Throughout English and Rhetoric 101 my skills as a writer and thinker have come a long way. Starting off in STP I knew I was capable of doing the work, it was just going to take far longer than what would work In a 4 week class.With very little time to develop and essay and revise I was pushed to learn how to do the best I can in the time I have. Each writing assignment allowed me to apply myself in different ways finding my strengths and weaknesses so that I know what I need to work on. This class also brought on some first-time experiences for me that were interesting to say the least.
We kicked the first week of STP off with an eye-opening wake up call. College writing was nothing like high school, our first six-page paper was due in three days. In high school, I would have had closer to a month to do the same assignment. Fortunately, the topic was personal so I had plenty to write about, it was just a matter of time management to get it done. Those first few days really got me worried about how the rest of the class would be if this was only the beginning. I made it through with better organization skills and a more thoughtful drafting process rather than just jump right into writing.
Writing a rhetorical analysis was by far the hardest part of STP. A few weeks ago, I would not have even been able to take a guess at what a rhetorical analysis is. The challenge was to analyze a piece of reading and identify the purpose and what made it effective. I had to read over and over searching for examples of unfamiliar topics such as ethos, pathos, and logos. This assignment may have been my least favorite one, but by far the most helpful in developing my writing skills and reading. I learned to pay better attention to words and pick up on the meaning behind because it is not always clear and up front. I learned to set up my ideas with facts and evidence from the reading that shows how I came to my opinion.
My third essay in this class was interesting because it allowed to dig into the computer science major and get a feel for it before matriculating. Growing up, everyone finds their “group” of people that they fit in and no one thinks twice about it. Being in this class has shown me that there is a lot more to it than just finding people. There is an art in the language of discourses which I find very interesting to learn about.
I feel that my writing abilities are much greater after just four weeks but some areas still have room to grow. Fully developing my argument with evidence in text will continue to challenge me for a while. I can pull information stands out to me but it does not always pertain to my point or help me prove. I need to work finding key point that really show I know I what I am talking about. Knowing that this is one of my weakness before entering the rat line makes almost a strength. I know for later that I need focus on breaking down material to find supporting evidence. The best advice I can give myself is to just take the time to understand what kind of information I am looking for and focusing gathering it before I write.
The Benefits of STP
ERH 101, Section 1
Date due: 28 July 2017
Date Sub.: 28 July 2017
Paper No.1
Help received: Peer response
With Joe Krockmalny, Chris Ferrill, Travis, The Every-writer,
LTC Ticen, Thomas Branch.
I really like this introduction; I feel that you summarized STP in a different way that I would, but I completely agree. The analysis of language you mentioned is something I also found interesting, because it sheds light on how people act, and why some are more capable of grabbing audiences and some are not. I also felt the same way you did at the end of our first essay, and I too was scared for what was next. I believe our ideas of how the class was going to go were not right, and it was much easier than I thought.