Lynch 1

Shane Lynch

Professor Wilson

Writing 2

9 June 2017

Cover Letter

Dear Matt,

This quarter has been especially challenging for me but I still feel that the

examination of genre conventions in this class provided me with some interesting insights

on the nature of writing and an appreciation for the care that goes into crafting various

forms of written work. It was particularly useful to examine the many considerations a

writer must take prior to beginning a given project or piece of writing, such as the need

for an acute awareness of audience and context. Initially, the reliance upon a rigid set of

conventions for each of our WPs frustrated me, as I have always been more apt in

conveying ideas and emotions in my writing rather than needing to adhere to a stringent

set of guidelines. Even so, it was surprising to see the diversity of tone and flow within

my classmates work, which revealed the variety of options one still has despite needing

to meet certain rhetorical standards.

It was initially quite demoralizing to receive weak in all categories of my first

WP, given that I typically receive As on most papers and spent a significant amount of

time pondering the subject prior to writing. For this reason, I wanted to revise this WP

first in order redeem myself while hopefully rectifying the mistakes I made on this

assignment. I specifically looked at your advice of structuring my writing more carefully

while starting each paragraph with a claim supported by evidence. I felt that these
changes substantially improved the quality of my work as a whole and made the revised

WP come out in a much more palatable manner. I additionally sought to shorten the

length of paragraphs so that they would be limited to one specific claim as opposed to

several all jumbled in at once. This served to improve the overall flow of the WP while

working to make the piece easier for readers to digest. I also took your advice and

shortened my introduction, chopping out unnecessary sentences and making the thesis

much tighter. Your initial criticism was that my writing did not contain enough analysis,

so I decided to make a much more specific claim rather than generally assessing what the

conventions were hoping to accomplish. I ultimately argued that each genre appeals to

the precise needs of the targeted demographics through rhetorical means in order to make

them feel apart of an intellectual community/ feel a sense of carnal curiosity and

amusement respectively. My hope is that these aims are apparent in my revision and that

the shortened length of the WP as a whole didnt serve to reduce the quality of my work.

As far as rewriting my WP 3, I had a bit less work to do since it was initially

stronger. I sought to add some more analysis into my writing rather than providing

general overview of my observations. I additionally wanted to make my discussion of the

translation more compelling by getting more in depth and strengthening the nature of my

thesis statement. I felt that my translation was already very strong and left it alone,

focusing instead on my analysis of the process. I found it difficult to reduce the length of

this assignment due to the perceived relevance of my initial insights, though I felt I did a

good job of cutting it down so that it would meet the new word count. Additionally, I

tried to improve my structure and general language by chipping out certain words and

rewriting some of the sentences.

 Id say the work in this portfolio reflects my learning this quarter in that my

revisions demonstrated clearer clarity of thought, more interesting ideas, as well as better

word choice and organization. My hope as a move into other classes during my academic

career is that I am able to retain and utilize this information in a variety of different

contexts, specifically by being able to write strong, focused thesis statements, interesting,

relevant claims, and by recognizing various genre conventions. I would say my favorite

aspect of this class was looking at the intricacy of genres and examining why it is

necessary to have such guidelines in the first place. My initial reluctance at having to

adhere to a strict set of rules still lingered throughout the quarter, though I must confess

that I have a newfound respect for why such conventions are necessary and why it is

imperative to understand their functions if one is to become a better writer. As someone

who wants to work as a filmmaker in the surf industry, I can see myself using this

information to construct better stories and profiles of surfers and their personal journeys.

I will end by saying that I appreciate and admire your passion for writing, as it is apparent

in the way you repeatedly told us that these tips were just for us given that youre

leaving this year. I wish you luck on your future journey after UCSB and thank you for

imparting your knowledge with us.

Best wishes,

Shane Lynch