TO: Amanda Amstutz

FROM: Joshua Darnell

SUBJECT: Reflection
DATE: December 4, 2015
This past semester in English 219, we have completed many assignments that are
applicable to my business degree. Not only to my job after I receive my degree, but all these
skills might be used at any time during my college stay. Whether its a paper due, or simply
sending an email to a professor these skills will be crucial in order to stay professional. Some of
the things we have learned this semester including this portfolio are how to properly write
emails, memorandums, application letters, resumes, proposals, instruction sets, a portfolio, and
much more. Throughout these different mediums of communication we employed the same five
canons in order to complete our papers without leaving out anything critical such as considering
who the targeted audience is. These five canons are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and
delivery.
The first canon might possibly be the most important canon of all. This canon is
invention which is the process of brainstorming what the person wants to write about. This canon
is so important because any paper that is not well thought out, might as well not be written. If I
dont think papers out first then I will leave out a lot of information that I will wish I had
inserted. A couple of ways we brainstormed this semester was during group projects we
discussed as a group what each person wanted to write over, we wrote small writing assignment
and completed discussion boards that helped develop what we were going to write in our MWA,
and we researched different topics. One example of this research was before I wrote my MWA 3
I researched extensively highway US 82. This will be effective in the future because if I need to
make a report or write a paper for my job or school I want it to be well thought out. I dont want
to just wing it, and lose my job because of it.
The next canon is arrangement. Arrangement is how the writer outlines his document, or
the order he arranges his facts in. How the document is arranged definitely has an effect on the
effectiveness of the document is. One example of this is if someone were to discuss a topic for
five pages, and not give a fact to support their arguments until the very end then the first four and
a half pages lose their effectiveness. One example of how I deployed arrangement this semester
is when we receive a basic outline that we should follow from the book before writing our
assignments, I would modify my work and the outline to fit each other in a way that would bring
out the full effectiveness of my work. This will help me out in the future because if I ever need to
give a presentation for my job, then I will remember to arrange my information in a way that will
bring out the full effectiveness of my data.
The third canon is style. Style is the way that you present your document or presentation
with two main focuses being on vocabulary and tone. I have to pay special attention to this
particular canon because a lot of time I will write something that makes sense to myself, but
makes absolutely no sense to anyone else. One specific way that this canon was played out in my

semester through my presentation. I had to pay specific attention to maintain a professional tone
throughout the entire presentation. I also had force myself to not use vocabulary such as aint
or yall. The same is true for all of the papers I wrote, but at least those papers were peer
reviewed so that if I did make this mistake it would be caught by whoever is reviewing my paper.
This canon applies to any professional setting that I may come across in the future. Especially
ones such as applying for jobs. If I dont maintain professional diction and mannerisms the entire
process from sending my resume in to being interviewed then it is likely that I will not get the
job.
The fourth canon that we maintained throughout the semester is memory. Memory is the
use of personal experiences or recalling facts to use during a task. This is canon we use every
day. Our tasks that we recall facts for can be everything from taking a test to in extreme cases
giving police an account of an incident that occurred. We used this one every day in class. One
major way that I used memory was when I presented my power point. I didnt make notes, so I
had to remember what I was going to say. Even though I had a power point to help, the power
point only contained major points, and not everything I wanted to say. I can use this canon in the
future for so many things. Whether its when in I get into another disagreement with my brother,
and I remember a fact that will win the dispute for me, or remembering a crucial fact at work that
allows for us to excel past the competition. The possibilities for use of this canon are unlimited.
The final canon is delivery, or how the author uses ethos or pathos in their document.
Ethos and pathos are extremely important to any persuasive argument or document. They allow
for the author to capture the reader, and to persuade them to believe as they believe. This is took
place in every single paper we wrote this semester. Beginning with the first MWA I inserted
many facts that were undeniable, from unquestionable institutions, to establish ethos. I also
established pathos in my third MWA when I presented the facts that people were losing their
lives and property, and that everyone has a moral obligation to fix this problem. For the future
this will be important to any presentation or paper that I will write in college, work, or anywhere.
Without ethos people will have no reason to believe what Im saying, and without pathos people
probably wont care what Im saying.
These canons were important to consider before and during each writing assignment this
year. I have come to see their importance in writing or presenting projects like what we did in
class. I will remember them in the future when I am formulating reports or papers. They are not
the only applicable thing I learned from this class, but will instead use the skills I learned in areas
such as writing emails, resumes, application letters, memos, and many more documents in the
future. Even though this class has come to the end, I will continue to use the knowledge that I
have learned in this class for years to come.