying and put it to good use, then you are thinking critically.

     My writing process has not changed much with the exception of the more procrastination found in between the rough and final draft. The editing phase has become a little prolonged because of my initiative to have others read and comment on my draft but other than that everything is as it was. I have found however that I work better when I outline my paper in the beginning instead of trying to start a rough draft immediately after doing some research. I find that when I research then take a while to let the thoughts marinade in my head, I put out better papers than expected. Sometimes I write papers and look back at it like that cannot be mine. Completely astonished by the work put in and the finish product put out, I then realize this is paper is not good it is great!

     I have to say by far my writing technologies has changed immensely. I have never done this much work online regarding writing ever! Everything from my research to my rough draft to even the peer reviewing was done online in this course. At first I was all for the technological push towards writing but as things became difficult and the pbworks website began to be overwhelming, I slowly disliked then hated the site. After a while though I got back to being ecstatic for writing online because I figured it did not take me one day to conquer myspace, facebook, or any other social network so I should be more patient with the pbworks site. It all paid off because now I can peer edit and get peer reviews in real time without having to wait until the next day to get some response or advice. This made it better for me because I do a majority of my writing between the times of 2 a.m and 4 a.m, so I could finish my draft quicker and make it better through this site. This semester I have used technology the most in the betterment of my writing.