專案標題

Dear Dr. Zisa,

When I look back at this semester, it feels like I walked quite a long way—not always straight, sometimes slow, but finally finding a clearer path for writing. My portfolio is like a small map of this journey. It shows how I started as someone who only worried about “grammar and structure” and slowly turned into a writer who thinks about audience, purpose, and how my words actually *work.* It also shows how I learned that writing is not just academic—it’s part of everyday life, from sending a message to a friend to leaving a comment under a video. 

 

How I Grew as a Writer 

At the beginning, my idea of “good writing” was very limited. I thought it meant writing long sentences, using big words, and following rules. But readings like Kerry Dirk’s *“Navigating Genres”* and Laura Bolin Carroll’s *“Backpacks vs. Briefcases”* changed my mind. Dirk says that genres are not just forms—they are “tools to help people get things done.” I suddenly realized that writing is always about solving a small problem: how to make readers listen or understand something. Carroll’s idea about rhetorical thinking also made me notice that persuasion is everywhere—we are always trying to make someone think or feel something, whether we are writing an essay or just texting. 

In WP 1, I translated an academic article about global mental health into a news‑style story for general readers. At first it sounded too serious, like a school report. When I reread it, I asked myself the same questions from ‘Chapter 2, “Developing a Repertoire of Reading Strategies”’: what is my purpose, who is my audience, and how do they read? Then I cut the long paragraphs, added daily examples, and used pictures because, as my teacher said, visual design also “lightens the reading load.” After these changes, it felt more like something a real person would want to read, not only a professor. 

In WP 2, things got more complex. I compared how students in China, EMI universities, and UK L1 settings use transitions and metadiscourse. The first version looked like a list of research summaries. Peer comments and your feedback reminded me that writing is a conversation, not a collection of notes. I went back and connected the sources more like people talking—how Ruan’s idea about educational context connects with Casanave’s identity stories, or how Han and Gardner’s corpus study supports or challenges them. This revision made my structure smoother and helped my argument sound more like me.

 

Revision and Feedback 

I learned that revision is not the same as correction. It’s more about thinking again. In WP 1, I used Grammarly to fix small mistakes, but more important was reading aloud and asking, “Would an ordinary reader stop here?” In WP 2, I did a kind of “reverse outlining” to see if each paragraph really answered my question. My peers told me my transitions felt heavy, so I tried shorter sentences and more natural connectors, not always “however” and “therefore.” I learned that sometimes good English is simple English. 

You once told me that reflection is also writing. I didn’t understand that before, but now I do. When I stopped to think about why I used one quote or one structure, I was already writing again, just inside my head. Maybe this is what composition really is: thinking‑through‑writing. 

 

Using Tools and Finding Balance 

I tried a few tools. Grammarly helped with mechanics, but it can’t tell if my tone fits my readers. AI chatbots gave me ideas when I felt empty, like a friend to talk to, but their logic sometimes felt too straight, without emotion or background. So I used them for brainstorming and rechecking, not for the final voice. Real reflection—asking "why"—still had to come from me. 

 

Strengths, Challenges, and What I Learned 

My biggest strength is patience in revision. I don’t write perfect drafts, but I am good at looking back, finding problems, and fixing them step by step. For example, in WP 2 I cut two whole paragraphs of summary because they didn’t serve the argument. That was hard, but it made the essay cleaner. 

My weakness is grammar and sometimes losing flow in long essays. But instead of feeling hopeless, I now try strategies from "Chapter 2"—reading aloud, paraphrasing, mapping—to slowly improve. I also practice noticing patterns in my own mistakes, like too many commas or missing articles. 

Most important, I learned that writing is not only about school. When I chat with classmates on WeChat about an assignment, that’s writing. When I post a short opinion under a music video, that’s writing too. Writing is everywhere in daily life, and genre knowledge helps me move between them. An academic email, a caption on social media, a lab report—they all need different tones and structures, but the thinking behind them is the same: What am I trying to do here, and for whom? 

 

Future and Cross‑Disciplinary Transfer 

In the future, I will study subjects beyond writing—maybe psychology or public health—but I see now that writing connects them all. Like Brooke and Grabill say, writing is “a technology through which writers create and recreate meaning.” This also means writing is a thinking tool for any discipline. When I need to explain data in psychology, I can use strategies I learned here: rhetorical reading to understand sources, “says/does” analysis to see how research writing builds argument, and genre awareness to fit academic style while staying clear. 

I also want to transfer reflection to other kinds of learning. In science or math, I can ask similar questions: *What is this formula doing? How does this method persuade the reader or viewer?* Even teamwork reports or presentations are forms of writing. So I no longer see writing as separated from other knowledge—it’s a bridge between disciplines and between people. 

 

Final Thoughts 

 

This semester taught me that writing is not just a product; it’s a process, a habit, maybe even a lifestyle. Whether it’s an academic essay, a message to a friend, or a comment in a forum, I’m practicing audience awareness and rhetorical thinking every day. I may still make grammar mistakes, but I can think critically, revise honestly, and write with more awareness. And that, for me, is real progress. 

Thank you for helping me learn not just to write *better* but to think differently about what writing means. 

 

Sincerely,

Axora 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Brooke, Collin, and Jeffrey T. Grabill. “Writing Is a Technology through Which Writers Create and Recreate Meaning.” Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler‑Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2015, pp. 32–34. 

Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” * Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 1, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 45–59. 

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 1, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 249–62. 

Chapter 2. “Developing a Repertoire of Reading Strategies.” The Composition Reader, pp. 9–24.