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Domenic Donjuan

Dr. Sharity Nelson

English 1301 122

15 November 2022

Reflection Essay 3

Something that I learned from Essay 1 that I used in Essay 3 was providing background

information in the introduction of the essay. It is a good way of acknowledging the reader about

what the essay is going to be about. Additionally, the reader will not be as confused as they

would be if I did not provide any background information. Something that I learned from Essay

2 that I used in Essay 3 is the summarization sentences at the ending of each body paragraph.

After somebody reads a whole paragraph that goes into detail and mentions a whole lot of things,

they might end up forgetting what the paragraph was about. A sentence at the end of the body

paragraph briefly summarizing all the points that were said is a great way to remind the reader

about that paragraph and can also help transition into the next paragraph. Something like “[all] of

the authors of the article are appeals to ethos, as they are authority figures who are very credible”

is a great example of how a concluding sentence should be.

Something that I learned in Essay 1 that I did not use in Essay 3 is my ability to analyze a

genre. The first essay was all about genre analysis and I had to learn how to do that so I could

successfully understand how the genre was being used. That did not come into play during this

third essay, as this was all about rhetorical analysis. Similarly, something I learned in Essay 2

that I did not use in Essay 3 was my visual analysis skills. In the second essay, I was required to

visually analyze a video from an Instagram post and write a whole essay about some visual

aspects. I did not do that for Essay 3, as there was nothing to analyze visually in the article of my
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choice. The article was basically just text in every page with a few data tables and charts, with no

images that I could go into detail about.

Something that I learned in this Essay 3 that can be applied to other courses are the

rhetorical appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. I had previously learned about these appeals in high

school, but I always forget about them. I can most likely use these rhetorical appeals in a class

like Statistics, especially logos. All of the mathematical formulas, tables, charts, and data are

examples of logos. In a class like American National Government, ethos plays a bigger part. All

of the Presidents, Senators, congressmen, governors, and mayors are examples of ethos—they

have authority and are credible (most of the time). There is no other reason why people like them

would be in office if they are not credible, meaning they went to a prestigious university and/or

law school and studied very hard. I am not sure which class I could use pathos in, but I am sure it

can be applied to other courses as well.

Something I learned in Essay 3 that is not be applicable to other classes is how to

rhetorically analyze a peer-reviewed article. Now that I know how to rhetorically analyze an

article, I will most likely never do it again. I cannot imagine using my rhetorical analysis skills in

a class like Statistics, American National Government, or American Popular Music. There is just

really no need for it. Statistics is primarily about data and numbers and finding probabilities.

Government is about politics and learning about how the federal government works. Music class

is about the history of music and all the artists throughout the decades. I do not think I will be

using my rhetorical analysis skills in English 1302 either, since that class is focused mainly on

research. Being able to analyze something rhetorically is a good skill to have, I just do not think I

will be able to use it elsewhere.

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The analysis of a peer-reviewed article helps me improve my writing in general by

allowing me to fully understand the rhetorical appeals and how I could use them in my own

pieces of writing. I now have a better understanding of how I should write a research article. I

would need to put in so many hours of research and make sure that I proofread and edit the

article on top of that. The analysis of a peer-reviewed will help me approach writing tasks in the

future with a more professional mindset, meaning I will try my very best to produce an essay

using all of the vocabulary I saw in the article. Additionally, I would need to make my paper

very long, as those peer-reviewed articles are not short—they are usually 10 pages or more.

From the comments I received from the readers of my essay, my writing strengths are

almost everything. My introduction was informative and provided background information so

that the reader has a better idea on what my essay will be talking about. My thesis statement was

clearly stated, providing a foundation for the points I will discuss in my body paragraphs. All my

examples of ethos, pathos, and logos were good and went along well with the essay. I was able

to thoroughly explain my examples in the three body paragraphs. My conclusion was good too—

it is just retouching on the thesis statement in addition to providing a brief summary of the whole

essay. I think my only weakness in this Essay 3 is my title. I should not have included the title of

the article in my own title, and I realized that after the due date of the essay. Compared to Essay

1 and Essay 2, the strengths are the basically same, but the weaknesses are different. I should

have gone to ACE to a bit of help on my title, but I just could not because I was not feeling well.

From your comments as a reader of Essay 1 and Essay 2, I think your comments for my

Essay 3 will be that I should have gone into more detail about my examples, especially the logos

example. I think my logos example was a little bit hard to describe and explain since one of them

was a data table and the other was a bar graph. I also feel like you might mention something
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about my ethos example. I also had a somewhat hard time going into detail about the authors

because I did not want to sound like I was repeating myself. When I visited your office hours,

you had told me to base myself off of the Rhetorical Analysis Steps handout, and so that is the

structure and questions that my essay is based on. A comment you might make that is the same

from Essay 1 and Essay 2 is probably that I did not really touch on my thesis statement

throughout the body paragraphs of my essay. Additionally, I feel like you might be very strict on

this essay and the grading for it, so I am super nervous for that.

The most challenging aspect of this essay was reading the article of my choice and

finding examples of rhetorical appeals in it. Whenever I stumble across an article that is

ridiculously long, I start to dread over it and start not wanting to read. From there, I just put the

assignment to the side and worry about it another time. That was the case with the first draft of

this essay. Thankfully, I advocated for myself and attended an SI session with Sonya, and she

was able to help me find a couple of rhetorical appeal examples in the article. The least

challenging aspect of this essay was writing it. I was able to write all my three body paragraphs

and the conclusion in about an hour. I did not have anything else to do so I thought why not

begin on the essay and get the first draft out of the way. I’m very glad I took some time and did

that because if not, I would for sure have struggled with the essay and I would have probably

started to stress myself out. My brain was just working very well during that short hour.

With this essay, my identity as a writer has not really changed. I feel like I still somewhat

struggle with the whole concept of a rhetorical analysis and what the rhetorical appeals are. I

probably should have used another example of ethos because I did somewhat have a hard time

explaining why the authors are an example of it. I should have read through the article and used

one of the references as an example of ethos. One thing is for sure—I do not want to do another
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rhetorical analysis again. This was definitely the most stressful essay for me out of all three of

them. The lesson I learned with this essay is that I should always start early with my assignments

so that if I struggle, I have time to consult with the professor and they are able to help me out. I

really do not feel like my identity as a writer changed with this essay given how difficult it was

for me, but now I know for next time that I should get as much help as I can.
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Works Cited

Donjuan, Domenic. “Rhetorical Analysis of ‘Preventing a Loss of Accuracy of the Tennis Serve

Under Pressure’.” 10 November 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student paper.

Donjuan, Domenic. “Rhetorical Analysis of ‘Preventing a Loss of Accuracy of the Tennis Serve

Under Pressure’.” Draft 2. 8 November 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student paper.

Donjuan, Domenic. “Rhetorical Analysis of ‘Preventing a Loss of Accuracy of the Tennis Serve

Under Pressure’.” Draft 1. 3 November 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International

University, student paper.