Week 3:

Prompt: What have we done so far that has been helpful to your writing process? How might you apply this helpful information or tool? What has been confusing or what would you like to spend more time on? If the clarification/additional focus does not occur during class time, how will you acquire the knowledge?

In the last three weeks, we have learned a lot. Our main focus was on bias and how without realizing many of us follow stereotypes after listening to the speech The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adichie it has given me a new perspective on how I view things. We also did our first writing assignment where we wrote vignettes recalling a memory from our past. While we all shared and discussed the vignettes it gave me a new perspective as a writer. It is important to make sure I state everything clearly and that there are no lingering questions for the readers. We also wrote our first essay on how I learn, and before we started we outlined our essay. I have always been a person who has struggled to start my essay or have it properly structured and this outline helped me organize my thoughts and ideas. After completing my outline I could write my essay very quickly and it was so much easier to gather my thoughts and put them into words after I had a guide to follow. 

Week 5: 

Prompt: Analyze the rhetorical situation of your Learning Analysis. Introduce your essay’s
genre, purpose, audience, and context, and reflect on the extent to which you
achieved the learning goals of the assignment as well as any goals you set for
yourself. 

I use a reflective personal narrative in my Learning Analysis essay to examine the three main ways I learn and grow as a person. First of all, I acknowledge how my father’s struggles have shaped my identity and this makes me want to strive for the best to make him proud. Secondly, I stress the value of empathy because it helps me to better understand and feel compassionate for others by putting myself in their shoes. Lastly, I emphasize how putting my happiness first helps me be the most successful. Through this analysis, I have met my learning objectives of self-reflection and personal development, and I’ve learned how my experiences influence how I interact with the outside world. This essay shows my reflection on how I learned and was impacted.

Week 6: 

Prompt: Annotate one article you plan to use in your research. Share what kind of information you wrote in your annotations. Did annotating help you? If yes, how? If no, why not? What else do you need to do to process this article? 

I annotated the article “Structural Racism in Historical and Modern US Health Care Policy” by Ruqaiijah Yearby, Brietta Clark, and José F. Figueroa, focusing on how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increase in racism towards minority groups in healthcare. A statement I highlighted is, “Structural racism operates through laws and policies that allocate resources in ways that disempower and devalue members of racial and ethnic minority groups, resulting in inequitable access to high-quality care.” My annotations included definitions of structural racism, and how it has connections to the pandemic, which helped me understand the article and it helped improve my understanding of systemic racism in healthcare. Annotating is beneficial because it helps readers get a deeper understanding of the material and helps to remember important points and information. 

Week 7: 

Prompt: Select one learning objective or one component of a learning objective. How have you learned it? How have you developed in this arena so far this semester? 

One strategy I developed this semester is reading and annotating, a skill I have been practicing throughout middle and high school. However, the complex texts we have been reading recently pushed me to improve my skills to better understand the texts I am reading so I can properly annotate them. I learned that annotating is something meant for ourselves so we can better understand what we are reading. So everyone’s annotations will look different as we learn and comprehend information differently from one another.

Week 8: 

Prompt: What theory or theories are related to your proposal? How do they relate to your research? OR if absolutely no theories are related to your inquiry: What have we done so far that has been helpful to your writing process? How might you apply this helpful information or tool? What has been confusing or what would you like to spend more time on? If the clarification/additional focus does not occur during class time, how will you acquire the knowledge? 

The theory related to my proposal is that injustice occurs in many ways in the criminal justice system. This is shown through police brutality, unfair sentencing, and biased police practices. In these cases, we see that these things are specifically happening to African Americans and people of color. This relates to my research because these are the specific topics I will discuss and how specifically people of color are the target of injustice. I chose to research this topic because throughout the years I have seen many people wrongfully killed and mistreated for things a white person would not be killed for. I want to understand the reasoning behind the unfair treatment towards people of color and where this originated from and what can be done to stop this unfair treatment amongst people of color.  

Week 10:

Prompt: Discuss your research sources. What media are you using? How do these different types of media support your topic/ideas? your writing work? 

The sources I am using in my research consist of articles and journals. These articles and journals support my writing because they go in-depth about how systematic racism occurs in police brutality, unfair sentencing, and biased police practices. This helps me because it gives specific examples and statistics on systematic racism in law enforcement. I had some background knowledge of racism occurring. Still, by reading these articles I was able to understand better how severe it can be and how it goes unnoticed by many because it is not heard about which leads to law enforcement continuously repeating these acts due to their power. One of the articles I am using goes in-depth about how Marcellus Williams was executed for a crime he did not commit even after people signed petitions for his case to be reviewed he was executed with no evidence proving he committed the crime. Reading this article I got a better understanding of how law enforcement abuses their power and use it against people of color. 

Week 11:

What’s the intended rhetorical situation of your Research essay? What do you need to do to make this situation a reality?

My essay’s intended rhetorical situation is to evaluate and determine how systematic racism affects the criminal justice system. In my essay, I go in-depth on different ways in which systematic racism plays a role in police brutality, racial bias, and unfair sentencing and how people of color are affected by this. To make this situation a reality I have to provide evidence for every statement I make. This can be done through data and charts and by providing specific numbers to prove my point. I can also provide examples of situations that have occurred due to systemic racism. I also need to provide evidence that supports my counterclaim but nothing that can be used against the points I am trying to prove. 

Week 12:

As you have continued your research work, how has your argument evolved?

At the beginning of my research, I started by choosing the topic that interested me the most and then did the outline and the annotated bibliography. However, with those assignments, the topic was still very new, and I needed to understand better what I would be writing about. With the annotated bibliography I got a better understanding of the topic and some of the evidence I would be using beforehand instead of searching while I was writing my essay. This helped me write and evolve in my writing because instead of having to search for evidence and also trying to write my essay I already had found my evidence which helped me only focus on writing and making sure my essay flowed nicely as well as making sure my evidence was explained well.

Week 13: 

What is the relationship between your Research essay and your MMT? In your response, be sure to compare the rhetorical situation of each. 

My MMT is a slideshow that showcases the main points discussed in my research essay. In both the MMT and research essay I discuss how systemic racism plays a role in law enforcement through police brutality, unfair sentencing, and biased police practice. The main difference between the MMT and the essay is that the MMT is a simplified version of the essay, making sure to hit the main points and provide examples for those interested in the topic but don’t have the attention span to read a research essay, mainly targeted towards a younger audience. My slideshow also contains visuals allowing the audience to better understand the presentation through the images provided. I also included a quiz at the end of the slideshow to ensure my audience paid attention throughout the presentation. 

Week 15: 

What have you learned that has proved most useful to your composition process?

What I learned to be the most useful in my composition process is the annotated bibliography. When writing past essays or research papers I never searched for evidence beforehand I would look for evidence while I was writing my paper which made it harder for me to understand the topic I was writing about. With the annotated bibliography I searched for the articles I would be using as evidence before starting my research paper. This helped me get a better understanding of the topic and the evidence I would be using. Understanding and knowing the evidence I would be using in my research essay I was able to focus on explaining my evidence properly and making sure my essay flows nicely.