Thank you for taking the time to review my ePortfolio! This semester I was able to exercise my reading and writing skills far more than in the fall. I’ve always considered English to be my strongest subject in school, and I had a lot of practice with large formal assignments and dense readings in a college writing class I took in high school. I have used these skills, and others that I’ve learned in Writing and Rhetoric (for example, I’ve become significantly more comfortable with identifying rhetorical appeals in this class) for many other reading and writing assignments in various classes; I’m sure I will continue to use them throughout the entirety of my college experience. 

I think that our weekly journal entries, as well as the process of creating our research papers (proposal, to annotated bibliography, to completed paper) required a lot of critical and analytical thought to produce; these are very valuable skills not only for college assignments, but for developing the ability to delve below the surface of topics and strive for deeper knowledge. This is necessary to avoid biased opinions and evaluate information logically. I don’t feel like I experienced any changes in the way I think about college level reading, writing strategies, rhetorical situations, or writing processes; however, I think this class focused (and succeeded) more on strengthening and reinforcing skills we already have, rather than exposing us to advanced and dense reading and assignments. 

I also have always had trouble with creating drafts of projects, I like to perfect my writing as I go and struggle with leaving sections unfinished. Since drafts were a required part of our assignments in this class, this is definitely something I strengthened; this also helped me improve my revising and editing abilities. I actually was able to enjoy this process of developing a finished project from smaller assignments, like outlines and drafts. I think that some of my writing strengths would include language use and tone, and development and support through description, evidence, and explanation. I feel confident with my abilities to construct sentences that flow, and to successfully support an argument or thesis. 

Before taking this class and before starting my first year here at SUNY New Paltz, I had already felt prepared for college writing expectations. However, I definitely did need a refresher on some of the basics of writing, and a chance to exercise my reading and writing. Before entering this class and still now, I am often skeptical of large social issues that are broadcasted on the media until I believe I can make a logical assumption based on research and background knowledge. A lot of the media is fake, and it is often hard to distinguish between legitimate and fake information. Because of this, I think rhetoric can be used as a tool for both positive and negative change.

I enjoyed the process of creating my Campus Space Project once I passed the initial confusion and frustration of the assignment: I struggled with coming up with an idea that I was satisfied with and thought was worthy of creating. I think writing and rhetoric is definitely an important tool that many utilize in social proposals, but it should be used alongside other strategies. In regards to our Wicked Question (“how do we save the world?”), I would begin drafting an answer by addressing our current society’s reliance on technology and addiction to the media. “This technology is no longer just shaping the world around us, but actively remaking us from within”, it is essentially taking over our unconscious mind and influencing our thoughts and behavior without us knowing (Akhtar 18). We have become more and more dependent on society in our daily lives, to the point where many of us cannot even imagine a day without it. Social media specifically, has been incredibly damaging to many people. “Teenage girls can be sent spiraling into depression by the glossy, deceptive world of Instagram, owned by the manipulative and greedy company formerly known as Facebook”, and younger and younger people are experiencing this (Maureen, 1). I think that, in short, to save the world, we need to move away from technology. 

 

Thank you again for your time!

Respectfully, 

Djuna Dechert

Works Cited

  • Akhtar, Ayad. “The Singularity Is Here.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 5 Nov. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/ai-ad-technology-singularity/620521/. 
  • Dowd, Maureen. “A.I. Is Not A-OK.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/30/opinion/eric-schmidt-ai.html.