Final Reflection

Rhetorical Knowledge

So in my inquiry paper I included information that readers most likely are not aware of.
For instance, I inform my readers that during the Civil Rights Era segregation helped to prevent
sterilization of Black women. That knowledge is most likely not known to many people so I
incorporated it to bring knowledge about that era into an understanding for readers who most
likely wasnt alive during that time. I also take an understanding of my audience and in turn use
wording and phrases that are understandable for my directed audience. Using words like
eugenics and appendectomies without any definition or explanation is unacceptable in terms of
rhetoric. I then in turn explain these terms in detail or in a way that is easily interpreted to help
my audience understand what exactly Im talking about without having to have any prior
knowledge of the topic. Im also able to understand rhetorical situations in other writing as well
i.e. the Birmingham Letter by stating his intended audience and also the area and situation he
was in physically, and I kept in mind the time period of which he wrote this and knew by his
language he used he was in an earlier time period.

Critical Reading
 When using critical reading it can sometimes be difficult especially if
the person who is writing doesnt formulate their ideas in a way that is
understandable to you as a reader. Another hang-up an individual can have
is if it pertains to a person you know i.e. me with my classmate. In his
paragraph of en plein air writing, he tries to incorporate different senses and
I had to judge and critique him on his uses of it. I begin by reading his
passage and I then analyze the context of the situation like guidelines or
what he is trying to accomplish. I add in a couple good aspects of what the
individual writes. Then I explain what can be improved upon. In his writing,
he doesnt incorporate a sense of taste so I critique him on that missing
aspect. Then I see areas that can be more descriptive to add detail. I then
critique on punctuation and help correct grammar to help him learn and also
point out the weaknesses of his paper that can be improved to strengthen it.
When critically reading the letter to Birmingham I analyzed the pathos logos
and ethos of the letter and graded how well these were used. I the use of
examples in his letter to show how he brings in an ethos voice in his writing. I
then continue on to say that he effectively uses ethos to persuade a group of
people into a way of thinking. So when analyzing and using critical reading
the main purpose that I perfected is the critiquing aspect of it and the ability
to take the main points from a reading to help me better comprehend it.
Knowledge of Conventions
 When brought into contact with knowledge of conventions, taught
intensively throughout school in the guise of grammar, I always seem to
make the best use of it. I can easily use punctuations to end sentences, and I
know a lot about placement of commas. Im skilled enough in basic
conventions to the point that I can even create mood or change perceptions
readers have of my writing. For example, in my use of quotation marks when
saying an original idea, I allowed myself to allow a familiarity between me
and my readers. The incorporation of these quotation marks created a sense
of me actually talking directly to them as a means to incorporate them into
the paper also. When writing my essay on creative influences my use of
periods and short sentences helped develop the mood of the essay. When
faced with these brief and frequent pauses I know that my readers begin to
feel a suspenseful and terrifying feel. Before it talked about my heartbeat in
the paper, then using frequent pauses I imitated the beating of my heart to
really draw in the readers. By incorporating quotation marks into the paper I
helped to question the readers own morals and stances on what I was
talking about. The use of strategic convention placement helps to really
develop your style and I feel I perfected this idea in my writing throughout
the course.
Composing Process
 During my time with the composing process, I always received great
feedback from my peers and even the addition of my teachers comments.
Many comments actually led me in a different direction than originally
planned. For example, in my inquiry thesis rough draft one of my peers
pointed out that I should include the addition of a definition for an important
word to incorporate into my paper. Eugenics was used in my rough draft as
an important term but I did not add an explanation. So I included a definition
in my own words that that many people who read the paper would
understand exactly what eugenics was without ever hearing the word before.
My teacher also commented that I need to begin incorporating more
historical context like dates and time ranges so people who read my paper
would be able to discern the rhetorical context. So, in my second revision I
included historical context by incorporating dates and ranges where major
events happened for my topic. I then incorporated more context on the part
where blacks were targeted by white physicians and stated that that
segregation actually protected black women from sterilization. I incorporated
the the mindsets of people in the current America. When receiving these
comments, it really helped me to improve my paper indefinitely. When
having a lot of different suggestions, you actually begin to receive different
voices and ideas that you couldnt formulate yourself. So, the composing
process is an important step in writing to help not only me to improve my
writing, but also for my readers to obtain a better understanding of my
topic.
Critical Reflection

During writing the reflection for my inquiry I began to take on an

understanding of what I truly was writing about. When confronted with the
truth about how I felt about the topic I was researching it caused me to
change the stance I had for the topic. The the reflection process for this part
of the project caused me to actually review what I had wrote and how I
actually felt about sterilization. Until I had written the reflection my wording
and context was mainly based off of factual information I had and didnt
really incorporate my voice, but once I began to see my stance after
reflecting I began to incorporate more of my voice. When incorporating my
voice into the inquiry thesis I found myself returning to the reflection to
remember exactly what my stance was on the topic I was writing about. So
in part reflecting on the topic caused me to reflect on my viewpoints of the
topic which in turn granted me a way to create a stance on a topic I
previously had no stance on. With the studio 1 however, reflecting really
didnt change how I understood the passage or caused me to change an
idea. It instead helped me to concentrate on the most important aspects of
the studio 1. With this concentration of ideas, I was able to formulate an
understanding of what studio 1 was trying to teach us, and that
understanding allowed me to capitalize on that understanding and
information which helped me improve my comprehension of Studio 1.