Hello All!
Recently in my FIQWS class we were required to create a portfolio website. We are expected to address the course learning outcomes that we were exposed to when the fall semester began. I became worried at the thought of having top create a website. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make a sufficient website for a good grade. I viewed making a website as a difficult task for myself because I had never created a website before. To make matters more worry-some, I had to include excerpts from my previous work to consider my website complete.
However, after using my computer at home, I focused on making a more visually pleasing website, and studying the specs on how to construct a website. I spent time trying to create the most ideal website to present the work I produced this semester. Now all I had to do was create an organized breakdown of how all the course learning outcomes had been accomplished in class. At that point my vision was clear, and I was determined to produce the best portfolio I could.
During the semester, we received an assignment that required us to address the two pieces of art- one painting and one political cartoon. Following that assignment, we were also required to write a reflection about the writing process behind the assignment. This process satisfies the Course Learning Outcome #1: “Explore and analyze in their own and others’ writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations” and is supported by the excerpt below:
“The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.”
This reflection process satisfies the outcome because we were able to look back on our own writing and analyze the key aspects of the rhetorical situation in our writing.
In my FIQWS class, we were also given the opportunity to bring a copy of our literacy narrative and exchange it with another student. The purpose of the exchange was to read over the other students’ work and give advice on the work. This satisfies the Course Learning Outcome #2: “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing.” Because we reinforced our work through drafting and bringing work to class for revision purposes. We took the input received in class from other students and edited our papers to create a more solid piece of work.
During 10108, the morning portion of my FIQWS class, we had a workshop on how to cite sources in MLA format so we can properly cite sources in the works we have done in FIQWS and onward. In the following excerpt, my works cited page has satisfied Course Learning Outcome #3: “Practice systematic application of citation conventions” where it writes:
“Murray, Donald C. “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated and Simple.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 14, no. 4, Fall 1977, p. 353. EBSCOhost, ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7151144&site=ehost-live.
Reid, Robert. “The Powers of Darkness in ‘Sonny’s Blues.’.” Short Story Criticism, edited by Jelena O. Krstovic, vol. 98, Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center, https://link-galegroup-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/H1420076262/LitRC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=LitRC&xid=0f72a1b2. Accessed 7 Dec. 2018. Originally published in CLA Journal, vol. 43, no. 4, June 2000, pp. 443-453.
Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. Harlem: 1957. Print.
Sigmund, Freud. Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis 1910.”
The above excerpt shows how to properly cite sources in MLA format, a staple in many assignments. Above I have cited books, lectures, and websites in a research paper I conducted for FIQWS.
In the Literacy Narrative I wrote for my FIQWS class we were required to identify our audience, the genre of the pieces of art we were identifying, and the purpose of writing. This satisfies Course Learning Outcome #4: “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” In my literacy narrative, I explicitly stated the audience in the following excerpt:
“The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.”
The above excerpt satisfies Outcome #4 because the literacy narrative encouraged my FIQWS class to implement and identify key components of the rhetorical situation. The literacy narrative identified many more rhetorical components such as subject and what our stance is in the rhetorical situation.
In my FIQWS class, we made great usage of a process called “Peer Review”. We would bring copies of our work to class and exchange it with another student. We could correct one another’s work and provide additional input on how to improve the work. This addresses Course Learning Outcomes #5: “Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.” A student in my FIQWS class left the following comment on one of my works prior to handing in the final draft. It read “Many of the writer’s thoughts are given a reason as to why that is, as well as a clear reason for writing their essay.” The comment was left during a peer review which revealed whether my work successfully carried out the assignment or not. This satisfies the outcome because it inspired collaboration between students, and engaged us in social behaviors by helping one another in the drafting process.
Online, my FIQWS class utilizes CUNY Blackboard to host discussion boards on class related topics. On this discussion board, you can reply to another student’s post in the discussion board where you can voice your opinion on what the student has said. This online access accommodates to Course Learning Outcome #6: “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences”. The following excerpt is a post I made on CUNY Blackboard:
“In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality is most prevalent in the characters Simon (Super Ego), Piggy (Super Ego), Ralph (Ego), and Jack (Id), and through the Id’s power to thwart the Super Ego when societal pressures no longer exist.”
The above excerpt proves that I can use technology to reach a range of audiences, such as the peers in my class and my professor. Students in my FIQWS class as well as my professor can comment anything they feel would assist me in my critical research paper.
My FIQWS professor Ms.K took us to the library in the tech lab where we discovered the CCNY Databases that could be used to conduct accurate research using reliable sources. We also learned how to differentiate between reliable websites and unreliable websites, such as those that end in .com instead of .edu. this satisfies Course Learning Outcome #7: “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the libraries databases or archives and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias” because we received the proper education to do research and complete assignments such as the critical research paper. Because of the class, we can know when research is being properly conducted and we are using resources that are a good fit for our work. This is a great skill that will be very useful for my future in City College and conducting research for future assignments.
Lastly, in my FIQWS class we had to conduct research for our critical research papers. We used sources from CCNY databases such as Gale Literary Sources or Ebscohost to conduct reliable research. This satisfies Course Learning Outcome #8: “Compose texts that integrate the students stance and language with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation” because we employed the strategy of critical research in order to justify our stance based on our topics.
Overall, the course has fulfilled what the it said it would when I joined the class in the fall semester. I can honestly say I learned everything that the syllabus said I would learn, and I plan to use what I learned in my FIQWS class in my future at CCNY!

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