Dear Professor Turgeon:

Although I knew that I would be required to take at least one writing-based course in

college, I had no idea what to expect. Before this semester just hearing the words writing

assignment was enough to give me minor heart palpitations. With that being said, this class

defied any preconceived notions that I may have devised. I learned many things, and while one

of them was how to enhance my writing skills, that was not the lesson that I will appreciate and

remember the most.

I came into this course with a surface-level understanding of the concept of rhetorical

knowledge, but will be leaving with a much more concrete grasp on it. Rhetorical concepts are so

much more than just ethos, pathos, and logos, but these are the fundamental building blocks. The

way I see it, these are most useful when receiving and analyzing information from outside

sources. I learned that in high school, so this was not news to me. However, I also learned in this

class the best ways to present information in order to influence an audience, as the outside

source. From that perspective, while the three components of the rhetorical triangle are still

important, there are more subliminal things to take into account such as the format, layout, and

context in which the information is delivered as well as the audience for which it is intended. I

really got a lot of practice with recognizing these elements in common forms of media, which

was a part of this class that I have really appreciated. In many cases, students are taught

something and given a few examples for practice. Having the opportunity to not only learn these

rhetorical analysis skills but to be able to put them to use in every class definitely hammered the

concept into my brain in a much more effective way than I had ever been exposed to before this

course.
 Another component of being an effective writer is having an understanding of critical

reading skills. I had a chance to enhance and practice these skills when research was necessary

for a class assignment. One experience that particularly gave me a chance to flex my

metaphorical critical reading muscle was the in-class debate regarding the gender contrast among

teacher evaluations. During this assignment I became more familiar with what qualifies as a

credible source and how to extract the most valuable information once that credibility is

identified. Information can be found in some pretty unlikely places if someone is just willing to

dig a little. I also discovered the incredible search engine that is Google Scholar. This knowledge

also proved itself useful during the writing process for the argumentative research essay. The

process of critical reading is much more than just regurgitating information from a source, but

learning how to use information from a variety of sources to prove and support ones own stance

in an argument. I came across a wealth of facts in my research about mental illness in

adolescents but I had to use critical reading skills to determine which of those were credible and

useful, and moreover, which ones best supported my argument.

The most helpful thing that I would say I have learned throughout this course is the many

strategies used in the process of composing. Before taking this class the extent of my

composition process was running my paper through a word counter followed by spell check. Of

course in the past I had been expected to write one, if not multiple, drafts but that just was not

realistic. Not to mention I had time to sit down at my computer, take a couple of hours and type

out something at least somewhat worthy of being turned in. Now, with being in college and

having a much heavier workload, my academic life would be a disaster if I took that approach

with every assignment in every course. Of course, self-discipline is far from the most important

element of my newly formed writing process. Being required to turn in at least one draft of each
assignment definitely kept me from waiting until the last minute to begin writing. Creating drafts

became a necessary component of writing for me. The drafting process gave me a chance to

organize my thoughts, or in some cases disorganize them (a brain dump if you will). Being able

to compile all of my information just to get it out before it had to be perfectly proper was an

extremely effective step in my composition process and one that I will continue for the rest of my

writing projects. Additionally, Ive learned the value of peer review. The small size of this class

helped me to feel more comfortable with the people in it, which in turn made me feel

comfortable reaching out for help, advice, and most importantly peer-review. Peer review is a

great way to receive feedback without the pressure of sending it to a professor, which tends to

feel more formal even when it is not a final submission. Before this course I relied solely on

myself and whatever brain capacity I had available at the time of my writing, but I have learned

that there are an abundance of resources available to me during the composition process that can

enhance and improve my writing.

In this course it is important to have knowledge of conventions, in order to write as well

as possible for any one particular assignment. For example, I did not employ the same

methodology in writing my analysis essay as my argumentative research essay. Likewise, I did

not write either of those in the same manner that I am writing this. It is important to keep in mind

not just who you are writing for, but what you are writing for. In my analysis paper I was

intending to share my experiences playing World of Warcraft and I made sure to write in a way

that did just that. Whereas with the research paper I had a point to prove and my intention was to

convince people to see and believe my side of the argument. Also, in my digital storyboarding

project I had to shift my tone and approach just slightly because I had the additional component

of audio and video to change the way my argument was perceived. In this assignment, I noted
that the citation was different as well. With the research paper I was required to cite sources from

which I got my information, but with the storytelling project it was more than that and the focus

of acknowledgements was on music and picture/video credit.

This class forced me to do a lot of reflection, not only on myself and my writing, but on

the world around me. One particular instance is in the beginning of the semester when we played

World of Warcraft for an assignment. I was immediately disinterested because I just knew that

only weird people played video games as adults by choice. After playing it, and being

consequently sucked into it, I had to truly take a look at myself and wonder what led me to come

to such a conclusion about a game that I had never experienced personally. It is so important to

take time to reflect in all aspects of life and writing is a great way to do that. When faced with a

situation, decision, or any kind of new information being able to reflect on it properly is critical

before being able to properly move forward. Ultimately, this class was an incredible learning

experience. I learned how to thrive and adapt in new situations and how to absorb lessons to be

carried with me through my college career and beyond (too clich?).

Sincerely,

Keyana Blanchard