Daniel Cragan

Professor Phillips

ENG 170 22

24 November 2020

 

To whom it may concern:

This semester I wrote about our wicked question: How should the U.S. respond to the refugee crisis. I wrote an evaluative and summative bibliography on academic sources in my ‘Brief Assignment 1″ tab, analyzed these writing to formulate a thesis and outline in the ‘Brief Assignment 2’ tab. I posted two drafts, my first and final draft of my ‘Major Project’, where all the ideas and insights from the prior tabs came together. Finally, I had a few works from earlier in the year in the ‘Additional Materials’ tab, that refined my knowledge of the refugee crisis, and the struggles they face.

        The purpose of this reflection is to evaluate what I have learned from my rhetorical analysis course at SUNY New Paltz. Throughout my works I tried to put all my strengths forward, specifically my writing abilities that could give insights and solutions to the refugee crisis, the big talking point for this semester. In my summative and evaluative bibliographies, I looked toward our assignment outline to make descriptive and insightful observations on evidence from experts in fields dealing with refugees. I was able to interview a friend for my interview and response piece, and gained a different outlook on immigrants and refugees than what is normally seen in the news. Combining this, along with Therkelsen’s writing on what issues refugees face, I built up an understanding of why the world should help people in this crisis. Finally, with all my prior and added knowledge from this course, I was able to write an essay using many rhetorical techniques to formulate an argument as to why the global community should help refugees in the COVID pandemic.

        To make my writing possible, I used all my knowledge of rhetorical analysis, and research based analysis to create well formulated ideas to put into these essays. A few years ago I took a rhetorical analysis course, which made me familiar with the rhetorical triangle. I was able to engage my audience, myself, and the information I gave in a persuasive manner. I also learned about ethos, pathos, logos, how each interacts with the audience, and when I should use each device in my writing. Once I got to my English 170 course, my prior grasp on these concepts was refined, and I learned much more to bolster my writing. Grammar lessons that taught me proper academic structure, sentence variety, and how to write bibliographies, all helped in writing my major project essay. I still have a very long way to go in my writing, especially in organization, and comma usage. There are many nuances that I overlook, and I need to avoid using larger, more complex words when a shorter and more precise word will do. in my first draft of my major project, I thought it was correct to use a block quote to explain a situation during the COVID crisis. However, after peer editing I realized that I was using an unnecessary method to use a block quote, when I could have cited a smaller quote with a longer explanation. I fixed this in my final draft. 

        This year has helped me broaden my areas of knowledge about the refugee crisis, and allowed me the freedom to also expand my knowledge of writing and thinking. I have improved in my grammar usage, my rhetorical device usage, sentence structure, and finding academic sources. I plan to take higher level English courses that will improve areas I am weak in, and challenge the areas I am strong in.

Sincerely,

Daniel Cragan