Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Victoria Tran
Writing 39 C
Professor Broadbent
2 June 2018
Reflection Introduction
Before coming to college, I liked doing things old school style. A pencil/pen was all I
needed to write. In high school, whenever I was given the choice between typing my essay or
writing my essay, I would almost always choose to write it out. However, as I went onto college,
my writing process became more influenced by my peers. After seeing many of my peers
writing out their papers on their laptop, I decided to imitate them. So, for writing 39B and the
first part of Writing 39C, I decided to write out my papers on my laptop from scratch. When I
used this method, my writing became less structured and it took me a long time to process what I
wanted to write and what I wanted to convey to my audience. Upon my writing 39C professor’s
advisement to take down notes whenever I read something for the class and his comment that
jolting down ideas and notes physically with a paper and pen/pencil helps with the configuration
Tran 2
the information that I needed in front of My notes on an article about an awareness program for
nurses in Japan
me. Being in a new environment made me want to start new and this included my writing
school and high school, and that I should not tear down
begins. This simple foundation was something that I had forgotten when I started writing in
college, but this class made me see and remember its value and importance.
Creating a solution for the problem that we presented in the HCP was the most
challenging part of writing the AP for me. This was because I was trying to think of a solution
that was flawless and could fix my problem, the rising rate of child abuse in Japan. Then I
remembered the first article that we read in class, “There is No Such Thing as Freedom of
Speech,” by Stanley Fish and the very impactful idea that every word is offensive to at least one
A quote from the article “There is No Such Thing as Freedom of Speech” no one solution to a problem that can
make everyone satisfied because every person has their own different culture and perspective on
different ideas. Therefore, I decided that if I could not fix the problem, I could at least try to find
a solution that can decrease the risk factors of the problem instead.
Narrowing down my topic, I focused on one of the main cause of the increased risk of
Japan’s welfare system, I decided against using it as a solution because Japan already uses a lot
of its federal funding on social security and welfare. So, I went back to researching and found an
Tran 4
article that discussed how the government/ society should start pushing for the fathers to take
responsibility for the financial needs of their child instead of punishing and shaming single
mothers for using welfare money in order to survive. Through this, I got the idea to research
about Japan’s child support system and law and that was how I determined which solution I
One hesitation that I did have with this solution was that America already had a similar
system for enforcing child support, so I emailed my professor about whether I could still use this
idea as my thesis for the AP. Luckily, my professor said that it was okay to use an existing
solution but advised that I should critic that existing solution as well. This advice helped me
solidify my thesis and strengthen my argument for my solution later on in the AP.
Composing Process-Research
helped me narrow down my sources to only those that were useful and relevant to my topic. As
a result, the time that I used to research was well spent and provided me a lot more credible
scholarly. I was surprised to learn that a scholarly source had a lot more
requirements, such as the article needed to be reviewed and confirmed multiple times by other
professionals, when we went to learn about how to research from a librarian. Learning which
articles are scholarly and has reliable information is important because a paper/argument is
stronger when it’s source and information are credible. A quote from a professor on their
specialty has more weight to it than a quote from a journalist who gets their information through
word of mouth. The importance of a reliable source is illustrated in my AP when I quote J. Sean
Curtin, a professor at Japanese Red Cross University. The quote itself is just a statement that
supports my thesis, but because it is coming from a professor who has a study on this topic, it
It became clear to me while writing the AP that research can also be a great way to
of my own solution and make it the best solution by addressing the weaknesses inside my
arguments. One instance I used another person’s solution’s weakness to strengthen my own was
when I compared my solution to Japan’s solution of placing the abused child into a child care
Tran 6
facility. By
comparing
other people’s
The portion from my AP when I compared another person’s solution to mine's.
solution and
point out their flaws, I was able to strengthen my own solution since I could challenge their
shortcomings and use the solutions to those shortcomings inside of my own solution.
Importance of Framing
From the pictures used to the structure and words, the careful planning and placement of
each element plays a role inside the framing of a written work. One activity that illustrated the
significance of framing inside a written work was the reading and analyzation of the article “The
Coddling of the
American Mind,” by
Greg Lukianoff.
illustrated how a
picture can be a
framing the problem. The article’s first picture was placed at the very beginning, even before the
title. This image and its placement at the beginning is powerful because it conveys to the
audience what the article is about and shapes their perspective on the problem even before they
begin to read the article. This makes it easier for the author to convince the reader that the
problem that they are advocating for is worth addressing and that their solution for that problem
is valid and necessary. Using this knowledge, I tried to find pictures and other multimodal tools
Tran 7
that related to my topic and placed them inside my paper where it would be the most effective.
For example, when I discussed how poverty is a factor of child abuse and the harsh reality of
single mothers in Japan, I placed a snap shot of an article that also discussed the hardships that
single mothers go though in Japan. With its bold lettering and large size, the snap shot of the
Revisions
My professor’s comments have been very helpful in the creation of both my HCP and
AP. One comment in particular that he wrote for my AP draft and also emphasized a lot in class
is the usage of subheadings to make the paper more organize. When I read over my AP draft
again, I found that my transitions were choppy and that the paper did not flow well. However,
after taking my professor’s advice and adding subheadings into my paper, I found that my words
and transitions were a lot clearer. It made my paper easier to read and that helped with the
conveyance of my solution.
Transferable Knowledge
Compared to math or science, writing was always harder for me, so being a biological
science major was perfect for me. After not taking writing for a whole quarter, I came to think
that writing was just another GE class that I had to take to and get over with in order to graduate.
However, from this class, I found that learning how to research efficiently and how to frame a
to share information, data, and findings. As more and more data become assessable online, it is
important to learn how to navigate the web in order to get full access to the information that is
the most fitting to you. For example, a researcher can better find and learn from other researches
that have/are happening around the world. This can lead to the development of their own
research and eventually a solution to the problem that they are researching. Knowing that what I
learned has a real-world application related to the medical field is important to me because it is
what I see myself doing in the future and so it became a learning experience for my future career.
Knowing how to frame a piece of work or even just an argument can be a very
advantageous ability because it has the power to persuade the people around you. I can use this
skill to win arguments and debates, as well as write very compelling papers for other classes and
my future occupation. For instance, I will be taking Philosophy in the summer, so knowing how
to do this will help me create papers that are molded and structured in a way that is the most
Tran 9
important, especially when it comes to debatable topics such as the right to health care.
Writing 39C has taught me a lot, from critically thinking about controversial topics to
learning how to research and frame a solution, it has provided me a great experience while being
able to take away a lot of new skills that will be of use to me throughout my time at UCI and my
future occupation/life.