1. Emily Short
WRD110-029
10 December 2012
Final Reflection
Coming into my freshman year at the University of Kentucky I had the average
expectations to go to class, learn more about the basic topics I learned about in high school, and
move on. I gave each of my classes my full attention at first, and then as the semester went on I
realized which classes I truly had interest in and which classes I felt were a bother. One of the
classes that stood out to me was WRD110. I have always been one to enjoy my English classes
all through middle school and high school, so naturally I was excited to be in this class. I did not
know much about it at first, but as the semester got rolling I became more excited because I was
aware of what we were going to be doing.
This course allowed me to work on my public speaking, writing, persuasion, multimedia
appeal, interviewing, and analyzing. All of these topics are things that I need to be able to
function effectively in everyday life, especially later when I am searching for a job. The class
required that we give two speeches, one for each project. Each of the projects were very different
and that made me work on writing the speeches in a different manner and delivering them to the
audience in a different way. Along with different speech types, the different projects required
dissimilar papers to be written. The first project allowed me to write about an experience I had
in my life, and the second project required me to analyze a space and write about it. It was a lot
easier to speak about something I have experience myself, but the speech about the space I
analyzed forced me to think of what is important about the space and what I truly needs to be
said to the audience to get my points across.

2. Short 2
Working on the multimedia part of the class, the blog, was enjoyable and informative,
also. I have never had to make a blog before so this requirement allowed me to think about how I
want to present my work to an audience that I may not be physically presenting to. I was able to
think about a specific theme to use, what kind of font, the way I wanted to set up the blog, the
consistency, and just the overall look of the blog. This skill will allow me to think about what
needs to be portrayed in any kind of multimedia when presenting to an audience, whether it be a
PowerPoint or a website.
This course has taught me how to communicate in a better way to others. I feel as if I am
now more confident with public speaking and writing, but there are still aspects I still need to
work on. Although I feel more confident with public speaking, I think that I need to continue to
work on writing my speeches in a more effective manner. I know that my speeches get the point
across, but I need to improve the organization of my speeches and my appeal to the audience.
Also, I need to continue to work on using elevated language rather than basic words to simply
convey a message. Continuing to write and edit my own papers will help me to improve this part
of my writing.
Overall WRD110 has helped me become a better communicator. I have a better idea of
how to speak to people, whether it be formally or informally. I also now know how to give an
effective presentation and persuade an audience. Lastly, I know how to look at something I
basically know nothing about and analyze it and figure out all of the symbolism behind it. The
skill to truly analyze things will help me later in life when I am an English teacher, and will also
help me understand the true meanings of what I see every day.