Holiday Activity

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: Up on the Housetop.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas; Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Up on the housetop, I heard the Bells on Christmas day.

Baby it's cold outside, so chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Deck the halls: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Write a Letter of Encouragement to Yourself

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Dear future self,

You are capable of everything.  You have made it this far without too many issues.  Sure, you have gotten some less than desirable grades, but you have done amazing on a lot of school work.  Every struggle you have encountered, you have overcome; therefore, you have nothing to fear next semester.  You have learned a lot this semester and have grown in your talents as a writer and college student.

Next semester you will face challenges, but you can overcome them.  You are taking a lot of classes I know you will enjoy; you just have to go in with an open mind.  Do not make hasty judgments about classes because they might end up becoming your favorite class.

Always remember you are an awesome person and your grades do not define you.

You're amazing,
Me

Online Course Evaluations

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Dear Self,

When you write your first essay, write it in a quiet study room.  If you write it when you are with your friends, you will not do as well.  Also you should consider doing prewriting exercises, like outlines, to improve your organization.  I wish I had reread my paper more times and gotten more people to proofread it.  I wish I had considered going to the Think Tank.

Also, do not stress.  It is going to be okay and you are going to be able to finish all the papers on time.    However, do not leave everything until the last minute; it is never fun to stay up late working on a paper.

Just relax.  Blogs are not that bad.  They are actually sort of fun and really help with writing essays.  Put your full effort into them because they will save you time in the long run.

Good luck,
Me

Reflective Essay Organizing Idea and Thesis

Focus on a specific assignment, experience, or concept 

As I revised my QRG, I realized that I oftentimes lack clarity in my writing, and my organization could be improved with the usage of prewriting exercises, such as outlines or SOAPSTones, which my teacher and peer editors pointed out.

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Compare your experience writing in this course to past experiences

When writing previous essays, I rarely used prewriting exercises, such as outlines and SOAPSTones, which resulted in weaker, unclear essays with lacking organization.  In high school, it was feasible to write a well written essay without prewriting; however, I learned in my college English essay class that it is necessary to use prewriting exercises in order to write a well organized paper.

Reflect on strengths and weaknesses 

Even though I had good evidence and analysis, my arguments were weakened because I did not use prewriting exercises, like outlines, to organize my paragraphs into a cohesive order.

Focus on course objectives

Over the course of the semester, I developed my rhetorical analysis to recognize rhetorical strategies and use them as pieces of evidence in my paper, while also recognizing that I need to improve in my organization and clarity, and using this to improve subsequent essays.

Focus on your writing process/self-perception as a writer

I did not write my first essay with a lot of confidence, but as the semester progressed I learned what my faults and strengths were, and how to improve upon my faults, like focusing on organization, and how to use my strengths, like concrete evidence, to improve the quality of my paper.

I chose to use the thesis where I focused on a specific assignment, experience, or concept because it allows me to focus specifically on the QRG essay and to reflect on what my faults were and how I am going to improve them in my rewrite.  It is easy to integrate specific evidence from the original essay and the improvements in the rewrite using this thesis.  

I looked at Laura Shoemake's and Lekha's blog.

Audience and invention for reflective essay

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As we near the end of the semester, I would like to reflect on the development of my writing.  I did not start as the strongest organizer because I underestimated the importance of prewriting activities, like outlining.  I want to express my newfound affinity of bare bone outlines and SOAPSTone.  My primary audience for this essay would be Dr. Bell, my teacher, while my classmates would be my secondary audience because they will be peer-editing my reflection essay.  Dr. Bell has read my previous essays, so she knows how my paper has developed over the course of this semester.  I have taken a lot of her comments and tried to improve my essay using them as guidelines as to where to improve.  I will focus on specific examples in my essay and go into detail reflecting on what was wrong with the initial paper and how I improved it in my rewrite.  I will provide sufficient evidence and analysis of how I improved my essay.  Since I am writing how I improved my paper to my professor, I will write in a persuasive, mostly formal tone.  I plan on adding an anecdote from the struggle I had in rewriting to make it more personable and interesting to read.

Discovering Your Writing Process

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I would mostly consider myself a sequential composer.  Before this class, I rarely did any prewriting exercises because I just wanted to go straight into the essay and thought they were a waste of time.  However, I realized that outlines help a lot, but I still do not think I will use a detailed one; although, I realize the benefits, I will continue using my simplistic outlines because they do help gather my thoughts for organization.  I also thought that SOAPSTone was very helpful, and I will continue using this prewriting strategy.  I think I have developed more into a heavy planner over this year, but I still will start writing once I have rough idea what I am going to say. I tend to revise the paragraphs as I write them, so I tend not to rewrite substantial parts of my essay.  Overall, I have grown to appreciate the necessity of prewriting, but I still do not spend copious amount time of preplanning.

Refugee Rhetoric

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     Lately there has been a lot of unrest in Syria with the ISIS bombings there and a lot of Syrians have sought refugee in places like Europe and America.  However, many of these countries are closing their doors to Syrian refugees because they are concerned that terrorists will get into their country under the false pretense of needing shelter.  Even though America has always been seen as an open door to immigrants, they are closing their door on Syrian refugees.
     This cartoon is addressing American's against refugees coming to America, which is against American philosophy.  It is also shows how the country was founded by pilgrims escaping religious persecution, yet now we are not going to accept Syrians who are also suffering from religious persecution.  This is exemplified with a differing message and purpose.  The message is that we are restricting refugees from the Middle East because of terrorist attacks and subsequent threats.  The purpose wants us to rethink our attitude towards accepting refugees and consider our history and wonder where we would be if Indians had not accepted the first pilgrims when they were escaping religious persecution.  The reader must understand the story of Thanksgiving and what is happening in the Middle East right now to fully understand the cartoon and the purpose of it.

Thesis Statement for Rhetorical Analysis

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I wrote my argument to Taylor Swift about how I think she should put her music back on Spotify.  I am a fan of hers, and I think it would be in her best interest if her music was available for streaming again.

"I personalized my letter to include multiple logical business arguments, like how streaming would increase the number of people who would listen to her music and buy tour tickets, for the money savvy Taylor Swift to hopefully persuade her to return her music to Spotify." 

Background Research

Link to my background research.

I looked at Benjamin Weiss's and Katie Lista's background research.

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Initial thoughts about the Audience for my Argument

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     A general public cannot exist because it implies that everyone thinks exactly the same way, which is not possible.  Everybody has individual opinions and backgrounds that affect the way they view an argument.  We all view the same thing individually; therefore, addressing the general public would most likely cause generalizations.
     Everyone who listens to music on a streaming website could be impacted if popular artists like Taylor Swift start a movement to remove their music from places like Spotify.  I am writing my letter to artists like Taylor Swift, so the most affected would be any singer or record dealer.  Specifically, I am focusing on artists who do not think they are getting a large enough royalty from being on Spotify.  I want them to realize Spotify is not the bad guy, and to put their music back on the free streaming website.  I think my audience will be familiar with Spotify, but I also think they are missing some crucial information and only focusing on what benefits their point of view.  I think anyone interested in the Spotify debate could read my letter if they wanted to hear more information about it.  I think that the artists could be hostile because they believe they are right and do not want to hear dissenting views.  I also think that record dealers could be hostile because I am going to write about how they are taking a lot of the royalties that could be going to artists.  I think my audience needs to understand how the money Spotify acquires is divided among artists, Spotify, and record dealers.

My Proposed Public Argument

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I decided to change my topic to free streaming websites and how it affects the music industry.  I want to write a letter to Taylor Swift or another similar artist who has decided to pull their music from Spotify because they did not think they were getting their fair share of money.  I personally listen to Spotify and I was really annoyed with Taylor Swift and other artists for taking their music off Spotify.  I read their argument, and at first I thought it made a lot of business sense.  However, as I did more research I realized that Spotify is not solely to blame.  Record companies take a lot of the profit and streaming is not the sole income of an artist anyway.  I want to write my letter to inform Taylor Swift and other artists that they should rethink their decision about taking their music off Spotify.  

Analysis of a Sample Public Argument

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     As I enter the University of Arizona website, the first thing I am drawn to is the big photograph that takes up most of my screen and its caption.  After a couple of seconds, the screen changes to a new photograph highlighting another commendable thing the U of A has done.  While the photographs are the largest part of the screen, the smallest part would be the calendar of events.  This is perhaps because the university wants to foremost press why they think they are the best university, so more people will apply, and not focus as much on all the events that are happening.  Even though the photographs are the largest thing on the page, they are not the only thing I am drawn to.  My eyes also go to the top tabs because of how the vibrant red is contrasted to the photographs directly below it.  The overall feel from the website is professional, yet also warm.  It boasts a lot of facts about the college that would entice prospective students, but it does it in a warm way with bright reds and blues, and plenty of pictures.   The U of A website does a nice job of showing its credibility on its home screen because it says that it is #1 because it is the only university in the continental U.S. with its own radio telescope and it has the largest collection of children's and adolescent literature in the world.  The front page's biggest links are to apply, visit, and give; three things the university wants to make the most convient for people to do.  

     I further explore the website by visiting the About the University webpage.  The page is clearly designed to entice prospective students to apply by boasting all the good things the University of Arizona has done.  It gives ten facts that promote the U of A and highlight the many accomplishments of the U of A.  Some of the most commonly used words are research, creativity, innovative, best, brightest, employable, thinkers, curiosity, discovers, and leading because they give a positive light to the U of A's academic reputation.  The page is clearly organized into ten facts with the colors red and blue.  The reader is more likely to read it because it is nicely organized with quick facts.  This page has fewer pictures and more words than the homepage because About the University webpage is for viewers who want to read more about the university.

Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

How my writing is growing

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     When I heard the new assignment for the latest paper, I was a little worried.  How was I going to write six to eight pages on one website or commercial?  When I picked HONY, a blog of pictures, I had no idea how I was going to turn thousands of pictures into one essay.  I did not know where to even start with analyzing.  I finally focused on a few solid points after doing the helpful SOAPSTone and observation/inference chart.  As I compiled these points, the essay began to write itself.  Words started flowing and I became more confident about my paper.  I had written a much better rough draft than my last paper after spending a couple of days really focusing on it.  My improvement showed when I went into my conference.  There was still a fair amount of things to change, but there were also a lot of positives.  I even got a high-five for coming up with an unique argument. 

     As per a requirement of one of the blog posts, I had a friend look at it and make changes.  She was really helpful in pointing out places I could improve.  After all the help everyone gave me in and out of class, I realized this essay was done considerably better than my last.  I think my rhetorical analysis was stronger, clearer, and more concise.   However, next time I want to go to the Think Tank and have them look at my paper because I think they would be a lot of help. 

     Looking back on my writing process, I realize how much I have learned about rhetorical analysis.  For instance, your argument is made considerably stronger when you have an example.  My first draft did not have a lot of examples and Dr. Bell pointed this out at our conference.  When I re-wrote it with examples, my argument was more compelling and authoritative.  Now that I realize how crucial examples are in making a convincing point, I am ready to write my next essay, and hopefully continue to grow in my writing.  

I commented on Laura's, Katie's, and Michael Gee's blogs.