Prior to taking Writing and Rhetoric, I would research a question as it was given to me instead of brainstorming a list of topics relevant to the material. I improved on the skill to research to a fuller extent, even though I always viewed research as a rigid conquest in Google or Gale Reference Library for an answer. With time, I learned that research is more like an adventure where you constantly keep coming up with new question and find the answers by analyzing the research found by other scholars. I used these abilities to further enhance my writing skills in the research element of the Illustrated Essay and the Contextual Analysis. In another class, I used the ability to organize my paper in a different manner than the basic high school style: one-sentence thesis statement, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. In my Black Studies class, I was assigned to do a career research project but I was given a broad topic to research, which was the career. In the beginning stages of my research, I did not know what details I should be looking for nor the kind of sources I should be looking at. Since I fine-tuned my research skills, I knew that I was given a broad topic in order to learn as I research.

My primary takeaways from the class were to look at photographs and other visuals more thoroughly rather than just glancing at them because creators use several strategies to communicate a message. I also consider the ability to utilize scholarly articles for research papers a primary takeaway because these articles are just as informative as an encyclopedic entry but not nearly as analytical. I wish we had analyzed more videos and advertisements because in today’s digital world, we come across commercials and advertisements many times a day. Having the ability to analyze an advertisement to understand what the company is truly trying to sell or what they are hiding, would make the younger generation wiser consumers.

My understanding of writing and my newfound knowledge are skills that will be useful in future studies and anticipated career. The ability to use scholarly articles for research will be useful in my future studies at SUNY New Paltz as a Biochemistry major. For instance, the research component in lab reports comes from reading scholarly articles and other experiments that I recently learned to utilize. In addition, I have also learned how to organize my thoughts in a coherent manner to communicate a message that is an essential skill for any career. Lastly, I perfected my writing strategy to align with my own style of writing so that it becomes easier to maintain an organized styles with all the mechanics. After taking Writing and Rhetoric, I view writing as much more than just a rigid way of getting toward an idea. A writing process is very flexible and can go in several directions, similar to a research process. I also learned more about brainstorming and outlining when it comes to the writing process, which allowed me to develop my writing. For example, when we wrote our contextual analysis it was helpful to work in groups to brainstorm ideas and observations worth noting about our image in its new environment. Another example of brainstorming is when we wrote out a list of strategies and observations we saw during each of the times we viewed the Japanese Relocation video. I often referred back to the list of observation when I was drafting my first essay for that assignment to keep the ideas flowing throughout my essay. Now I consider the ability to brainstorm and outline as essay to thoroughly answer the prompt to be one of my strengths. However, I feel that I need more growth in my ability to smoothly transition in many concrete examples in order to make my analysis and thesis valid. 

In Writing and Rhetoric, I believe I was successful in many aspects of the main course assignments but I feel especially successful in achieving my purpose and maintaining structure of an entire essay. While there were instances where I found it hard to put my thoughts into words, I always managed to write out my essays to achieve a purpose of communicating to the audience. Lastly, maintaining a structure within an essay was also difficult but after writing the contextual layers in my Contextual Analysis I learned to unfold my thoughts in an essay rather than splatter them on a page.