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.

Throughout the course of the semester I have asked for feedback on multiple occasions from my professor and received more than expected. It’s always good receiving feedback, but it’s better receiving with examples and clarity. I’ve never been a great writer, so whenever I can get some social feedback it’s always great. It gives me an outsider view on my own writing since I often get to points where I confuse myself and the reader with what I’m trying to say. In my first hypothesis post, I received feedback from j6128 saying I should be more specific on my topic. I took advantage of their comment and worked hard on my thesis which I believe turned out to be pretty good compared to what it was initially. It was less wordy, more specific, and more understanding. 

A way I used discovery and exploration this semester was pretty much just doing all my work for the semester. The whole semester was a work up to the final paper in which we needed over 10 sources to conduct info from. I ended up using 13 sources, but directly quoting 10 in my final paper. It took me lots of time and research to find the majority of those sources and to retrieve the exact information I was looking for.

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. 

The way I used core value 2 throughout the semester was by the works of one of our portfolio pieces, my bibliography. When working on my bibliography I had to read each article I chose to use and explain them shortly, but detailed. I had to fit a whole article’s worth of information into a short paragraph explaining the topic. I then had to explain exactly how I used the information for my final paper in which I could only do it by understanding what I’m referring to. By reading these articles multiple times and retrieving information, I was understanding my argument better and better. If I didn’t understand what I was reading or the article position then I wouldn’t be able to make up my bibliography. 

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.

In my rebuttal essay I had specific refutes towards certain audiences. For example, when I talked about the refute that if students and/or parents can’t afford these lunches they won’t be able to eat them. The audience here is those people that are unable to afford a school lunch and I used information to refute those arguments with the idea that school lunch programs provide plans and support to the students in need. This is a specific audience based refute right here and I understood that because I didn’t say it was for every student, but rather for those in financial crisis. By understanding the audience in which the refute was coming from I could determine exactly how to counter it with the research I have done.

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.

Our goal all semester was to come out at the end with a hard argument and proper support. I believe that from what I’ve been taught that most of my sources are good for the most part. I followed articles sources at the bottom of their pages back to original sources to the best of my ability. I also learned how to properly incorporate in-text citations the way my professor told me to. An example from my causal essay, In the “School Nutrition and Meal Cost Findings” summary, the USDA says, “Virtually all daily lunch menus met the daily quantity requirement for milk. Nearly all daily lunch menus met the daily quantity requirements for fruits (95 percent) and meats/meat alternates (91 percent). Roughly 8 in 10 daily lunch menus met the daily quantity requirements for vegetables and grains (81 and 80 percent, respectively).” shows exactly how an in-text cited one of my sources. Being able to cite your sources quickly and easily makes your writing go by much quicker with more confidence.

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. 

Throughout the semester, like said before, we have been building up our argument slowly for oru final paper. Every couple of weeks we were required to find a couple sources for each small argument which would eventually lead to lots of sources for one big argument. When finding these sources I respected the original info holder by applying my in-text citations and references at the end. For my final research paper I included all of the directly quoted sources at the bottom of the paper, so that the reader can properly reach the initial source of information and read further if wanting to. Providing access to main sources will avoid any misdirection or plagiarism in my writing. Lastly, it also would give access to the main ideas if the reader wants more clarity or information.