Christian O’Connor

Fino-Murtaugh

ENG170

5-1-24

When Writing the reflections for the assignments, I felt they helped greatly. I was able to look back at my work and create ideas of what went right, and what what wrong. Being able to break down your work like this helps you become a better writer.

Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

The rhetorical analysis of a folktale was definitely a long process. There were many parts of the assignment that I did not realize would be so important. For example, the writing of the essay was not the most difficult part, there were many other challenges. The rhetorical analysis is definitely the most research I have done for an assignment. I think it was a long challenging paper, but a beneficial one as well. The main challenge I faced when writing the rhetorical analysis was not actually writing it. Finding reliable sources that can be related to my topic was the most challenging part. I also found it difficult to relate the topic I chose to the folktale I was using. It was not too much of a challenge, but I definitely had to take my time trying to connect modern sources to an old folktale. The writing itself was not challenging. The annotated bibliography was a huge help in writing the essay. It made it easy to see what ideas I had for articles and why they were important. This saved lots of time because it had all my research organized. I did have to find another source outside of my bibliography but that was not too much trouble. The rhetorical analysis was challenging, but in a different way than I expected. Getting to the word count was very easy. The preparation of writing was more difficult than the writing. I feel that the ability to thoroughly research information is vital to not only writing good papers but to being successful. The internet has so much information on it so when you can learn to use it correctly, there is pretty much nothing you won’t be able to know. The rhetorical analysis helped me learn what actual research is, connect ideas, and learn about an issue I had interest in. Overall, I feel that I did a pretty good job on the rhetorical analysis and that it was a well-balanced, informative. Assignment.

Oral Presentation Reflection

The oral presentation I did helped me with many skills I need to improve upon. I feel the making of the actual presentation was the easiest part of the assignment. Having most of the information I needed because of the rhetorical analysis made it easy to put the slides together. I feel that I did a good job separating information into different slides and organizing the slides well. While making the slides is part of the assignment, I feel that it was the least significant part of the assignment. The most important thing of the oral presentation was preparing what you will talk about during the presentation. Reviewing the information and being able to clearly communicate it to an audience is the main reason why we did the assignment. I feel that I did a decent job talking in front of an audience. Although, I did stumble on my words a few times while presenting. A big thing for me during the presentation was forgetting what I was going to say, although, I was able to remember and get through it because I used the slides as a guideline. I feel that there are a few things that I can do in the future to improve my presentation skills. One thing I can do is rehearse my presentation more than I did. If I can get some of my friends to listen to me speak, I can get used to talking in front of people as well as have a better grasp of what I will say. Overall, I feel I did a good job on the Oral Presentation.

Annotated Bibliography Reflection

When writing the annotated bibliography, I felt that there were many challenges but overall, it will help me out in the long run. I did not have too hard of time writing about how the articles I found will help me and explaining the importance of them was not that challenging. One thing I did have trouble with was finding good sources for my topic. When I write the essay, I am going to have to find new sources. One thing I can improve when searching for sources is specifics. When looking for sources, I have to put more search words than just misinformation and online. Not only to find better sources but to get a more specific thesis. I think that focusing more on the dangers of the internet for old people is a good idea since they are more likely to be taken advantage of by scammers and identity thieves. I also think getting more background information on the origin of Henny Penny will further emphasize the message it is displaying. Another issue I had was correct formatting for the citations. I am still not fully confident in citing things, but if I take my time and look over the citations, I am sure I will be able to get them right. The feedback I received was very helpful in helping me figure out what I need to focus on and improve on when going into the essay.

Topic Proposal Reflection

When writing the topic proposal about the folktale Henny Penny, the writing process helped me grasp an understanding of the folktale I will be working with for the next few assignments. I was able to find information on the folktale while also looking into the deeper meaning of it. I think the biggest advantage of writing the topic proposal for me was figuring out good research questions to choose. Knowing what I want to find out about the folktale will help me specify what I need to research in the future. Writing the topic proposal also helped me make sure this was a folktale with a message I was interested in. Having to learn information about the folktale I will be working with before diving deeper into it assured me that this is a topic that I will be enticed and excited to learn more about. Being able to pick my own folktale increases my interest in the writing I will do in the future. It is important to be interested in and passionate about the work you do. Writing the topic proposal also helped me see what I need to improve in my writing. I like that I was given a chance to write about my topic in a more casual setting before diving into a research essay because I was able to see what I did wrong. After reviewing the feedback, I now know what I need to work on in future papers. I need to be more concise with what I am saying and try to avoid repeating the same point more than once. Also, I can do better with the revision process in my work. When looking at feedback, I noticed I made some grammatical errors that I should have been able to correct but overlooked them. It is an easy correction I can make in future papers that I write. Some new observations I made about my topic were how much the old story differs from the story I knew about as a kid, and it was more violent than the new version. I was unaware how old the folktale I am researching is. I first knew the folktale as chicken little. Originally, it was called Henny Penny. These are a few of many things I noticed that have changed over time in this Folktale. I feel that it was very important to see the changes in the story because of how long it has been being told.

The Profile Relfection

When writing the profile essay, I first felt pretty overwhelmed. It was the height of my season and I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it. I got it done eventually and I feel that I did a pretty good job on it. It was my first time interviewing someone. I feel that it went very well and was easy since the person I interviewed is a good friend.

I Feel that I struggled with making the essay long enough. I ran out of this to write about and also ran out of time. Next time I should plan more accordingly. I feel that I did a good job with using quotes in the profile.