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Myranda Espino

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1301-122

1st December 2022

Reflection Essay

The rhetorical device of pathos, which is defined as persuading an audience by

intentionally evoking specific emotions to leave them feeling the way the writer needs them to

handle it, this device was something I decided to use when writing the first essay of the semester.

For example, the first essay allotted to us encouraged us to "analyze how the audience and

purpose aligns with the genre the community uses (Summers)." The genre I discussed in the

paper was the Instagram posts of TAMIU Garden which aimed to evoke a welcoming and

friendly tone in the following message "TAMIU Garden uses a friendly tone in the post to advise

... volunteer[s] that they are encouraged and welcomed to participate (Espino)." Additionally,

when writing the second essay of the semester, I decided to incorporate the rhetorical technique

of ethos, which is described as drawing attention to the credibility of the writer or speaker. For

instance, the second essay assigned to us prompted us to "make a claim about the meaning of the

text that lies just below the surface (Summers)." To back up the claims I made within the paper, I

made sure you clarified the statements I made and cited the sources I gathered the information

from: "... the male flowers, apparent from the stigma presenting from the center of the bud ....

(University of Illinois) (Espino)." Moreover, when writing the third essay of the semester, I used

the rhetorical device of logos throughout the paper, defined as appealing to the audience's sense

of reason or logic. For example, essay 3 prompted us to "argue the issue that the author presents,

you will argue the overall effectiveness of the author's rhetorical choices." This required me to
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analyze an article that used tests and statistics: "Fan administered a survey to gather basic

information (Summers)."

Reflecting on what I learned in ENGL 1301, I have learned some valuable things that I

can take to other courses; for example, learning to value and use the constructive feedback given

by peers and use it to better myself. This semester, all students were required to complete the

three major essays. During the Peer Review Workshop, they were all expected to solicit input

from their classmates. I can remember being hesitant to ask for feedback because I was terrified

of hearing other people's thoughts and the uncertainty I would experience by putting myself out

there. However, this approach is ideal for obtaining information from a different source and

incorporating it into your essay. Asking for advice and helping others with their papers is really

helpful to me when writing essay 2. For instance, when I wasn't sure if my thesis was evident in

the introduction, I got valuable feedback, "Your thesis statement is shown throughout the essay

(Martinez)." A skill I picked up in ENGL 1301 that I can use in other classes is the capacity to be

descriptive and elaborate on an idea. Describing what you observe when writing a visual analysis

is a crucial genre element. I learned how to define a detailed image in-depth and do so in a way

that captures the essence of the picture. This ability is crucial since it may be used in other

classes; for instance, learning to write articles or newspapers can use descriptiveness. For

example, when writing essay 2, we were prompted to talk about the visual elements of a genre.

The essay required me to be descriptive to the audience when discussing the movie poster, I

decided to write about "clean, pure skin and maturely styled hair swept up behind her head

(Espino)."

Upon reflection on what I learned in ENGL 1301, I have discovered some critical lessons

that are useful for this course and are optional for courses unrelated to ENGL 1301. Regarding
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tools, our professor gave us numerous worksheets to assist us in analyzing and outlining our

writing. The Reverse Outline Worksheet, a task that helps you arrange your comprehension of an

essay, was given to the course; however, some tools cannot be used in other classes. This kind of

assistance is unnecessary in a subject unrelated to ENGL 1301; for example, using this

worksheet wouldn't make it easier for you to learn MATH 1314-103. The worksheet asks,

"Describe (1 sentence) why your conclusion is important/significant" There is no connection

between this assignment and the equations and word problems from MATH 1314. In other

words, when enrolling in a course like EPSC Lab, where the goal of the final exam was to

identify minerals and rocks. Compared to a worksheet like Visual Analysis Invention, an

assignment that tells a student to determine the image's audience and purpose can be considered

vastly different.

I have always had a love-hate relationship with writing, and depending on the prompt's

topic, my love for writing will show with the paper. Writing strength developed while writing the

three essays throughout the semester is a strong focus on writing papers. While writing the first

essay of the semester was intimidating because of how new the prompts were to me. So to keep

ahead of the class, I decided to learn how to focus better. For instance, writing in a calm setting

like a library or coffee shop with coffee in the air was a perfect approach to concentrate entirely

on my assignment. I also wanted to focus on something other than the big word count. Instead, I

would limit the amount of time to write and give myself a writing challenge; for instance, if I

have a week to write a 750-word paper, I will challenge myself to write 150 words a day. The

remainder of the time I had left was spent proofreading the essay for mistakes. Yet, I feel a

writing weakness that has not improved throughout the semester is the excess of fluff and

unnecessary sentences that can be found in my essays. For instance, when reading the first essay
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of the semester, I spoke about how TAMIU Garden was loosely connected to a major offered by

Texas A&M International University " It is also associated with a degree a student can study at

Texas A&M International University. (Espino)" This piece of information included in the paper

is an example of my bad habit of adding fluff and unnecessary information to my writing.

When I learned about the idea of creating a website to showcase my final portfolio, it

immediately grabbed my attention because it seemed like an exciting project. Yet, I had never

once made anything close to a website in my life, so the concept seemed intimidating.

Developing the website itself was the most challenging aspect I found when completing my

portfolio. I was anxious because I had never made a website, so I was afraid of making mistakes

and not knowing how to fix them. For example, when organizing the website, I decided to

publish the website to see if the Scribd documents would upload right. However, when trying to

access the website, the window did not go to the portfolio immediately but directed me to a page

that did not allow me access to the page. I also was worried that using Scribd documents to

showcase my homework, essay drafts, and reflections essay would crowd the website. I did not

want the person browsing through my website to feel overwhelmed by how much space the

Scribd documents would take up. However, the creation of the website was not all bad. One

aspect that was the least challenging was decorating the website. It was a fun way to let my

creative juices flow. When reviewing my website, I would presume that the audience would say

that it had a nature theme. This is because I have been watching an obscene amount of Disney

Nature Documentaries for the past week, which is reflected on the website with lovely scenic

photos of fields or mountains.

The multiple essays prompt I was given this semester dramatically differed from the

work I would write in high school. So, when reflecting on my identity as a writer, I can now see
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the change in me; for example, I am a more organized writer. To keep myself organized when

writing an essay, I will take the word count requirement given to me and decide how many

paragraphs I would like to write. Then I will divide the word count requirement by the

paragraphs and then determine the topic of each body paragraph to find a better idea for creating

a solid thesis. Having an outline better helps me in the writing process, and I find it beneficial

when needing to proofread in the future. Furthermore, with the addition of having to upload our

drafts to the Peer Review Workshop, the discussion board where students submit their paper to

have peers proofread and offer their opinion of an essay was a very new and helpful addition. For

instance, when writing the second-semester essay, I asked my peer's advice regarding my thesis

"Is my thesis clear?" My peer Rosa Martinez kindly gave her advice to my question, "Your thesis

is clear. your introduction could use a bit more clarity (Martinez)." This process made me better

at looking at my writing from a different perspective to enhance my writing. Leaving me to

better my writing process has improved as well as my identity as a writer.

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Works Cited

Espino, Myranda. "A Fruitful Garden" Final Revisions. 1 December 2022. ENGL 1301,

Texas A&M International University, student paper. 

Espino, Myranda. “The Rhetorical Analysis of the “Open-Ended Tasks Promote

Creativity in Minecraft’.” Final Revisions. 1 December 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, student paper. 

Espino, Myranda. "The Woman in the Garden." Final Revisions. 1 December 2022.

ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University, student paper. 

Espino, Myranda. Peer Review 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University,

Peer Review.

Martinez, Rosa. Peer Review 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University,

Peer Review.

Nelson, Sharity. “Reverse Outline Worksheet.” 01 December 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas

A&M International University, homework assignment.

Nelson, Sharity. "Visual Analysis Invention." 01 December 2022. ENGL 1301, Texas

A&M International University, homework assignment.

Summers, Charlene, K. "Essay 1: Genre Analysis". Accessed 2022. Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Summers, Charlene, K. "Essay 2: Visual Analysis". Accessed 2022. Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Summers, Charlene, K. " Essay 3: Rhetorical Analysis of a Peer-Reviewed Essay".

Accessed 2022. Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.