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Throughout this semester, I’ve primarily learned how to imbed rhetorical appeals in my writing using different figures of speech to further persuade the audience. However, it came with its own set of challenges. For instance, I began my writing process by freely writing disregarding the rhetorical appeals. The issue arose when I had to include them, because  the flow of the writing would be unnatural and seemed forced. 

In the beginning of Phase One, we explored and analyzed, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations” by writing about our history with language and/or literacy and reading different essays and pieces. I used pathos to appeal towards the emotions of the reader which, in comparison to the future phases, I struggled with its use the least. I wrote an essay that was personal and emotional, relating to my immigration and the complications that came with it. Everyone speaks a language; however, some people must be able to speak more than one whether it is at home, school, work, etc. Learning a new way of communicating, especially in a foreign place, unable to understand anyone, can bring shame and lack of belonging. Coming forth and speaking up concerning these feelings is difficult, but it gives an opportunity for authors to have an outlet to release pent up emotions. Simultaneously inspiring their audience who may have felt like a black sheep during their obstacles.

               While I concentrated on the perspective of an immigrant child, immigrant parents also go through a multitude of problems while trying to adjust to a new culture. This is most prevalent in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” as she states:

“It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken,” as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness and soundness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions of the limited English speaker.”(Tan)

Tan shines a light towards non-native speakers, especially first-generation immigrants, due to their inability to speak “proper” English. As the first Course Learning Objective states, this idea of speaking “broken” English oppresses language users. It undermines the difficulty that comes with learning a different one. Expecting flawlessness when one must adapt by learning a new way of speaking, writing, and reading is unrealistic and unfair. No one’s way of speaking should be looked down upon, regardless of its grammar as it does not symbolize perfection. Tan’s piece resonates with minorities, allowing them to feel empowered by its raw and vulnerable writing.

In addition, we learned how to “compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation,” in an op-ed. Prior to class we were told to read an article by Nathan J. Robinson, “The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free.” During the freewriting in the beginning of class, we wrote down our thoughts on what we read and shared them. There were a variety of opinions regarding paywalls, including both the benefit and harm. As a result, the consensus of the class was: paywalls exist to pay for information itself, as well as paying the person(s) who contributed accordingly. The issue comes with the limitation of being able to acquire the information when one cannot afford it. 

This little time period aided us in the next phase since we had to choose an argument to respond to using rhetorical strategies. I could not find a topic to focus on and jumped from three different ones because there was no article I found interesting. I ended up choosing to disagree with a blog on “Why Schools Shouldn’t Have Homework” by Isabelle Benson because I used to agree with that statement. I introduced the topic, summarized her argument, analyzed her targeted audience and overall purpose.The next portion required we respond to the text, and I drove my attention towards ethos as it uses credibility and authority to prove a point. Having been a full-time student all my life allows me a first-hand point of view of  the harm abundant amounts of homework can cause. I used my position to also demonstrate that homework itself is not the issue, instead it is the large portions of homework that teachers give. I prove this by stating the benefits of homework such as being able to understand the content more thoroughly.  The final part of Phase Two was to choose another genre to respond to. I made a simple meme based on a famous internet sensation as it’s easy to understand, humorous, and still relates to my intended audience.

Phase Three was more time-consuming, yet somehow ended up being easier than the previous assignment. Since this was a research essay, we had to take a stance on a topic to persuade our audience. A familiar and controversial issue is abortion which ties in with women’s rights, which I had written about before. Abortion is an issue that has been battled for years; many forms of studies, surveys, and statistics have been done to determine if it is harmful or beneficial, prompting me to use logos. I had a hard time finding information that directly correlated with my subject matter, while not being biased. Some credible sources which were driven by facts consisted of: Planned Parenthood, Children’s Rights, and Harvard.  It’s also important to “locate research sources”. An example is if the date on a bill or court case is accurate, you would go to multiple sources and verify the date. In order to give proper credit to these research sources, citations are mandatory. During class we “practice systematic application of citation conventions” and go over different forms; however, I found Chicago confusing and I have always used MLA format since middle school, so it was a no-brainer for me to use it in my ‘Citations’ page. 

Throughout this entire semester, after we have written an essay, we always collaborate with a classmate to do peer review. We read each other’s paper, give feedback, and, on our own time, revise and edit our paper to be better than before. This is a helpful process as it gives us the opportunity to share our paper with someone and have another pair of eyes read to gain more insight.  To give you an idea on my experience, I focused a lot of attention on my introductory paragraph, which included way too much information. Simply put, the paragraph was lengthy and boring. I did not take this response in a negative way because when I reviewed it, I realized many people would lose their attention to heavy amounts of information.