Candice James
English 1010
Negley, 2A
May 7, 2014
Rhetorical Reflection
While writing this essay I felt pretty confident in some parts of the process but in others
not so much. One of the main problems I had was finding rhetorical choices to point out in the
article without constantly using pathos. In addition I had a slight problem at the beginning with
not being able to input my opinion throughout my essay. On top of that problem I struggled with
my thesis, in fact I think that was what I had the most difficulty with. I didn’t know how to
change the outline you gave us and make it my own. Therefore I was stuck using almost the
same sentence structure.
Although I struggled throughout the essay, today when I turned it in I felt more confident
than I did originally. When I couldn’t find rhetorical choices I looked back at all the essays we
had read and looked online for more rhetorical choices then the basic three. Once I did that I
found it easier to find the authors struggles throughout the article. When I found myself putting
my opinion in the essay I reminded myself that it’s about the structure of the essay and not the
topic and that helped me. Since the thesis paragraph was the hardest for me I made sure to
constantly ask for help for my peers. Doing so I found it a lot easier to write my thesis and make
it more of my own and not someone else’s.
While writing this essay my understanding on rhetorical analysis and rhetorical choices
grew. The first day we talked about ethos, logos, and pathos I knew very little. From that day on
though my understanding grew as we read several essays and engaged ourselves in writing the
outlines to the essays. I learned the most while doing the outlines, in fact since we had broken
down several essays it was easier to write my outline because I knew exactly what you wanted. I
also learned a lot the first day we wrote a part of our essay. While writing the counterclaim I
remember most of the essay and what was expected all made sense.
During the essay I encountered several surprises, but some things did go according to
plan. My rhetorical choices ended up completely changing which surprised me but it’s because I
finally understood what was expected. My conclusion surprisingly went according to plan and I
think it was one of my better paragraphs. Surprisingly my rhetorical choices came together and
made sense and were strong. I always struggle with my introduction and so I found it
surprisingly that my introduction got such positive feedback.
Although I did turn in my final draft I think parts of it still could have used some more
work. I believe my summary of the article could use more work. I struggled with the article
because I believe it just repeated itself. Since it was repetitive I struggled to summarize it and not
be repetitive myself, so I think the summary could use some more work. In addition, I think my
last rhetorical choice could use work as well. It wasn’t as strong and clear as the other two. It
could use more examples and I could be clearer on why the quotes support my topic. Overall I
am proud that I continually worked at my essay even when I didn’t understand.
Struggling and excelling in certain areas of my essay is always common for everyone. In
this essay I continually struggled with being repetitive, which is common for me in all my
writing pieces. For example in my first rhetorical choice paragraph I say the same thing but in
different words. In this essay I believe I caught myself most of the time when doing being
repetitive. I continually struggled with summarizing my article which I pointed out in the
paragraph above. For example in the thesis introduction paragraph I continually am repeating
myself and the summary is fairly short in length. I think it is a one of my most obvious
weaknesses.
I was confident in my introduction because I felt as if it was clear and introduced the
article well. At the beginning my rhetorical choices struggled but by the final draft I believe they
were one of my strengths. Another strength that I think is obvious is my conclusion. If you read
it, it is clear and well written. It explains all my “hows” of my topic sentences fairly clear. One of
the weaknesses of my conclusion is that I use a lot of the similar words as the 30 little turtles. In
doing this I believe I lost the credibility of making that paragraph mine. Overall I believe my
essay was pretty good, there were weaknesses and could use more work but I believe I did my
best and now understand the rhetorical analysis process.