To whom it may concern,
Going into Writing and Rhetoric, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I was aware that it would involve writing; which I really enjoy doing and figured it would be nothing too distinct from what I already knew. I have seen growth in my writing through formatting, effectivity and basically being able to conclude a composition with a more soundly and powerful oomph. Something to ‘wow’ whoever is reading it, instead of leaving it with a boringly stale conclusion. I have learned that restating everything you said in the body is never the way to go in ending paragraphs, which hard to do due to Highschool basically forcing it upon me. I have seen advancements in my vocabulary, grammar, open-minded thinking and thankfully a clear idea of MLA formatting.
First entering the class, I wasn’t too much of a pro when it came to citations and elaborating on texts. Matter of fact, in Highschool I never had to do a Work Cited page, nor was an Annotated Bibliography required. So when introduced to it, I slowly started to see myself improve in formatting my writing. I learned when and where to add quotations from an article, that instead of using the quotes to say the whole point for you, paraphrase the text and carry on with your point afterward. My ‘How-To’ essay was where I really started to focus in on those little things, it was the first time I actually paid close attention to it too. Having often just written, quoted when I wanted and rambled on to the point that I wanted to prove instead of using the composers’ words as a benefitting tool. For this essay, I remember first making the Annotated Bibliography and fussing because I was simply foreign to it. Needleless to say, after completing that simple task, I found composing the paper; though it wasn’t my best work yet, much easier to interpret than ones I would’ve often written back in Highschool. I started to use similar tactics for my future writing assignments.
Though a miniature strategy, in this class I learned that marking up and putting post-it notes that expressed my thoughts when reading a novel, really benefited me; especially when having to go back to certain texts for in-class purposes. I use to think it unnecessary and would often put post-it notes but refrain so it wouldn’t look ‘too much’. When reading poems in class and even the short stories, questions were provided after reading them, ones that would require an in-depth look back on what we read. I found that highlighting, marking up and leaving little notes next to what I thought fascinating was very helpful for me to understand follow up questions and class discussions. Instead of relying on my memory it would simply just be there right in front of me. I practically marked up and highlighted all of the Bluest Eye when reading it, and have been doing it to all of the novels in my Great Books Western class for better interpretations and understanding; when reading Shakespear, one truly needs it.
Due to personal interest, I wish this class covered more on the structures of writing and the grammar aspect. I love writing but I struggle with grammar and punctuation due to minimal background of it, which is also due to me traveling to different schools for most of my childhood and missing a few of my middle school basic English classes due to medical reasons. It is always a section of my writing that I have always wished to strengthen, though due to age, it is not really stressed upon as it is in grade school. Still, there were portions of the class where we would go over rhetorical devices (Ethos, Pathos, Logos), sentence structures, and so on. All of the brief overview discussions we had in Writing and Rhetoric, I managed to take note of and it even helped me in other classes as well. Now I have a very strong understanding of these three rhetorical devices and could proudly raise my hand in my book class and say, “Hey, this sentence was more Logos than it was Ethos.”
All in all, I learned numerous things in this English class and enjoyed my time doing it. I was learning strategies every day that were beneficial to me and my writing with a professor that made it twice as enticing to gather said knowledge. It has taught me a strict organization for my writing and to think beyond the words provided in front of me. With these learned tactics, I have great hope for my future in English and feel that I have overcome a building block leading to more steps towards improvement.
Yours Truly,