The Midterm

     My journey through Rhetoric 110, Written Communication, has been eventful. Over the summer, when I discovered which Rhetoric class I would be in I was disappointed. As Media Studies major I needed to be in Rhetoric 130, in order to take Intro to Media Studies. To my displeasure I was placed into rhetoric 110, based on my SAT score. Not only was I not able to take any classes in my major, but I also felt inferior. I wasn't good enough for myself, and I was worried that I wouldn't learn anything in this lesser class. To my surprise I have learned new aspects of writing that I had never heard of, lessons I would not except to be important and an untraditional yet vitally important lesson. I have become confident with using ethos, pathos and logos and many other writing styles, learned the importance of revising, and gained confidence. I will demonstrate how I learned the rhetorical moves through my post of when I first was explaining my understanding of it, an example of my annotations of it on the Gettysburg Address, another post showing my further understanding of it, and my Personal Letter showing my excellent use of them. I will then reveal how I learned the importance of revising through how my instructors comments and my revised Personal Draft. In the end of my portfolio I discussed how I gained my confidence through working with the writing tutors, and how it has affected me as a writer. I provide my Analytical Review to show specifically what I gained my confidence on. This Portfolio demonstrates to my classroom community how much I have learned and progressed as a writer this semester, and why Rhetoric 110 is vital for everyones learning process. 

Learning New Methods Of Writing

One of the first lessons I learned in Rhetoric class was the rhetorical moves ethos logos and pathos. These were new concepts to me, but I learned them quickly. After We discussed them in class we wrote a post about how we used them. I feel that I had a very good understanding of what they were, when I wrote about how I used the rhetorical moves.

Studying the readings in class and seeing how powerful authors used these rhetorical moves helped me understand how to use them.

As I learned more in class as I was able to comprehend how these rhetorical moves made the writings so powerful, as I did in my reaction to Douglass's narrative. I was then able to inhibit these moves into my writing. In my Personal Letter I mastered the use of ethos, logos, and pathos. The fact that I had never heard of these terms before this class, but was able to use them so effectively in my paper show how much I have progressed.

Learning How Important Revising Is

I never thought revising was that important. Of course editing and revising your paper before turning it in is essential, but I had never rewritten a paper after turning it in. For my midterm portfolio we were supposed to revise a paper. So I revised my Personal Letter since I thought it would be the best representative of my writing, and fixing it would be most useful to me. It absolutely was. I read the comments professor Lotspeich wrote, and used them to rewrite my paper. I completely agree with everything Professor Lotspeich suggested, and my new Personal Letter is much stronger. Revising that Letter actually helped me become a better writer. I have been confused as to how much I should use commas, and when is the appropriate time. Reading his comments on how I over used them, and after rewriting and seeing how much of a difference it made, I realized that I must to use fewer commas. Instead of learning how to write for a specific assignment this method of revising, and discovering what my weakness is as a writer helped me progress in my writing skills. I also discovered that I need to address the audience more in my conclusion, another skill I will remember. This class taught me how important revising is, since it helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, and makes you a better writer in the future. 

Gaining My Confidence 

While confidence may seem like a minor and unusual lesson to be learned in a rhetoric class, it proved to be vitally important for me as a writer. The moments I gained my confidence were both in the writing center. During my Personal Letter drafting process I was worried I didn't have enough ethos or logos. When I brought my paper in my tutor loved it. He showed me how I did in fact use logos and ethos effectively throughout the paper, and many other ways it worked well. He explained to me my strengths as a writer as well as what I needed to work on. When I wrote my Analytical Review paper I was terrified that I was writing it wrong. I was confused with the structure and positive that my paper was horrible. When I brought it into the writing lab I was happily surprised again to here that my what I doubted was actually successful. He explained to me how the structure I was using was effective, and helped me plan how I was going to finish the paper. He told me how much he liked my writing style and successful it was.  Hearing that my papers were better then I thought they were, and that I was a great writer was influential. I became confident in myself and started taking more joy out of writing. That is important because when you truly enjoy something you work hard and produce great work. Before I would get distraught that I had no idea what I was doing, and had a hard time getting into my papers. After gaining my confidence I have been able to follow my instincts and give my writing everything I have in order for it to be the best it can. 

As you can tell, my journey through this class has been riddled with events that will shape my writing forever. I have learned the fundamental rhetorical moves that create powerful papers. I have learned the importance in revising even after a paper is turned it. I gained my confidence, which will support me by giving me the courage to keep working and write freely, in order to write the best possible written communications. This class has not been too easy for me or a waste of time. This class has taught me so much about written communication, and I am excited to see where the future of this class teaches me.

Well developed

Developed

Well developed 

Developed 

Well developed

Developed