Starting college can be tough, and the fall semester can be stressful. For me, however,
this semester was a great opportunity to improve my writing skills. I made a lot of progress in
meeting the course goals. I explored different types of writing and learned how to approach
various writing situations. I also developed better strategies for the writing process, from
planning to revising. I focused on key writing concepts and used both print and digital tools
to communicate effectively with different audiences. Throughout the semester, I worked on
integrating my own ideas with outside sources, using skills like summarizing, analyzing, and
arguing to strengthen my writing. Overall, this semester has helped me become a better
writer, and I’m excited to keep improving.

At the start of the semester, I didn’t know how to analyze different types of writing or
understand the situations that shape them. But by studying different texts like articles,
persuasive essays, and informational writing, I learned how writers use language to achieve
their goals. The Norton Field Guide to Writing helped me see how writers connect with their
readers and communicate their ideas clearly. One key idea I learned was how persuasive
writing uses ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade an audience. For example, persuasive essays
often use emotions (pathos) to make readers feel connected to the topic, while also using
logic (logos) to make a reasoned argument. These tools helped me understand how writers
engage their audience both emotionally and logically.I used these techniques in my own
writing, particularly in a narrative about The Little Mermaid. I focused on the emotional and
cultural conflict between Ariel and her father, King Triton. By using ethos to show authority
and pathos to explore their emotional struggles, I highlighted themes of independence and self discovery. This helped me make my story more meaningful. The Norton Field Guide also taught me to think about the rhetorical situation, the audience, purpose, and context of a text.
This helped me make better decisions in my own writing, allowing me to connect with my
readers more effectively. Overall, studying different types of writing and rhetorical situations
helped me improve my skills. By using these tools, I became more aware of how to
communicate my ideas clearly and improve my writing.

Learning how to design my writing to make it more engaging was a key takeaway this
semester. I realized that good writing is not only about what you say, but also how you say it.
The Norton Field Guide to Writing helped me understand the importance of rhetorical
strategies like clarity, organization, and sentence structure. By organizing my essays clearly, I
made sure each paragraph had a strong topic sentence and that my ideas flowed logically. As
the guide states, “Some print documents require a more formal voice than spoken media;
email often invites greater informality. ” (The Norton Field Guide to Writing, pg. 17). One
example of how I applied this strategy is in the comparison of two quotes. The first one is:
“Emotionally, Ariel’s deal with the sea witch Ursula really affected me. Ariel made a
dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula to become human for three days. She gave up her
voice in exchange for legs, hoping that Prince Eric will kiss her and break the spell.” This
quote is structured more professionally, with clear organization and specific details that
connect the ideas. In contrast, the second quote is: “Ariel makes a dangerous deal with the sea
with the sea witch Ursula to become human for 3 days. And if the prince doesn’t kiss her in 3
days. She will belong to Ursula forever. She does this deal to find the love of her life.” This
quote lacks proper punctuation and has repetitive language, making it harder to follow. The
difference between these two examples shows how important it is to craft well-structured sentences. As the guide advises, “Each sentence should contribute to the overall clarity and impact of your message” (The Norton Field Guide to Writing, pg. 68). By improving my
sentence structure and paying attention to the flow of ideas, I made my writing more effective
and engaging. Additionally, I worked on varying my sentence structures to make my writing
more interesting. Including engaging examples and adjusting the rhythm of my writing
helped keep readers interested and made my ideas easier to follow. These improvements
significantly enhanced my writing and made it more enjoyable to read.

In The Norton Field Guide to Writing, the section on “Getting Response and
Revising” (p. 32) emphasizes the importance of revising your work based on feedback from
others. I found this to be one of the most helpful aspects of my writing process this semester.
Initially, I would rush through assignments, thinking that completing a draft was enough.
However, I quickly learned that effective writing involves revising based on responses from
others and then refining the work.

When working on my narrative and research critical analysis, I followed the advice in the
guide by revisiting my drafts multiple times. As the guide suggests, “Revising involves
stepping back from your draft to gain a clearer view and seeing where changes are needed”
(The Norton Field Guide to Writing, p. 32). I would read my work and identify parts that
didn’t fit, or areas where my argument could be clearer. I also found it helpful to share my
drafts with classmates and ask for feedback. This collaboration allowed me to see my work
from a new perspective, and their input was invaluable in identifying weaknesses I might
have missed. The guide also stresses that “Revision is not just about fixing errors; it’s about
improving the structure, content, and clarity of your work” (The Norton Field Guide to
Writing, p. 32). One example of this was when I had to revise my narrative about The Little
Mermaid. After receiving feedback, I realized that I had missed a key point in explaining
Ariel’s emotional conflict. I adjusted my argument, added more examples, and restructured
my paragraphs to ensure a clearer flow of ideas. To further improve the revising process, I began color coding my drafts. For example, I used blue for Characterization and Orange to look back at incidents in my narrative to synthesize. This allowed me to visually organize my
revisions and made it easier to see where I needed to make changes. Green was used for
where I was helping tie ideas together, also highlighting suggestions that could improve my
clarity or strengthen my arguments. This color-coding strategy helped me focus on specific
areas during the revision process and made the process less overwhelming. Incorporating
feedback and revising my work allowed me to improve not only the clarity but also the
effectiveness of my writing. Through this process, I learned that good writing is about careful
revision, not just completing the task. The feedback I received, along with my own revisions,
helped me create stronger, more impactful essays.

Additionally, I focused on using sources more effectively in my writing by learning
how to summarize, analyze, and integrate outside research into my arguments. In my critical
analysis of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, for example, I practiced combining my
own thoughts with research to strengthen my arguments. Instead of simply quoting sources, I
worked on analyzing them and connecting them to my ideas. As The Norton Field Guide to
Writing suggests, “Effective writers incorporate sources in ways that support their arguments
and deepen their analysis” (The Norton Field Guide to Writing 86). When discussing how
Carter challenges traditional gender roles, I incorporated Ianara Silva Dantas’s view on how
Carter’s feminist themes influenced the Women’s Liberation Movement, which provided a
historical context to my argument (Dantas 20). This helped me place Carter’s work within a
larger historical and cultural framework, allowing me to make a stronger connection between
her themes and their real-world impact. Additionally, I used Cornelia Wilhelmsson’s analysis
of Carter’s subversion of traditional gender roles in fairy tales to further explore how Carter’s
retellings offer women more agency (Wilhelmsson 5). By synthesizing these sources with my
own analysis, I was able to expand on the themes Carter explores in The Bloody Chamber, offering a richer and more persuasive argument. Incorporating these perspectives into my analysis helped me create a more well-rounded and convincing argument. By integrating
sources thoughtfully summarizing their key points, analyzing their relevance, and
synthesizing them with my own ideas I was able to strengthen my overall argument and make
my writing more persuasive. As the guide emphasizes, “Writing well involves integrating
multiple viewpoints to create a complex, coherent argument” (The Norton Field Guide to
Writing, p. 115). This approach has not only deepened my understanding of the topic but has
also made my writing more engaging and persuasive. Moving forward, I plan to continue
using these strategies to engage with sources meaningfully and strengthen my arguments.

Lastly, I explored how to use multimodal elements to make my writing more
engaging. For example, when writing about literacy, I included visuals, such as an image of
The Little Mermaid, to illustrate my points and keep the reader’s attention. As The Norton
Field Guide to Writing discusses, “Multimodal writing combines various forms of media to
communicate more effectively with different audiences” (The Norton Field Guide to Writing,
p. 112). Adding pictures and links to relevant websites strengthened my arguments and made
the essay more interactive and appealing, especially in the digital world where readers expect
more than just text. In this image, we can see how I added pictures to my literacy narrative to
capture the reader’s attention and maintain engagement.

Using these elements helped make my writing more interactive and appealing to a wider
audience, especially online readers who often look for multimedia content. The guide
emphasizes that “Using design elements and media enhances the reader’s experience and
makes your message more compelling” (The Norton Field Guide to Writing, p. 121). This
skill will be valuable in many future writing situations, where including multimedia can make
a message stronger and more dynamic. Learning to tailor my writing to a digital audience was
an essential lesson this semester. By combining visuals with written content, I was able to
reach a broader audience and make my arguments more compelling. In future writing
projects, I plan to incorporate additional modalities like videos or graphs to enhance my
work. These additions will allow me to present complex ideas in an accessible and engaging
way, making my writing even more informative and impactful.

Overall, this semester has been a great learning experience. I’ve improved my ability
to analyze texts, develop my writing process, and communicate more clearly with different
audiences. Learning how to use multimodal elements and integrate sources has helped me create stronger, more engaging writing. I feel more confident in my writing abilities and am excited to continue developing these skills in the future.

Works Cited

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OReutoYNHb0YAL6gSA9MRYOG-8eUap29N7c5pLBNLY/edit?tab=t.0

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uRV-dQxVaq1ihaxRap0mfirXnzUITgwL7ZpOtrrkCIo/edit?tab=t.0

Dantas, Ianara Silva. “The Inner Wild Woman Freed: Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber
and the Overcoming of Sexist Traits in Classic Fairy Tales.” The Inner Wild Woman
Freed: Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber And The Overcoming Of Sexist Traits
In Classic Fairy Tales, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 24 Nov. 2021,
repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/21526?locale=pt_BR.

Wilhelmsson, Cornelia. “Feminist Fairy Tales: Blurred Boundaries in Angela Carter’s
Rewritings of Classical Fairy Tales.” DIVA, 10 Jan. 2017,
liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A818364&dswid=6929.
Bullock, Richard H., and Maureen D. Goggin. A Field Guide to Writing. WW Norton &
Company, 2010.
Bullock, R. H. (Richard H. (2013). The Norton Field Guide to writing (Third edition.). W.W.
Norton & Company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUheaevuZ_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw56j_coOfY