Marylou Mercado

Writing 2
Zack De Piero
June 5, 2015
An Eventful Course
When I first enrolled in writing 2, my only thought was it was just a mandatory class I
had to take; so I pretty much dreaded it from the start. Writing has never been my forte therefore
I have never really liked it. I took writing 1 in the winter and as much I liked the class itself, I
hated the subject. The first day of class I realized that this was not your usual, university level
writing class. My professor, Zack De Piero began in an unconventional way; he was
straightforward and had an open dialect from the start. This was quire refreshing since I was tired
of the typical, boring approach. Although I did not enjoy the course in itself, the various
techniques used in the class helped me out immensely. It is from Zack and his method of
teaching that I began to think more critically about writing understands genre, and most
importantly how to become a better writer.
Personally, this experience was a tough one. I never really saw the big picture of writing.
I was just writing for the sake of writing. I learned this after I received by first writing project
back. One major comment I received was that my professor did not really know what I was
arguing. Then, I realized, I did not even know what I was arguing myself. I learned that I needed
to know the big picture of what I was writing about in order to get the small ideas. One thing that
really helped me what the highlighting activity we did in class. We all had to highlight certain
parts of an essay so they could connect. As I did this, I realized again, my ideas do not connect; I
did not know what I was talking about. One major reason for this was that I did not really know

how to structure my ideas. I knew what I was talking about but others did not. I really did not
understand how to make my ideas flow. Writing 2 really made me look at the big picture of
writing like how audience, context and purpose come into play. Also, I learned a lot about how
structure can help write a stronger essay. Zack gave me the tip of changing my essay so that the
structure is idea 1, idea 2, idea 3 rather than source 1, source 2, source 3. This top helped me
gather my thoughts more adequately. Through this class I was able to think a lot more critically
about writing.
Before writing 2, genre to me was just a type of music I listen to or movie I watch. At the
beginning, to see genre as a piece of writing confused me. Once Zack began to explain more, it
all started to make more sense. I realized genres really were everywhere and genres could be
seen in various ways. Even this metacognitive essay is considered a genre of its own. Once I
began to understand written genres, I was able to understand what conventions made up each
genre. For example, what makes a tweet, a tweet? I never really thought about it, I just saw it as
it is. Being able to see what makes something a genre helped me be able to analyze and
understand the genre better. After knowing this, I was finally able to learn about moves. Per
usual, I was confused at first what exactly moves meant in the context of writing, but slowly was
able to understand. With this knowledge, I began to see writing differently. Knowing what made
a genre and how to utilize different moves really helped with writing project #3. I was finally
able to put all the pieces together. I knew what each genres conventions were, so transforming
them was not as difficult. Then with this knowledge, I was able to utilize my own moves to make
it more effective. Writing 2 definitely gave me a better understanding of genre, moves, and
conventions.

All together, these techniques helped me become a better writer. However, one major
lesson I learned in writing 2, was process tips and lower order writing issues. This was surely an
issue I dealt with all my life. I struggled a lot with just starting an essay. I would literally sit
down for hours with a blank page not really knowing what to write about. Therefore, I would
take forever to get started, often waiting last minute to do my papers. Zacks tips really helped
me learn effective way to get my ideas flowing. Also, I had a big problem with lower order
issues. I never really knew things like the oxford comma, hyphens, and other punctual/
grammatical issues. Zack would heavily emphasize this in class and when I would make these
mistakes on my papers. Once I started to be more cautious with my writing, my essays felt like
they began to flow more. He also strongly emphasized revising and rough drafts, which helped
me catch a lot of these mistakes. This is not to say I have mastered all low order issues, I just
became more aware of them. Needless to say, they really did help me become a better writer.
One major thing that actually helped me along the course to critically about writing,
understand genre, and become a better writer was the course readings. Usually I feel like course
readings are just filler work to keep us busy, so I did not really take them serious at first.
However, as I read most of them, I found their tips to be really useful. I though the first reading
we had was really cool. It gave me a good idea of what writing 2 was about and how to write an
effective piece. Each writing situation has its own demands. Its own expectations.. and its own
sense of how writing is to be presented. When approaching a new composing situation. We need
to consider what writing means. What it does. And how it moves from one context to another.
(Losh and Alexander 9) I found this quotes really useful because it gave me a good idea of what
to expect. Also, the various examples of other papers and genre examples were really clarifying.
For example, the Navagating Genres article the ransom letter really helped me get an idea of

the different types of genres and their conventions. I believe Zack made a good choice in course
reading because they were very helpful.
Another thing I found really helpful were the visuals often used in class. They really
helped give a different perspective on the same idea. It also made the 2-hour class a lot less
tedious. I am more of a visual/vocal learner so this really did help me. It was also nice how many
of the videos correlated to popular culture topics such as music and movies. For example, thw
wrestling videos were entertaining and funny, yet had a good idea behind them Also, these
videos also allowed for a more vocal interaction between the classes, which is what I liked. One
video I really liked was the one shown at the end, about the writing process. I really wish he
would had shown in the beginning because it gave a lot of good tips on how to write. Also, the
videos were fun to watch. It was a nice, unconventional way of learning that made class more
enjoyable for me. The use of these videos eased the writing process for me.
I still do not like writing. Personally, I prefer verbal communication over written. Also, I
understand that I am never going to be a great writer. I have realized that some people are better
at certain things than others. One major thing I have learned is that even though I study a
discipline that requires minimal writing itself (economics and accounting) I will see writing
everyday. What I really like is that Zack took a realistic approach to the topics. He used genres
like letters of recommendations request and resumes, which are genres I will use my entire life. I
may not to write metacognitive essays everyday of my life, but the knowledge of genres and how
to write an effective piece will carry on forever. I may be pretty happy the class is over, but I am
glad it ended up being a class I actually learned from and it let me become a better writer.