Jon Woodlief 2116 reflection

Writing Development
I developed my writing through this class by gaining a deeper understanding of the
importance of structure and formatting. I think that I was already fairly capable of writing
technical prose, as my goals in writing are usually to be as clear and concise as possible. I think
it was very valuable to learn more about the formatting and structure of a technical piece so I
could make my arguments more clear and professional. The module that I really thought was
most practical was the whitepaper one, and I think that this could potentially help me in the
future as I write documentation for software.

Course Goals
My main goal going into the semester was to get an A, because I looked at this class as
just another humanities course that they force computer science majors to take. I think that I’ll
be able to achieve that goal, as long as I get at least an 83 on this portfolio! However as the
course went on, I created a couple of new goals for myself. The first one was to better
understand the impact that formatting and visuals could have on the point you are trying to
convey. When we did the analysis on problematic documents, where we analyzed how the coal
industry used documents for propaganda, I learned how to recognize the impact that these
subtle changes can have on how your message is understood. That assignment had the most
important impact for me, as it will help me to better identify propaganda and misinformation in
the future.
Another goal that I developed over the semester was to learn more about environmental
issues that matter to me. We had to do a significant amount of research for this course, and
since I had a broad topic, water, I had some leeway to choose specific issues that were of
interest to me. I got to learn a lot more about oyster mariculture, which was of interest because
my dad is considering leasing an oyster farming plot when he retires. I also got to learn about
the flint water crisis, where I was able to learn about the politics and social issues that
contributed to that community being failed by the government. We also discussed a number of
other issues, such as coal fly ash, that helped me to build a deeper understanding of how
humans are impacting the environment.

Assignments
I’m most proud of my white paper on oyster mariculture in North Carolina. I did a lot of
research on this topic and was proud that I was able to write several pages of information in a
clear and concise writing style. Although I usually favor a concise writing style, I generally fluff
up my research papers quite a bit when there are requirements for length. However, this paper
was dense with information and I also thought that it looked very professional.
One assignment that I would like to add would be a more in depth
misinformation/propaganda identification assignment. It would be really interesting to be asked
to go on the internet and find our own problematic article or document. I wouldn’t really edit any
of the existing assignments, as they all seemed to serve a clear purpose.