Weekly Writes, or Weekly Reflections, are longer, more thoughtful posts that you will complete about every week of the semester (or when assigned). Topics for these entries will vary by instructor, but they will usually be completed outside of class and have a specific word-count requirement. Weekly writes allow you to interrogate your thinking in more detail and dig deeper into the content knowledge and rhetorical knowledge you’re gaining in class.
Since you have more time to think, strong weekly writes often contain specific references to projects, readings, or concepts that have come up in class. Your teacher will usually provide a prompt for you to study as you write your reflection. Sometimes weekly writes will correlate directly with some of your daily writes, so don’t be afraid to include links to them. Integrating your reflections like this will help you see the “big picture” when it’s time to write your final course reflection.
explore a weekly write
Take a look at this student’s weekly write from about halfway through the semester. At this point, she was working on a longer, source-based project. Think about how she connected rhetorical concepts, current events, and her own writing projects and answer the questions below the passage.
Credibility is an important issue in this time of internet and “fake news.” After the 2016 presidential election, I and other people I know became wary of media. The media had me convinced Clinton was going to win the election. However, that did not happen. Before the election, I knew all media had political bias but did not truly realize the extent of it until after the election. Afterwards, I thought more about how far the media can manipulate the situation to fit the narrative they want.
Figuring out which sources to trust depends on the issue. The sources trustworthy for religious issues are not necessarily the sources I’d trust for world events or other topics, and vice versa. When I want to find out the truth, I usually consult different sources, and believe whatever things they agree on. Usually by seeing the same idea again in different sources makes me believe the idea is more credible. However, I think it’s important to take everything we read with a grain of salt and be prepared to change our ideas about an issue. With inaccurate or biased stories everywhere, it’s important to be flexible. By being able to readjust our ideas about issues, we can get closer and closer to the actual truth.
What do I value in sources? I value sources that are not overly saturated with bias, especially of the political kind. I want to learn basic facts about the issue; I do not need to know what the author or organization thinks about whatever political topic or candidate is currently trending. I also like sources that present information in a clear, factual manner. This is especially the case in the election season, as I’m a wary voter and feel mistrustful of the hype about candidates. Also, I do not like stories or sources that try to make an emotional appeal. Stories and sources that try too hard to manipulate pathos annoy me, and they often cause me to quit reading entirely.
Overall, sources that use information and claims found in other sources seem the most trustworthy to me. Additionally, sources that do not lean heavily on political bias or emotional appeal also seem more credible to me as well.
