GOAL 1: I used a multi-stage, recursive, and social process for my writing and took into consideration feedback from my instructor, classmates, and other readers. By multi-stage, I mean drafts. Professor Hodges is rigorous in his usage of re-writing. Wave after wave of re-written drafts eventually produce a more refined, desirable product. The feedback from Hodges is like nothing I have ever seen. Though I regret not truly taking advantage of the feedback  available to me, I was impacted by the unparalleled push for perfection in all of the writings produced in class. The class took time to evaluate every word Hodges presented for closer study, finding that every one of those words built an argument. The long term impact of David Hodges teaching will be positively immense.

GOAL 2: I read source materials closely and analyzed them critically to learn how and why texts create meaning. As mentioned in GOAL 1, every conglomeration of words will eventually create an argument. Every argument contains a series of claims. Reading source materials closely can be likened to exposing the claims for what they are. After analyzing everything I read as a source, I personally came to the conclusion that all of a source’s credibility and relevance comes from interpretation. The interpretation of critically analyzed text forms a meaning based on an experiential scale.

GOAL 3: I wrote with a particular audience in mind, allowing my purpose to shape the language and methods I used not just to communicate information but to persuade readers. My audience is myself. The most difficult challenge I have faced is pulling apart the complex mesh of contemplation that I am familiar with, and putting it into a defined and understandably organized form. As my own audience, I am forced to seek the truth in all of my conclusive interpretations. The only persuasion is directed at me, as I attempt to convince myself on the soundness of my logic. Professor Hodges does a fantastic job simultaneously being skeptical but empathetic while ripping apart every argument, persuading writers that what has been written has much more potential.

GOAL 4: I demonstrated my information literacy by synthesizing my own experience with new insights and information from a range of outside sources to produce new material. The new material I feel I may have produced feels deviant. The information I presented in all of my writing was only organizing what I feel is already obvious but remained unwritten. My own experience is truly up for interpretation. I trust that the product of both produces a compilation of information that is both plausible and concise.

GOAL 5: My writing is ethical. Writing about meaningful topics, I have engaged responsibly with them and represented my ideas and the ideas of others honestly, fairly, and logically. If the basis of what is ethical is also honest, then my writing is ethical. If the basis is something that satisfies the emotions, perhaps my writing is not. If text creates meaning, and I am writing, anything I write about is meaningful. My goal in writing is to produce an accurate interpretation of information that honestly, fairly and logically evaluates the problem posed by what is being argued.