Bustamante 1

Isabella Bustamante

ENC 2135

Professor Kate Kimball

4 December 2022

Reflection Rationale

During my journey throughout this class, I have created many written assignments such

as an annotated bibliography, an investigative field essay, and a rhetorical analysis. My first

project was the annotated bibliography and I did not originally create a draft for it. This led to

issues when rereading my project because after a while my brain skimmed the paragraphs I had

written. Another issue during this project was my citations, and the need for stronger reflections.

For my next project, the investigative field essay, I did write a rough draft which helped

immensely. I also improved by having peer reviews which helped me catch flaws in my writing

and thesis statement. Another struggle was writing my thesis statement without it becoming a list

style or too vague so I went to the reading and writing center. The reading and writing center

also helped me improve ICE throughout my essay. Through peer revisions and help from the

reading and writing center, I was able to improve my field investigative essay. For the draft of

my rhetorical analysis, I spent more time on it to receive more feedback during the peer reviews

which helped me improve more of my essay before the final revision. I was able to refine my

analysis by reading the Bedford Book of Genres and learning how to properly analyze the genre

conventions. Project 3 which is the Multigenre Persuasive Campaign, has also enhanced my

writing skills by continuing to write about genre conventions.

My first genre composition is a Newspaper article regarding the impact growing debt and

COVID-19 had on the veterinary shortage. My audience for the article is veterinary professionals
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since the news article publisher I created tailors all of their articles to strictly veterinary-related

stories. Since many newspapers are now printed and published electronically, the age group for

this audience would be veterinary professionals in their twenties to their sixties. For the entire

composition, I kept a neutral tone of voice that was unbiased since I wanted to present a factual

account of the issues occurring in veterinary medicine. Since this is a professional news

publication intended for veterinarians, I can assume they will read the whole article so I did not

have to keep my main ideas and points in the first few paragraphs. My sentences were quick and

to the point. I also began my article with a concise summary in the lead paragraph which is

typically what newspapers do. I also had an attention-grabbing headline which is also a genre

convention for news articles. I quoted my source directly to help establish that the information I

was presenting is factual and accurate. This is also a genre convention of news articles. News

articles usually write with the intent to incorporate ethos and logos for their audience. In my

article, I established ethos by using information gathered from field statistics from the American

Veterinary Medical Association which is credible. I also establish credibility in the article by

quoting a veterinary-related professional who would have first-hand accounts of what is

occurring in the veterinary field. My appeal to logos is through the statistics and a graph that is

depicted in my news article. The graph represents the average debt and income veterinary

graduates have since 2001. This helps establish the message that since veterinary debt is only

continuing to grow among graduates, while the income is steady, more veterinarians will

continue to leave the profession. It also helps drive my point that many pre-veterinary students

will be deterred from the field due to a large amount of debt they would accumulate.

My second genre composition is a visual argument, a meme, I created. During my time at

a veterinary clinic, the younger veterinarians and veterinary technicians would all share
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veterinary-related memes during break time. Because of this, my audience for this specific meme

is geared toward the younger generation of veterinary-related professionals. Most recent

graduates of veterinary school have seen the movie Despicable Me and know the character Gru

as a very emotionally expressive character. With more Despicable Me spin-offs coming out

every couple of years, the meme template I selected is still very popular. My voice throughout

the meme is informal since it is for the younger generation, and emotional. The meme template

itself is Gru being a mischievous planner and then realizing there is a problem within his plan.

His sudden facial expression change draws the attention of the reader to the flaw in his plan. I

use this to convey someone who dreamed of becoming a veterinary professional and who then

decides to leave the field due to the mental health toll the job takes on them. The visual argument

is more geared towards pathos as it evokes a strong emotion throughout the reader. Since my

audience is mainly veterinarians, they would also be aware of the mental struggles occurring

throughout their field. Although the meme would be humorous at first, it would also point out the

large impact mental health plays in the turnover rate of the veterinary profession.

My third genre composition is a PowerPoint Presentation on the subject of the uneven

distribution of veterinary professionals and how that impacts the veterinary shortage. The

intended audience is veterinary professionals of all ages. My tone of voice is neutral and to the

point to provide factual information and knowledge the audience can gain. Toward the end, I do

provide a more emotional call to action. This tone of voice is similar to the news article by

remaining partially neutral, but different in regards to the call to action included in the

presentation. It is also different compared to the visual argument since it is not a humorous

appeal. My call to action at the end represents a strong message for the audience which is used in

many presentations. My presentation provides background information on veterinarians which is

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important in the explanation of the effects the uneven distribution has on the veterinary field and

shortage. Although veterinarians are aware of other fields, they may not be fully aware of what

each field does which is why I include background information. Another key genre convention is

to present the main information in the body of the presentation, which I do by delving into the

real concern after giving detailed background information. I establish logos by using statistics

and graphics that represent the concerning data regarding how most veterinarians chose to

become companion animal veterinarians because of the money. I appeal to ethos by using only

credible sources such as graphics from the National Veterinary Convention and the American

Veterinary Medical Association. I also appeal to pathos by mentioning how the real world would

experience the negative impacts of this uneven distribution of veterinarians that creates a

shortage among veterinarians. This creates an emotional appeal as veterinarians realize how

crucial some aspects of their job are important for food safety, research, and animal welfare.

Throughout my writing in this class, my approach changed greatly by learning to create

bad rough drafts in order to strike gold. I also used the reading and writing center more because

it is a great resource and I want to continue using it. By creating rough drafts, and analyzing my

work more with myself and others, I have been able to learn how to improve my writing style.

Due to taking this class, I learned more about how I should write for research-related subjects

and where to go to ask for help. I feel as if this prepared me greatly for what's to come in my

future endeavors as a biology major.