Cortney Fortunato Wiritng Portfolio Reflective Statement

8/13/2019 Cortney Fortunato Wiritng Portfolio Reflective Statement

1/3

Cortney Fortunato

Professor Dietel-McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric

12 December 2013

Reflective Statement

I feel that my writing portfolio demonstrates my growth as a writer throughout the

semester. With each new assignment I felt more confident in my writing and I think this

really shows throughout my work. As the semester progressed I feel I incorporated the

writing techniques I learned more consistently in my writing, which proves my overall

development as a writer. The writing process helped me become a better writer by

allowing me to really develop my work to help reach its maximum potential by using

writing development techniques such as outlines, several drafts, proposals, peer editing,

and self editing to name a few. Before taking this class I never engaged myself in the full

the writing process, I would just a paper and edited once for grammar. Now I can use my

knowledge on the writing process to enhance my work. I feel that my process oriented

composition skills are quite evident in my research paper. This was most definitely a

process in which I used outlines, proposals, and peer editing to its fullest.

The rhetorical analysis papers in my opinion demonstrate my understanding of

rhetoric, and its substantial importance in film and photography for example. This

assignment was very eye opening for me, because it made me view photos and films in a

new light from a different perspective. I find myself analyzing the rhetorical importance

of films now and the techniques the filmmaker uses to relay his message to the audience.

This excites me, because I know that I really took something away from this assignment


2/3

and learned about something I can use to enhance my everyday life experiences, whether

I am looking at a picture, viewing a film or simply observing Mary on top of the dome or

Jesus on the side of the library as I walk around campus.

The research portion of this portfolio really pushed my writing and understanding

of incorporating outside works into my own writing to a new level. This was the first

research paper I have ever written, and it wasnt as dreadful as an experience as I had

expected. I am grateful that we were able to choose a topic that we were genuinely

interested in, and I think that was a key contributor to my overall success in the research

and writing process. I am no longer scared of the term research paper due to my good

experience in this class. I learned as long as you give yourself plenty of time to do

thorough research and are well organized throughout the process it isnt as hard as it

seems to put together a solid research paper.

It was interesting to have a class revolved around multimedia, and having to

incorporate some aspect of multimedia and screens into every assignment we did. I think

it was a beneficial experience and really opened my eyes to how much of an impact

screens and multimedia have on our lives. I think the multimedia projects holistically

connected very smoothly to the course content and enhanced my learning experience.

All of the major assignments from this semester had their own unique purpose in

the overall learning experience in writing and rhetoric. The first assignment of the

semester, the personal audio narrative, was a very interesting experience for me. I had

never done an assignment like this one before, and it was fun to write about my story and

also record it with to enhance the emotional response from the audience. This assignment

was meant to teach us how to tell a story. The next assignment, the rhetorical analysis


3/3

essays were mean to teach us how to identify and analyze rhetorical skills and techniques

found in different mediums. The research paper taught us how to do significant research

and use it to strengthen our argument. The ted talks incorporated research, story telling,

rhetoric or persuasion of an audience and public speaking. All of these assignments

helped in my overall development as a writer as well as grasping and significantly

improving in the intended learning outcomes of each assignment.

The piece of work I am most proud of in my portfolio is my research essay. I feel

that it embodies and exemplifies all of the different ways my writing has improved

throughout the semester. I put a lot of time and effort into my research and was able to

make writing a long research paper an enjoyable experience. I believe my research aspect

of the paper was well incorporated, I think the story telling aspect of my paper was well

done and enhanced my paper argument, and I think I did a nice job of being rhetorically

persuasive throughout my paper. I am also proud of this piece because I used every

aspect of the writing process to compose my paper, which led me to be more successful. I

think this research paper definitely highlights my strengths and growth as a writer.

Documents

Cortney Fortunato Wiritng Portfolio Reflective Statement