PavonePortfolio+Final

Lauren Pavone Foundations of Writing Dr. Sherry 12/4/13

In Foundations of Writing, throughout the course I have included the five goals in my writing. For each of the five goals I will give examples of how I used the goals in my projects in the class. In my first project I used ethnographic research and interviewed students who were tripled and those who weren’t. For my second project I took the research I found and composed three different genres for different audiences. For each of these projects we used peer review sheets to receive feedback from other students in our class to help our writing.


 * Goal A: Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes.**

In my project I researched what the effects of being tripled on students compared to students who only have one roommate. Using the information from the first project, I created an informative letter to go into further details about the positives and negatives of being tripled. My audience for the letter was to the parents of the students. The purpose of the letter was to give parents an insight on how tripled students live. I showed this in my letter by comparing the positives to the negatives that I found by the information I collected.



I used this approach because it showed the pros and cons, which appeals to parents because they can weigh them along with their child to decide if their child could handle the stress of being tripled.

In my second example for my research project, I used the data from the interviews I collected from students who are tripled and created a flyer for students who were tripled and would decide if they wanted to become detripled. Since in the letter I used information from the research, I created a flyer since I used different information.



The flyer attracts to students because it offers information about detripling. It also appeals to students because I took words that described being tripled straight from the interviews I collected. “Stress” and “Conflict” were descriptive words that the students used because living with two unfamiliar people at the time is difficult and hard to overcome. In these two examples, I turned my research into different genres and appealing to two different audiences to get my purpose of the effects of being tripled across.
 * Goal B: Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre.**

For my research project, I chose my research paper. In this paper for the effects of being tripled I stated the problem that is at hand, then I gave the background from the research I collected, after that I compared the research I found to the data I collected from interviews. I then drew a conclusion comparing the data I collected to the research.


 * In //Tripling in the Dorms//, Mullen (1990) found out that there has been an increase in admissions, which has led to an increase in tripled dorm rooms.
 * The data from Mullen’s article goes along with the data that Clark (2012) found in //Effects of a Tripled College Student// since Clark (2012) found in this study: students want on-campus housing rather than off-campus which is leading to an increase in tripled dorm rooms.
 * Both males and females who are tripled said they have one roommate who is inconsiderate and rude.

I included previous research because it shows the genre that I used and how I applied the information I found in writing. I also used the research I found using APA format. By using APA format and citing the author shows how current or dated the research is. This example shows that I am able to apply the appropriate information in the appropriate genre.


 * Goal C: Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments.**

In my research project I used the data I collected from the research paper and applied it to another genre. To show the importance of how tripling effects students, my target audience are faculty at the university. The purpose for this particular genre was to persuade the faculty in charge of rooming to reconsider tripling students.



I used this approach because the genre is appropriate for the audience. I also used this genre to incorporate my research because it is a more formal way of providing the research from the articles I read. Using this approach was a way to prove downsides of being tripled and how it affects the student mentally and physically. I used the memo for this goal because I used the information I found to support my argument of the negative effect of being tripled.


 * Goal D: Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres.**

For this part of the research project I used my flyer. My flyer demonstrates the four principles we learned throughout the course. The audience would be students again because it is information about tripling. In the flyer I used Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. These four principles will help readers notice important information.



In the flyer I used contrast to appeal to students because I used two different colors to catch their attention. I bolded important words so students would actually read, and remember information from the flyer. I used repetition in the flyer by repeating words such as tripling and detripling. In the flyer, alignment was used, by centering the start of a word to make it more professional. I used proximity to group together important information and it is an easier visual for passer byers to notice.

In my second example I used the satire version of my flyer for students who are tripled. Like the flyer above, the audience is students because they can relate to the humor because most of them have to live in the dorms. Since the flyer is similar to the informative flyer above, contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity are very similar; the only differences are the content in the flyer.



For this satire, I used contrast with the different colors to attract attention. I used repetition by repeating certain words and putting emphasis on not wanting to be detripled. Alignment was used by centering the words, along with the picture and kept everything centered. Proximity was used by keeping the information together and grouped it to show the same information.


 * Goal E: Students will be able to discuss and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts.**

My final research project and paper would not have been done properly if I didn’t take part of peer review. For peer review I would have my classmates read over my draft and offer comments if anything needs to be added on or changed to my draft.



This example for the peer review sheets is just one of the steps for the process towards the final copy. By taking the feedback of others can help improve the paper or project. Also by having the paper filled out it is an easy way to remember what needs to be changed if anything.

Besides working with my peers I had to revise my work. Once I received feedback from my classmates and from Dr. Sherry, I made changes to my paper. To make notes about the changes I made, I completed a revision sheet. The revision sheet is made up of three columns, one for what you originally wrote, the revised work, and the explanation for why I made those changes.



==== This revision sheet is from when I revised my informative letter to the parents. Revising individually and using the revision sheets are helpful because then I am more aware of grammatical mistakes while writing. I am also more aware ====