Anh Quynh Nguyen

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1104
April 05, 2020

1. Rhetorical Knowledge
An articulate writer uses rhetorical knowledge by composing writings that build off of what their
audience already knows and takes the time to explain the additional contextual information
needed by their audience to deliver the main points of their work. It requires careful
consideration of what it is their audience is seeking to get out of their work, and what role
they’re taking on by writing it. For example, if they are writing a research journal it should
probably be light on opinions and heavy on facts -- but if they’re writing an opinion piece their
reader is most likely expecting them to deliver some persuasive arguments
The image above is my answers from studio 3, which taught me more about rhetoric and how to
use it. Rhetoric has three common appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. Pathos( emotion): get
people to stop thinking and start feeling, appealing to someone's softer side. Ethos (moral
character): someone uses it in order to persuade that he/she is a good person. Logos ( reason):
explain to your reader, in clear and concise terms why they should logically agree with you. As
far as I’ve known, rhetoric is used commonly in a lot of poetry, papers, and assignments and
everyone is familiar with it. Still, not everyone has known about three main forms of rhetoric
specifically and how to identify them, as well as their uses. Without rhetorical knowledge, I
wouldn’t have seen the true purposes, as well as hidden messages, behind all simple yet
profound imagines, sounds and texts are delivered in commercials, poem, and paper.

2. Critical Reading
An articulate writer uses critical reading by analyzing their source materials for important facts,
credibility, timeliness, and relevance: If their writings contain facts sourced from other materials
that are unimportant then they will not be able to make a compelling argument, and if their
sources are not credible then neither will their work. If their sources are outdated then their work
will seem outdated too, and if they are sourcing information that is not useful to their thesis then
it may detract from the quality of their overall work

The image above is my answer about the role of peer reviews in the academic field from a video
called “ No one writes alone”. Peer reviews important because they help us to be able to give
good feedback, instead of just saying” I like it”. They are crucial because we need to get a
qualitative understanding of the writer’s work and whether it’s satisfying some requirements. By
doing that, we not only deeply understand whatever it is that we’re reviewing but can also help
the writer to improve their writing in possible ways

3. Knowledge of Conventions
An articulate writer uses knowledge of conventions by presenting work in a manner that their
audience will be familiar with. By writing for their field in a way that is consistent with works
that came before it, the articulate writer is able to construct their work in a manner that takes
advantage of the expectations established by similar works that came before it. For example, by
formatting an essay in a way that is consistent with previous APA style essays, the writer can be
sure that those familiar with APA guidelines will understand the way the information sources in
their writings are laid out. By providing descriptive captions to images, the articulate writer can
be sure that readers utilizing screen reading devices will be able to follow along with their work.

The image above is my work from studio 6, which taught me about diffused thinking, focused
thinking and the Pomodoro method. As far as I’ve known, focused thinking and diffused
thinking are abstracted concepts that might not be well-known. By using a pinball machine, as a
metaphor, Dr.Barbara Okaley successfully illustrates and explains specifically her research in a
familiar and easy way.

4. Critical Reflection
An articulate writer uses critical reflection as a tool to allow their past successes and failures to
positively influence their future works. This may involve going back and rereading an essay you
previously wrote on a subject that is similar to the one you’re writing now for inspiration, or
rereading feedback you got on an old assignment to make sure that you don’t repeat any of the
mistakes that you’d made previously. Critical reflection may even extend to not just looking
back at your own work for inspiration, but at the works of other writers in your field that came
before you. If a writer is not able to reflect critically on their previous works then they will not
have a benchmark to improve themselves against.
“The next day, I'd sit down, go through it all with a colored pen, take out everything I
possibly could, find a new lead somewhere on the second page, figure out a kicky place to
end it, and then write a second draft. It always turned out fine, sometimes even funny and
weird and helpful. I'd go over it one more time and mail it in.

Then, a month later, when it was time for another review, the whole process would start
again, complete with the fears that people would find my first draft before I could rewrite
it.”

My example for this outcome is a couple of quotes from “Shitty First Draft” by Anne Lamott.
The author explains how she improved her writing paper and became a successful writer: going
back, rereading and editing her paper one by one. That’s a process of how she turned her paper
from a horrible “shitty first draft” into a completely flawless final paper. As a student having
weekly reflections and a lot of writing papers, I can relate to her a lot. It always takes me a lot of
time to actually start to work on my writing because I have a lot of ideas and thoughts running
through my head. I usually end up with gathering as much information as I can and writing down
all my thoughts on my first writing. Thus, my first draft contains an abundance of
conflict/duplicated thoughts and totally makes no sense in general. Later on, I go back, review
my writing and fix all my mistakes one by one. I keep repeating that process for several times
and thus, I end up with my flawless final writing paper

5. Composing Processes
An articulate writer uses composing processes in order to ensure that they are able to produce
work that flows smoothly and naturally. While everyone’s writing process is different, this will
likely include planning out what they are going to write ahead of time -- perhaps by creating an
outline or doing some freewriting. They may take to discussing their work with a friend, or even
try explaining their work to an inanimate object or a pet just to make sure that it sounds coherent
(Google search “rubber duck debugging”). Ultimately, the articulate writer finds whatever
process enables them to produce their best material and sticks with it for as long as it’s working
for them.

The image above is from my inquiry proposal. After completing my work, I joined in a group of
three other students and my professor for a peer review session. Peer reviews helped me a lot to
detect my mistakes, give me some recommendations as well as suggestions about my work in
order to improve my paper. Peer reviews help me not only with my content but also with my
word choices. The reviews I received helped me to make my paper flow better. As a result, my
final inquiry proposal ended up so much better than my first draft.