Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

After writing papers for most of my life, whether it be in high school or college, I have recognized that it is not an easy process. Writing is a complicated process that requires a lot of time and effort. In order to think that I have the perfect paper, I follow a multi-step process. First, I organize all of my ideas into an outline. Usually I write my outline on physical paper to have all my ideas readily in front of me. For example, in my Writing Plan, I researched the topic of the NCAA paying student athletes and my writing plan served as a starting point of my research. I went into further detail on the topic but this writing shows the development of one of my papers. Once I have my outline, I then start to form my first draft, using ideas from my outline to support what I am writing. The first draft is usually the hardest part of the process. When my first draft is complete, I look for some feedback. Whether I receive feedback from a friend, classmate, or teacher it is always helpful. The interactive process of this multi-stage process is the most helpful. Typically in your writing you can miss certain things that someone else will catch. After feedback, I make any changes/corrections to my paper which turns into my second draft. This draft is usually close to the final paper, I just make minor revisions after reading over it a couple more times. Following these steps will lead to my paper being organized and grammatically sound.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Throughout my writings, I had to cite information from articles and chapters from mostly online articles. The more reading I did, and the more there was to cite, the easier my writing was. It was more time consuming to read multiple articles and then analyze them, but it provided me with even more information for my own work.  In order to understand what I was reading, I would take personal notes in a very casual way just to lay out my ideas. Once I recognized the main idea of the article it was smooth sailing with my sources. My Opinion Editorial shows the use of multiple sources and how they affected my writing. After thoroughly reading the articles I used as my sources for the editorial, I was comfortable enough with the context to use quotes from the articles. I don’t feel comfortable using quotes from information I’m not fully understanding of due to the fact it might be completely out of context from what the author is talking about. The more you reread the text, the clearer the message of the author will be.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Writing with a purpose is the most influential way to write. Writing with a motive, whatever that motive may be, allows for you to be more passionate and informative in your work. Knowing your audience also plays a big role due to the fact that you might have to modify how you are “speaking” in your writing to accommodate to specific readers. I find these values also being honored in my Opinion Editorial . In this writing I write towards those people who agree with my argument of student athletes being compensated for their image and likeliness. I write in an opinionated and persuasive way with multiple sources for my argument. I provided not only the facts of the matter, but used my opinion and passion for the topic to allow for the persuasion of the audience. The purpose of this specific writing was to be opinionated, but the ripple effect of a strong opinion leads to agreeance of the topic by more than just myself.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

Writing with a purpose serves as the basis of a paper. Having a strong purpose for writing a paper allows the reader to clearly understand the points I am intending to get across. In my Editorial, I intend to defend Penn State Football’s Johnathan Sutherland. The football player received a seemingly racist and harsh letter from an alumni from the school, which was shared publicly on twitter by a teammate. The only good that came from the alumni writing this letter was the truth of Johnathan Sutherland’s image. His coach came forward and defended the young man saying he is more than his physical image; he is a dean’s list student and team captain. Through writing this editorial, I found my purpose in telling the truth of the story to defend Johnathan Sutherland from the letter he received. I interpreted this event as one of racism and blatant cowardice and felt the need to refute it. In doing so I researched the issue some more so I could fully understand what the situation was, and then went ahead to write my editorial, in favor of Penn State football and their player.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

The ethical responsibility of writing is mainly based in the topic of plagiarism. It is such an easy trap to fall into if not treated with full respect. I have always enjoyed writing, so I never found the need to use someone else work as my own. The problem of plagiarism that I could face would be one of improper quoting or citing of a source I have used. If you don’t credit a thought that is not your own to the rightful owner, you are failing to maintain your responsibility. In my Letter to the Editor , I continuously credit the author of the source I am writing my letter on, Lincoln Caplan. By allowing myself to credit certain claims to him, it helped support my own argument even more, as I was refuting his claims. There is all sorts of benefits to crediting the rightful owner of a statement, opinion, or idea. It allows for you to draw in more information through more sources, and it also helps to support your ideas. Being ethically responsible with my writing has always been a priority to me and I will continue to write in such a way.