Final Portfolio

Final Portfolio

Starting College is a difficult adventure. That is why Rhetoric 110 being one of my first classes was so significant. Not only did this class expose me to new forms of communication and educate me on more professional ways of writing, but I also learned how to navigate college through going through this class as a test run. Going to college for the first time is very challenging, because you have to work hard in your classes, make all new friends, get used to a new area and completely take care of yourself. This makes it hard to prioritize your time. For me, all this stress results in myself neglecting responsibilities when it seemed like I could. Rhetoric 110 Written Communication as one of my first classes had a drastic effect in how I developed over the semester. This class focused on teaching communication. I learned new aspects that will make my writing more successful such as using ethos, logos and pathos. What was interesting and drew my attention in this class was how we were exposed to new forms of communication. We studied communication in the form of letters, articles and graphic novels. I expected that I wouldn’t learn much in this class, and that it would be just like my English class last year. I was wrong. My knowledge for how to communicate with different aspects greatly expanded when I was exposed to those new forms of commination. I absolutely became a better writer and gained a better understanding of what makes good rhetoric. This class also demanded time and responsibility, so it taught me a lot about how to manage my time and navigate the stressful life of college. This class that required a lot of my effort forced me to come to terms with College and get prepared. I will explain my journey through this class by first explaining where I started, then all the details of my progression and wrap up where I am now and what I have learned.

            When I started this class I thought I knew everything there was to know about writing. Over senior year my writing skills dramatically changed to the point where I felt I was good enough. During senior year I had to write college essays. I over did the college process as my obsessive-compulsive personality does from time to time so that I applied to twenty-one colleges. I had to write countless essays because of the huge number of colleges I applied too. Between the months of September and January I think I wrote and ensured that 15 essays were as perfect as they could get. My writing skills changed tremendously from the start of that writing period to the finish, where when I finished perfecting 15 essays I was a much better writer. Here is an example of two of the essays: … I then went on and finished out the year and absorbing my last bit of high school knowledge. When I came to college I thought I had learned all the skills on writing. I thought I was a master at writing argumentative 5 paragraph thesis essays. However, I soon discovered that I was completely wrong. I learned so many new things throughout the year and was introduced to so many different types of wiring, besides thesis writing. This in the end changed the way I thought and wrote me last argumentative essay in this class. I started the school year writing like this… and I ended writing like this… Follow me through the journey of how this class changed the way I read, write and think.

       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.

1)    Challenges and Success—point out how I will use artifacts

2)    How the collaborative group helped me and how I lived up to it

3)    What I was exposed too—with examples batman MLK letters, etc.

4)    How I developed with what I was exposed too--- with examples of my work and reading notes

5)    How this class prepared me for life

Show slides of my work prior to this class and explanation of my previous education

Show draft of writing assignment and where I was when I wrote it

Show revised draft, which proves progression

Show examples of my challenges and successes

Show examples of working in a group

Show what types of communication I was exposed

Show how being introduced to those forms of communication with examples

Paragraph on how this class prepared me for life and how I want to further develop as a reader, thinker and writer.