Part One:

Rhetorical Knowledge is important to writers because you must focus

on a purpose. With rhetorical knowledge you can focus on a purpose,
respond to the needs of various audiences, and respond appropriately
to different kinds of rhetorical situations. This skill is important in order
dissect different bodies of work and to analyze exactly what kind of
audience youre writing for. Depending on the audience the writer will
have to adopt a certain level of formality. Using the appropriate tone is
vital to an outstanding paper. Depending on the genre the way you
read or write can be affected. Its of the upmost importance to write
with genre in mind! For example during our readers guide we used an
electronic medium so we have to keep in mind the rules of reading on
the internet, using a lot of multimodal elements and presenting your
primary information first.
Part Two:
Critical Reflection is crucial to becoming a successful student. Critical
reflection allows ones to analyze the choices they made and to make
revisions and ensure reflection leads to learning. Through critical
reflection we can extend our thoughts by looking back at our actions
sometime after theyve taken place. We practice critical reflection
without realizing it mostly. There are reflections through summaries,
reviews, diaries, and even just recording ones thoughts on various
experiences. Critical reflection has been apart of all of our lives from a
very early age. Weve been reflecting since primary school and we will
continue to reflect into our adult lives and professional careers.
Teachers, doctors, lawyers and more use reflection as a means of
learning, thinking, and communicating. The ability to reflect is a skill
that is cultivated over time. How reflective someone can become is
dependent upon that person and their individual experiences.
However, encountering the right learning experiences can build
reflective skills in any individual. Critical reflection is key to growth.
Without reflecting on ones thoughts, actions, and writing you will be
unable to grow and produce higher-level responses and elevated
thinking. Internal and external sources both play a role in the quality of
reflection, in order to learn one must want to.
Part Three:
Knowledge of conventions is extremely important because we need
formal guidelines and rules to govern how we write. Whether the rules
are formal or informal each genre must stick to the status quo. In a
scientific scholarly article there shouldnt be informal language or
incorrect usage of words. However, if youre writing in a diary you can

use informal language to your hearts content. Knowledge of

conventions is especially applicable in the teaching world. Teachers
must provide text that use appropriate language and they must deliver
reflections that analyze things such as mechanics, usage, spelling, and
citation processes. If it werent for knowledge of conventions we
couldnt have specific legal documents, scholarly journals, or even
blogs. Without these rules our writing would be all over the place
without a clear genre for categorizing and dissecting the things we
read and write. Knowledge of conventions are found everywhere
differing from the billboards we read to the text messages we receive
daily. Similar to critical reflection, knowledge of conventions starts at
an early age. Spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are easy for
young students to see and correct, these are the first conventions.
Students learn to edit their writing and then the rest follows naturally.
Knowledge of conventions are especially important because adults
today struggle with the proper usage of your and youre. We must
know how to format different kinds of text as the technological demand
increases for millennial children. Were eradicating paper and If we
dont know how to write we surely dont know how to type.
Part Four:
Rhetorical Knowledge
Before this course I was enrolled in an AP Literature and AP Language
classes in my junior and senior year respectively. Being enrolled in
these classes prior to this course Ive gained some experience with
rhetorical analysis and language and composition. In these classes
weve covered ethos, logos, and pathos, which exposed me to the
mechanics that are behind the papers we write. These experiences
have helped me understand this learning outcome and have only
furthered my understanding once we dove deeper into the writing
processes. Many of our critical reflections have enabled me to practice
this learning outcome, and analyze my diction and word choice to see
which strategies create an effective voice to reach out to my
audiences.
Critical Reading
Ive implemented critical reading in my life from a very early stage.
Ive always had a natural affinity to read and retain information so with
this gift Ive honed my skills over the course of my academic career.
The grades leading up till now have been stepping stones for a solid
foundation covering the majority of our SLOs. In elementary school we
had AR test which required students to read books then answer
multiple questions on the readings to Asses comprehension. I believe
the AR test were the sole reason I was able to read critically. Always
being enrolled in advanced literature courses I was taught to immerse
myself fully in each book I read, visualizing the pages and questioning

why the author wrote the way they did. In this course our literacy
inquiry was an amazing way to get students to read and think critically.
Analyzing our own literacy journeys helped me to pin point several
events in my life that got me to the critical thinking level Ive achieved
today.
Composing Processes
After attending public high school Ive written hundreds of papers over
the course of my academic career. Consequently Ive been exposed to
various composing processes to jump start papers. Each process
varying differently has enabled me to culminate aspects from each one
to create my own unique composition. My writing has been influenced
by each literature teacher Ive ever had and theyve left an impression
on my writing. This course has been effective in finding ways to
conceptualize our writing without making it seem so dreadful. Writing
various prompts and putting them together has been a super efficient
way to get ideas down on paper and to combat deadlines. Through this
course and others Ive been able to adapt composing processes to
different context and occasions and various genres of writing. Ive
become more flexible now and I can develop ideas through more
questions, which enable me to complete research papers faster.
Knowledge of Conventions
The sole fact that I participated in so many English courses has help
me mold my knowledge of conventions. Talking to various audiences
and writing about multiple genres has built up a library of information
for my to pull from. The more you write the more knowledge you can
gain about various conventions. If I hadnt wrote half of the papers I did
I probably wouldnt know many of the things I do about genre,
language, or formatting. In middle school I remember joining the
debate team for a brief period of time, which taught me about political
correctness. Even in courses outside of English I learned about
conventions. Psychology courses helped me realize that when you talk
to certain people you must use a certain voice and jargon. Very similar
to how we switch voices according to the genre were writing and the
audiences were writing for. In this course when we studied activity
systems it helped to see where conventions could really come into
play.
Critical Reflection
Throughout my academic career Ive been ordered to reflect on almost
every assignment Ive completed. Even on test were ordered to look
back over our work, which is a primary example of reflection.
Reflection is important to growth, because we cant grow from our
mistakes if we dont understand why we made them. Reading complex
books from a young age I had many questions about things authors

said, reflection enabled me to look back and read context clues in

order to understand the things I was curious about. During this course
our literacy journey project was the epitome of critical reflection.
During this project we went back to birth to figure out how weve
molded our literacy into what it is today. Even this invention exercise is
a reflection within itself. Internal and external sources both play a role
in the quality of reflection, in order to learn one must want to. The
ability to reflect on a topic has a correlation to how much one already
knows. If the learners information for a topic is limited then there is a
lesser chance to relate new information to it. This course has enabled
me to gain knowledge about various topics in order to reflect
effectively on them.