Annie Gerspach

Looking Back
In high school I did not follow much of a writing process. I was confident in my
writing as a high school student, but it was always something that I dreaded doing. I
think the most upsetting part was that I lacked passion. I would write a draft, and
the final would not be much different from what I had originally written. This
course, however, completely changed my attitude towards writing. Thanks to Dr. Es
thoughtful course planning, every class was effectively aimed at helping us through
at least an aspect of one of the projects, whether it was preliminary research for our
research papers, analyzing TED talks to help prepare us for our presentations, or
going to the Snite Museum to warm up our analytical skills. It was as if Dr. E was
helping us develop our own writing processes, without even telling us! Because of
this, I was able to use the skills developed in class to create a piece of writing that I
was confident in and happy about. So, after getting my shitty first drafts out of the
way, I now find myself going back through my work and thinking about the skills
discussed in class. In my reflection for my first piece, the audio narrative, I had said
that revising was my least favorite part of the writing process. However, I now
appreciate my revising skills, as these skills help me decide how to best say
something in order to create a message, instead of just the easiest or fastest way.
Because of this thoughtful new process, I find myself putting more care and having
more pride in my writing, and I am confident that this portfolio demonstrates just
that, because each piece is carefully organized, eloquently worded, and precise in
order to form powerful arguments and effective persuasion.
My newfound appreciation for careful consideration of how to best say what I want
to say, as well the development of a writing process, has also helped me develop a
better understanding of rhetoric and argumentation. This course helped me realize
the importance writing as a form of rhetoric and argumentation, rather than seeing
writing as just an assignment that needs to be completed, and I feel that my
portfolio demonstrates this understanding. Rhetoric and argumentation require
there to be a rhetorical situation or problem, an audience, and a mutual
understanding or relationship between the writer and those he/she is writing to.
These rhetorical principles are most apparent in my research paper and TED talk,
which both discuss the same topic. I feel as if these two pieces strongly demonstrate
rhetorical and argumentative principles because the exigence (reality television
causing dangerous behaviors among college students) is very clear and effectively
explained, the research is very accurate, and the audience members are easily
identifiable. Overall, however, this portfolio is made up of 4 pieces of writing that
were all composed in order to persuade an audience of something that was
important to me, regarding situations, or issues, that are either prevalent in my life,
in film, or in todays society.
Although conducting research was always a bit of a drag in high school, this course
helped me appreciate the importance of research and critical thinking when

creating a piece of rhetoric. Although often making the writing process longer,
thinking and reading critically and using outside information definitely improved
the quality of my writing. Critically thinking and reading pushed me to write about
things that were important to be, but in a way that transformed my topics into
strong arguments. My writing pieces display a strong ability to synthesize ideas of
my own with analyses of facts, quotes, etc. of other researchers. Therefore, my
portfolio demonstrates a strong combination of my own critical research, reading
and thinking to produce well-supported arguments, and that is something I am very
proud of!
Multimedia has definitely played a positive role in the development of my reading,
writing, rhetoric, and research skills this semester. Multimedia is of course so
prevalent in our society, so it is only appropriate that it be incorporated in an
effective way in the classroom environment. The incorporation of multimedia into
this writing and rhetoric course made all critical processes more interesting and
captivating, making the development of such skills more appealing. Utilizing
multimedia, such as film, photographs, audio recordings, and a blog, definitely
allowed for more variety in the classroom and therefore a more interesting learning
experience. Because multimedia is so prevalent, it takes on a big role in terms of
serving as a form of rhetoric. The audio narrative, for example, emphasized how
rhetoric and argument is effective both in writing and even more so in speech.
Recording our own pieces highlighted the fact that as students, we were indeed
composing our own pieces of rhetoric, which made me feel pretty powerful and
sophisticated! Creating a rhetorical analysis essay based upon The Social Network
was another effective way of using multimedia in order to learn about rhetoric,
because it was a current, controversial film, which was interesting to both analyze
and then write about. Finally, the TED talk utilized all forms of multimedia, and
therefore all elements of the rhetorical process. Using presentation software,
photos, speech, writing, and film all together made for a very efficient, current,
effective way of producing a very cohesive body of work aimed at argument,
rhetoric, and persuasion. Creating rhetoric at all stages, through multimedia, is
definitely the best way to achieve positive learning outcomes, while relating all the
while to the courses content.
As the courses goal was to learn about the tools of and to study all aspects of
writing, rhetoric, research and media, each major project was well purposed to
touch upon at least one aspect of one of these topics. The audio narrative served as a
good start to our development of rhetorical skills. It was the first major step we took
in our progression as rhetors, as it invited us to make an argument, but an argument
we were comfortable with making, while still relating to the multimedia aspects of
the course. The rhetorical analysis was the first major step we took in the
development of our analytical skills on top of rhetorical skills. The rhetorical
analysis required both critical thinking and confidence, as we needed to develop an
argument of our own, pertaining to film (not one to our own lives, as the narrative
had allowed). The rhetorical analysis was also the first major project in which we
needed to include synthesis skills. These synthesis skills were further challenged

and required in our research paper. The research paper gave us even more
independence as writers, so it was a more challenging project. This challenge made
it more rewarding than the past projects had been. If the audio narrative was
sending us to writing and rhetoric kindergarten, the audio narrative was high
school, the research paper was college, and the TED talk was the real world. The
TED talk wrapped all the skills developed through the other projects into one. The
TED talk presentation combined all skills of critical thinking, writing and rhetoric as
it included and utilized all forms of multimedia, as well as all elements of the
rhetorical process. My writing reflects my mastery of the intended learning
outcomes of each assignment because all four pieces include personal experience,
when appropriate, my personal critical thinking, outside research when necessary,
and analysis of the conducted research. Most importantly, synthesis of all these
skills, combined with the use of multimedia, is demonstrated through out my whole
portfolio. The mastery of these skills is also apparent in my portfolio because as
each assignment built on the ones before it, as did my writing and rhetorical
techniques demonstrated in each one.
Although proud of all I have produced throughout this course, I am most proud of
my research paper, which argued how over exposure to negative behaviors on
reality television could result in the manifestation of similar, unfortunate behaviors
among students on college campuses. I am most proud of this work because I feel as
if it does a perfect job highlighting my strengths and growth as a writer through out
this course. I am also proud of how I was able to construct an original argument in
which I was interested in, but one that is also very relevant to the courses aims and
guidelines. I was impressed with my ability to synthesize an argument that had not
been widely made by other researchers. Because of this, it was crucial that I
synthesize information presented by multiple researchers in many different places
with the addition of my own critical thinking and analysis. I am also very proud of
how thoroughly I utilized and followed the writing process, and I think this paper
displays the strength of a project that can only be produced by doing so quite well.
Finally, the feedback I received from Dr. E on this project was very rewarding, as it
proved to me that I truly had become both a better writer and rhetor through my
ability to persuade and teach something new to a very successful and respectable
audience- I could not have done this without my professor! Thank you, Dr. E!