Chasity Kyles
Dr. Burmester
English 4320
April 28, 2014
Critical Reflective Essay
I began my studies at Georgia State University in the spring of 2011 with aspirations of completing an undergraduate degree program in English. I chose Rhetoric and Composition as my concentration for the purpose of challenging myself as a writer. Prior to attending, my writing consisted mostly of journal entries. I did not regularly perform rhetorical analysis, nor did I bother to revise for grammatical and punctuation errors. My journal writing decreased since attending school; however, I am now naturally conscious of syntax and the use of good diction. As a rhetoric student, I gained knowledge of rhetorical approaches to writing, and also acquired the skills needed to prepare me for a career in technical writing and blogging. In technical writing, these skills include writing for a particular audience, following constraints and guidelines, awareness of word choice, and proper editing. As a future blogger, I am better acquainted with how to incorporate my style and voice in blog posts. My portfolio is organized by semester as I reveal how specific assignments in these courses helped shape me into a well matured writer.
I took English 3080, my first rhetoric course, with Professor Cara Minardi in the spring of 2011. I entered this course with mediocre writing skills and very limited knowledge of rhetoric. I heard the term often, but I never completely understood its meaning. As a matter of fact, I struggled most with applying rhetorical theories to a text. For example, our first assignment consisted of analyzing the rhetorical situation of President Obama’s State of the Union Address. We were instructed to determine the rhetorical situation of the speech and provide examples supporting this claim. I chose this text for my portfolio because it displays my first unsuccessful attempt at applying rhetorical concepts. I did not fully understand the rhetorical situation, made lots of claims with little evidence, and provided incorrect examples of the parts of speech. Nevertheless, I became even more determined to figure this thing out. This class represents my introduction into rhetoric. Analyzing President Obama’s speech inspired me to approach all forms of text from a rhetorical standpoint.
Business Writing with Professor Crystal O’Neal during the same semester taught me the importance of accurately creating and designing professional documents. Mastering these skills assist me into emerging as a future job applicant. The instructions for “My Employment Project” consisted of first finding a job posting. Next, we were instructed to create a cover letter, write a resume, compose a thank you letter, and write a memorandum to Professor O’Neal evaluating our work ethic during this assignment. I included this text because it exhibits where I needed improvement on editing for format, grammatical errors, and style. Key concepts applied to the text include audience, constraints, purpose, rhetorical appeals, format, peer response, and reflection. Essentially, these skills benefit me as I apply for technical writing jobs in the near future. Professional documents I create will inform employers of my skills, include excellent word choices, and persuade employers to hire me. As a rhetoric student, this assignment coached me on how to apply expository and persuasive writing to professional documents needed for future job opportunities.
Additionally, Dr. Burmesters’ Introduction to Rhetoric course provided even more practice with using rhetorical strategies and appeals. In my portfolio, I included the late Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech. I chose this text for my portfolio because it reveals how my application of rhetorical concepts improved. Dr. Burmester advised us to create a summary of our analysis of the speech. She evaluated our engagement of ideas and conventions, and our judgment in our reflection. While analyzing this text, I realized that Jobs successfully composed this text for his primary audience, college graduates. Ethos and pathos both play key roles in Jobs’ speech. Ethos was established before he spoke one word because his name alone screams success. Jobs created a number of successful companies including Apple electronics and Pixar animation. Moreover, he evokes pathos by speaking of adoption as a young child, falling in love with his wife, and his battle with pancreatic cancer. This quote inspired me the most, “You’ve got to find what you love.” Since reading this speech, I have not forgotten these words. I have applied them to my own life, and I will say that it feels amazing.
Following an enlightening spring semester, the fall of 2012 measured up quite nicely. Document Design with Professor Melanie McDougald holds rank as one of my favorite rhetoric courses. In this course, Professor McDougald introduced a new, sophisticated way to tell stories through Digital Storytelling. As a final project, she required each student to create our own digital story. “My Digital Narrative” demonstrates my flexibility as I tell a story without using pen and paper. I created my story using MovieMaker to edit and add audio, images, and transitions. The intended goal for my story focuses on spreading positivity energy towards my class, and YouTube subscribers. I strengthened my pathos by adding an empowering message from Pastor Joel Olsteen and an empowering song by singer, Alicia Keys, entitled Girl on Fire. I used a series of quotes and images to share with my audience how speaking positive affirmations daily can help achieve happiness. I enjoyed this assignment because it reminded me a lot of writing in my journal except in a different medium. Similarly, I keep records of positive quotes and affirmations all throughout my journal for encouragement. Overall, I did fulfill the requirements of the assignment; however, I would have liked to experiment more with MovieMaker and other editing software programs. As a future blogger, digital stories would be a unique way to communicate with my followers.
In my senior year, the spring of 2014, Senior Seminar with Dr. Burmester represents the most influential course. This class combines everything I learned over the last four years. I included the “Erasmus” assignment in my portfolio because it intrigued me as I learned how to write better sentences. Dr. Burmester instructed us to choose one sentence and then compose 25 new sentences imitating Desiderius Erasmus’ On Copia technique. I selected this sentence, “Miracles make people skeptic because there is a strong probability that the miracles could not be sent from God.” In one of the revised sentences, I simply substituted synonyms for each word. I stated that, “Supernatural occurrences coerce humankind to be agnostic for the sake of a vigorous anticipation such marvel could not be appointed by the Divine Being.” This sentence sounds a lot more educated. The audience for this assignment would consist of writers and students. I enjoyed the option of altering my sentence to create a better one. Word choice, rearrangement of words, and parts of speech are all simple ways to improve the quality of my sentences.
Over the last four years, I learned how to become a better writer, reader, editor, analyst, critical thinker, and rhetorician. I began my studies with limited knowledge of rhetoric. In my first semester, I informed a former classmate that Rhetoric and Composition was my concentration. She laughed at me and told me that she changed because it was too “tedious.” From that moment forward, I knew I made the right choice. I wanted to learn something I never experienced. My concentration challenged me as a writer, and taught me writing techniques I would not experience otherwise. Today, I can say that I have grown tremendously. I have gained specific knowledge and experience through the application of rhetorical concepts, critique, peer review, reflection, professional documents, digital narratives, research, and the creation of expository and persuasive essays. This is knowledge that I could definitely utilize in my career as a Technical Writer and blogger. Currently, my idea of “good writing” shifted from an “average’ paper that simply fulfilled all requirements, into a more style-based and audience guided text. This concentration educated me on how to approach any text I produce or read by finding the rhetorical situation, performing an analysis of style, edit using Erasmus’ strategies for copia, and reflecting on the text in order to draw conclusions. I made the best choice for me, and it was well worth it.