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Bethany Brundage

Averie Basch

English 1120

25 March 2022

Reflection #2

When it comes to speeches, many speakers have the power to control what they say and

target their intended audience. Within their speeches, they use different types of rhetorical

strategies in order to make their speech appealing, persuasive, and reliable for their audience.

My MWA #2 talks about the specific types of rhetorical strategies within Adichie’s speech.

Adichie’s speech includes pathos, ethos, and logos. It dives deep into how these different types

of rhetorical strategies contributed to her speech and the effects it had on her audience. Each one

of these rhetorical strategies is a very important contribution in its own way, it is what makes her

speech very unique and special.

The purpose of me writing this MWA #2 is because I want my English teacher to

acknowledge the danger of a single story told by this amazing person. I heard this speech several

times; the first time was when I was in AVID class in high school, and the second time was last

semester in my English 1110. I may be biased, but I personally like this speech a lot. I have

listened to a lot of TED-ED talks before and really enjoy them since they teach you life lessons.

This specific speech didn’t only teach me life lessons but also taught me how I can identify

people’s narrow points of view against each other and towards me.

From this assignment, I understand SLO’s A, D, F, and H better after completing this

MWA #2. These SLOs help me understand why Adichie used certain types of rhetorical

strategies within her speech. While searching the different types of strategies she used, I was able
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to dive deep into her speech on another level. I was able to reflect on my stories through her

speech, look at different modes, observe how she presents the purpose and skills she uses to

persuade her audience.

SLO A, Rhetorical Situation and Genre; The speech was given using different mediums

and technologies. They consisted of the translated speech and the video. I was able to thoroughly

review the speech by visually seeing it and reading her quotes without difficulty. When it comes

to the video, it helps me see how the audience reacts to her speech. Due to this, I was able to note

that she used pathos within her speech in order to use humor to make her audience feel a certain

way. Compared to the translation speech, I was able to pick up specific word choices she used in

order to make her audience visualize through her speech. When it comes to genres, I talked about

the different rhetorical strategies she used within her speech. rhetorical strategies including

pathos, ethos, and logos. Through pathos, she has the power to make her intended audience feel a

certain way. Ethos plays a part where her speech needs to persuade her audience to understand

the negative impact of a single story. Pathos plays a part where she references a quote from a

well-known person that her audience might be familiar with. Although she did not cite a

statistical source to prove her point; instead she decided to source a quote from a famous person

in the 15th century. Each one of these rhetorical strategies is a very important contribution in its

own way, it is what makes her speech very unique and special.

SLO D, Grammar, and Usage; When it comes to my MWA #2, I’m writing it to my

English teacher so I have to use professional words. This means I can not use contractions in my

essay, since it does not sound professional. Although I am very familiar with contractions I

sometimes forget I have contractions within my sentence. Due to these new changes, I have to

look through my essay carefully so I sound professional when addressing my English teacher.
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Besides not using contractions, I try to sound educated when it comes to analyzing the subject at

hand. I thoroughly analyzed Adichie’s speech from beginning to end using different modes.

When it comes to identifying rhetorical strategies she used, I back up my claim through quotes

within her speech. This does not only make me sound reliable but also it is also persuasive for

my English teacher to know I have done my research.

SLO F, Reflection; Whenever I am writing a reflection essay like this one, I go in-depth

and I may write four pages. This part is the easy section for me since I’m reflecting on my own

essay that I wrote. It is where I talk about the different SLOs which helps me evaluate my essays

in depth. I know my purpose, my intended audience, and my reasoning. At the beginning of

college in English 1110, I had no clue what each SLO meant and how to use it. After getting the

hang of it, I started to understand the importance of the SLOs and how to use them. Besides

learning the SLOs, I am also learning more about myself when it comes to writing. Whenever I

quote someone, it can be challenging to me personally as I self-doubt myself whenever the quote

doesn’t help me with my claims. I look through their text over and over until I find the best

quotes, and this can take several days. Since I know I struggle with this, I am able to reflect on

this issue and come up with a method for me to identify quotes faster. The first thing I do is find

the purpose I want for my essay, and then find the quotes that help back up my claim. With this

method, I learned how to overcome the struggle I face when it comes to writing.

SLO H, Research; This is very similar to SLO G, but instead of researching your topic on

a deeper level, you're putting quotes into your text without plagiarizing. This makes your claim

stronger and more trustworthy for your audience to read. If you cite your source in-text, your

audience might be interested in looking up the article. When I was writing my MWA #2, I had to

justify my claim in which she used pathos, ethos, and logos within her speech. I do so by using
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quotes from her speech to back me up. For pathos, I used a quote to justify that she uses humor

in order to uplift a sad story she presented in front of her audience. For ethos, I used a quote to

justify that she talks about different events throughout her life in order to persuade her audience

of the danger of a single story. For ethos, I used two quotes to justify citing a centuries-old quote.

She has proven the negative impact a single story can have.

In conclusion, I learned a lot through my essay. I was able to analyze a speech. I was able

to identify different rhetorical strategies (pathos, ethos, and logos) within her speech, then back

up my claim through the quotes I used from her speech. Her purpose was to illustrate how a

single story can have a dangerously negative effect on many people. It doesn’t feel good when

someone judges you for your ethnicity or any type of characteristic features. This is not

uncommon, but common enough that it becomes a norm that some people do not even realize

half of the time. It makes me happy to know that someone like her is educating people on these

matters. When I heard it the first time, I really enjoyed it, the second time was good but this time

was even better when I actually analyzed her speech from the beginning to the end. I was able to

go in-depth and look through her speech carefully. The purpose of this essay is for my teacher to

acknowledge the danger of a single story told by this amazing person.