Excerpts from Successful Reflective Self-Assessments
excerpt 1
In my rhetorical analysis I effectively demonstrated my knowledge of the importance of targeting values according to the appropriate audience. I effectively identify Bohlin’s main audience (evangelical Christians) and pinpoint where he is directly targeting this audience and their values: “In many instances within his argument, he makes references to God and the belief his audience shares with him. He explains that the small embryos are ‘already of infinite value to God’ (Bohlin 2001). This is a clear appeal to audience values.”
excerpt 2
With the final copy of the Deliberative Essay, I cut the whole Rick Reilly paragraph based on his satire that he wrote in Sports Illustrated. I decided to cut it because: A., it didn’t add anything to the paper, and B., it repeated some of my earlier arguments. Deleting this unnecessary material shows demonstrates that I now can critique my own work and employ revision strategies.
excerpt 3
The third piece I would like to share is a letter I wrote to the people of Sao Paolo giving reasons why they should advocate environmentalism. This was something different from any other composition I wrote in this class.
I felt that this letter allowed me to write to an audience more diverse than I have ever written to. Almost everything I have ever written was aimed to impress a teacher. I was trying to meet a certain number of words about a certain subject, all while unnecessarily trying to sound as intelligent as possible. This time, I actually thought about the audience for the letter. I thought about what they would want to read and how they would want to read it. I felt that these people would want to read something sincere, and to the point. I asked myself questions about what they wanted. I asked myself how I could appeal to them.
Having tried to place myself in their shoes, I wrote a letter about the things that I thought they would be concerned about. I came to conclude that job stability, job quantity, income, family and country were all important components of a great life. So I wrote, “The industry is quickly picking up interest, meaning high demand for these positions. Holding a job will ensure stable income and will open doors to new and exciting careers in the future.” I wanted to appeal to their interests, so that they would agree with mine. I said, “This is a chance to make Sao Paolo a better place for both you and your children.” By appealing to the well-being of the family, I hoped to convince the people of Sao Paolo that environmentalism could only help them.
excerpt 4
Having rhetorical sensitivity means that you are able to change your paper to fit the audience you are trying to send a message to. This is an area that I need to keep watching and getting better at because when I write I don’t necessarily think about the audience and who will be reading this, which I need to keep in mind. I hold on to paragraphs that may not actually need to be there or serve a justified purpose in my paper, like the paragraph about my friend, Hannah, in my personal essay. If I could find ways to incorporate it more into my paper it would be ok, but I need to learn to let go of paragraphs that may be written well, but don’t add much of anything to my whole purpose of the paper.
excerpt 5
To be completely honest, I think my grammar has improved at a slightly, to drastically slower pace than my actual creativity with writing. However, my awareness of the audience when writing a persuasive piece has soared from the narrowness of my personal essay to the calculated consideration in my deliberative essay. As I look at my in class writings from the beginning of class and those later on I see dramatic differences in the form of increased scribbling and correction. I don’t necessarily consider this a positive thing, but I certainly consider it a step towards really thinking about my writing and making it great.