Constant Nourishment
The constant nourishment I received throughout this course was the sharing of knowledge and guidance by my professor. This was the nutrients I needed to grow and without it, I would have remained trapped inside of a seed. Along every step of the way, I followed thorough instruction and was aided by the visualization of examples.
My Roots
I decided to start with thoroughly examining the "Course Topics and Discourse Communities" handout, as well as exploring the platform of Blackboard. I quickly came to realize that I needed to choose a discourse community that would serve as effective to me as a writer; I wanted to be passionate towards my research, learn through the communication styles I would be studying, and be exuberant when sharing what I have learned to others. I utilized the readings and examples provided on Blackboard to help me determine my chosen discourse community and establish my roots.
My chosen discourse community
I decided to study the discourse community of Black, female activists, concentrating on the #MeToo movement and the epistemic injustice traced within. I remember struggling exceedingly on determining this discourse community; it took me a long time to wrap my head around the concept of narrowing my topic down. For instance, I began with the broad topic of child advocacy lawyers, then came across the term of "epistemic injustice" within my studies and decided to change my topic to epistemic injustice seen within the United States' law system. As I was further researching this, I came across the #MeToo movement and, finding myself extremely interested, changed my topic once again to being the #MeToo movement as a cultural phenomenon that changed corporate America. My topic, however, changed one, final time once I gathered my scholarly articles and realized that my true passion lied within the work of the Black, female activists found within the #MeToo movement.
Process
An individual's process within this course encompasses all of the gradual steps taken to create an understandable and effective piece of writing. Although it differs slightly from individual to individual, it almost always touches the realms of organization, collaboration, and thoughtfulness.
Personally, my writing process always involves the use of a blank sheet of paper to brainstorm and scribble down my thoughts, organize them, and then to later establish my general outline. (Heck, I even did it for this assignment of the Adobe Spark Page!)
My Writing Process
Throughout this course, I have been able to expand my drafting process in a way that serves as more effective to my writing. Rather than read over an article once, I read over an article 2-3 times to ensure I am thoroughly obtaining the information and then proceed to highlight and mark pertinent information. As I highlight and mark the article, I pause to take notes on a blank sheet of paper and attempt organizing my thoughts (although this often appears messy!). Once I finish, I carefully gaze over my notes and create a general outline, with the sole purpose of guiding me through my writing. I then write my first draft of an assignment, using this general outline. Lastly, I receive feedback from my peers as they review my assignment and I make the corrections that I see fit for the final piece!
Writing pROCESS OF Major Project 2 - Rhetorical Analysis
My writing process can be seen clearly throughout the drafting and creation of my rhetorical analysis in Major Project 2. I chose to rhetorically analyze Amity Nathaniel's article, "MeToo Mishaps: Black Bodies, Bloody Grounds," due to the amount of information provided within the writing and the powerful diction used.
HIGHLIGHTING AND MARKING AN ARTICLE
Below is a visual of the article that I used, by Amity Nathaniel, for my rhetorical analysis assignment. The first step in the creation of my rhetorical analysis was to reread the article (from the first time I had in the creation of my annotated bibliography for Major Project 1) and to highlight/mark any potential useful information. For this particular assignment, I tried to search for common themes throughout the writing and decided to create a key for myself at the top of the first page.
Taking Notes - attempting to organize thoughts
As I read and highlighted the article, I took notes on key concepts and rhetoric devices used that I found to be important. While writing down these notes, I also tried to organize them to assist me in finding the directions I wanted to go with this assignment. By organizing examples from the text with their aligned rhetoric device, I was able to decipher which ones would serve as most effective to my analysis.
Creating My general outline
The last step I did before the actual writing of my rhetorical analysis was creating my general outline from the notes I had taken. This is where my organization is clearly established and serves as a guide for my thoughts when writing my first draft. As seen below, generally I keep the outline short and vague; This is because it is only there to serve as a directional piece, as I have my notes already composed of my developed ideas. Now I was ready to write my first draft!!
My writing group
This was my writing group for the semester and boy oh boy was I lucky to have them! Not only am I extremely thankful for the experience in general to meet with my peers in person, as I now have four more friends (something quite challenging given all the online classes), but I'm also fortunate to have been able to share in their brilliance! All of them are such intelligent individuals and together we were able to bounce ideas off of one another and learn from each other. These were also the individuals who peer-reviewed my first drafts, giving me exceptional and helpful feedback.
Peer Review
Together in class, we made a peer-review contract and learned that good peer review of one's writing encompasses a balanced ratio of positive and constructive feedback. In other words, about half the comments given should compliment the writer and the other half should provide the writer with advice on how to enhance their writing. Additionally, we learned that it is important to provide details and examples when giving feedback, trying to avoid short phrases and open-ended criticism.
To the right is a picture of the peer review I received from Julia Farah, a member of my Writing Group, on the first draft of my rhetorical analysis for Major Project 2. I chose this image because it shows the balanced ratio encouraged by our class guidelines and served as very beneficial to my future editing. Her advanced knowledge on APA formatting helped me correct my in-text citations to not include the author's name when already mentioned in the sentence. Further, her positive feedback allowed me to know what I did well on and what worked for my writing.
Linguistic Improvement
As a writer, one of my main grammatical struggles is that of the comma. For whatever reason, I love my use of commas and tend to include way too many in my sentences!! In the past, my English teachers hadn't drawn attention to it as much, merely letting it slide. Professor Gunter, however, brought it to my attention in our very first project, Major Project 1, and continued to keep on me for all of the rest of our major projects (as seen to the left in Major Project 2)!
Although I still struggle with my overuse of commas, due to Professor Gunter's reviewing and persistence, I now pay special attention to where and how I place my commas. I know this habit won't change over night, but through this course I feel that I am well on my way to improvement with lessening my use!
Inquiry
One's ability to inquire within this course revolves around their careful choice of resources, analytical ability, critical thinking skills, and their determination in finding the best supporting evidence for their individual arguments.
Major project 1: annotated bibliographies
It was in Major Project 1 of the creation of three annotated bibliographies where I came to learn how to find good, valuable articles and practice my skills of synthesis and mediation. Before I could mediate and form the summaries of the articles at hand, however, I had to of course choose the articles! This was no easy feat, but luckily there were many wonderful opportunities and guides for me to receive outside help on my search!
For instance, I set up an appointment with a librarian using Fairfield's library website!
The librarian I met with gave me many helpful strategies and tips as she guided me throughout the website and numerous data bases. She reassured the strategies we went over in class, encompassing the utilization of key words and determination of credibility. I learned that it is important for the articles I chose to have been peer-reviewed, relevant to the current time period, and accurate to my topic. The key words I searched within the data base helped me to discover articles that matched my discursive topic, as well as the filters on the library's website helped me to ensure that the articles I chose were credible.
Synthesis and Mediation
After spending much time searching different data bases and the library's website, I was able to determine three, very informative articles that all aligned quite nicely with my discursive topic! To choose these three articles, I had to determine the main points of each and ensure that they coincided with the argument I had planned for in Major Project 2. The challenging part here, however, was that there was so much vital information from each article displayed. You may be wondering, well...how is that a challenge?
An annotated bibliography, as I have shown to the right, is a 1-2 page summary of an article that (if written correctly) should leave the reader knowing exactly what the article is about without actually having read it. This becomes difficult when the articles are twelve pages long of important information! I had to cover key points from each idea mentioned within the article and to do this, I found that I truly had to understand the information at hand. This way I was able to look for themes and reorganize similar ideas before summarizing.
Major Project 2 - Rhetorical ANalysis
It was in Major Project 2 of the rhetorical analysis where I was able to form my own argument and defend my stance through evidence found within the text. Rather than merely summarizing given information within a scholarly article, I had to use inquiry and critical thinking to examine the article thoroughly and take a stance on the rhetorical strategies of the author; I had to determine what the motives behind the rhetorical devices chosen were, as well as collecting a wide range of evidence for the support of each notion I was arguing in my analysis.
Below, is a snapshot of my opening paragraph and the beginning of my second paragraph for the rhetorical analysis of Amity Nathaniel's article, "#MeToo Mishaps: Black Bodies, Bloody Grounds." This image beautifully captures Nathaniel's claim (highlighted in blue), as well as my own independent claim (highlighted in yellow). Unlike Major Project 1, this assignment encouraged me to take my own stance on Nathaniel's choice of rhetoric devices and motives. After much time of careful analysis and piecing together of patterns, I decided to argue that she utilized diction and pathos as mechanisms for addressing her rhetorical situation. When glimpsing at the second paragraph, one can begin to see a bit of the surplus of evidence I obtained to support my argument; The direct quotations of words used by Nathaniel (in this case) serve as support for my claim that diction serves as one of her rhetorical devices.
Citation format
One last aspect that I would like to touch upon under this stage of my growth is the use of two different citation formats; For Major Project 1, I used MLA format and for Major Project 2, I used APA format. Before taking this course, I was unfamiliar with APA. Sure, I had heard of it before but I'm not quite sure that I had ever used it in an English class (my past teachers always expected MLA). Therefore, I was very excited to be able to practice a new citation format and compare the two!
In Major Project 1, as shown below, I was able to practice MLA citation formatting. Some of the aspects touched upon in this assignment consisted of the actual citation layout and the mechanism for in-text citations. The citation layout began with the last name/first name of the author(s), the name of the article, the journal or place it was published, the volume, year of publication, page numbers, database, and the link. For each annotated bibliography, the in-text citations consisted of merely the page number in parenthesis from where the information was found in the article. This was placed at the end of each sentence that I was citing, either directly or through paraphrasing.
In Major Project 2, as shown below, I was able to practice APA formatting! Some of the aspects touched upon in the use of this citation formatting were the use of a running header, the literal citation layout, and the mechanism for providing in-text citations. Unlike MLA format, in-text citations consist of the author's last name, the year the article was published, and the page number from which the information was found in the article. In addition the list of citations under APA format is referred to as "References," whereas in MLA, it'd be entitled as "Works Cited." The literal citation is very similar to that of MLA, however (as seen below) there are slight modifications. These three important pieces are also placed in parenthesis at the end of the sentence they are citing.
Rhetoric
I remember reading Jack Selzer's work for the first time and absolutely falling in love with it! It was as if all the pieces had fallen into place and, although all of it was new to me, it all made perfect sense. He alone taught me all the rhetorical terminology I needed to know, preparing me exceptionally for the in-depth understanding of an author's choices in their writing. Everything has a purpose and everything is up for analysis; The relationship between an author and their reader depends upon this careful notion.
Below, one can see just a mere glimpse of the notes I had taken on the brilliant Selzer's work. Two vital things that I learned and was (later) able to use in the creation of Major Project 3 were that (1) every author is writing for a purpose and (2) every author is writing to a specific audience. Now these may seem like general concepts or quite obvious, however, it often goes unrecognized how much these two simple concepts impact the author's writing. Every choice the author makes has to align with achieving his or her goal, while influencing the audience to coincide with his or her viewpoint.
purpose and audience
The concepts of purpose and audience were first used in Major Project 2, as shown to the right. I had to determine who Nathaniel's audience was, in the support of my claim that pathos was utilized in the addressing of her rhetorical situation (highlighted in yellow). Further, I had to decipher why Nathaniel was writing in the first place... what was her purpose? Her motive was found to be that of creating change among societal treatment of the Black woman. She wrote to educate her audience and to shine recognition of the unjust actions of society.
As seen highlighted in blue, these two concepts often overlap in a unique manner; in this case, Nathaniel is choosing her diction based upon the reaction she is hoping to receive from her audience, which would then align with her purpose of influencing them to create change.
Major Project 3: Novice's guide
In Major Project 3 of the Novice's Guide, it was my turn to determine who my audience and what my purpose was as a writer. I asked myself the same questions of "Who am I writing for?" and "Why am I writing?". I quickly came to realize that my audience consisted of young adult activists who possess an interest in standing up for the Black woman against epistemic injustice. My purpose as a writer was to educate my audience on how to be apart of the Black, female activist discourse community (specifically, that of the progressive activists). A great representation of the types of choices I had to make as an author can be seen in the creation of my infographic, seen below!
choices in my infographic
There were many aspects I had to pay attention to involving visual rhetoric; these included my color scheme, choice of fonts, balance with distribution, and imagery. Further, I also still had to pay close attention to my rhetoric choices when it came to diction and pathos.
I chose to use the colors of purple and brown as I often associate these colors with social justice, thus aligning with the discourse community that I was exploring. Further, I chose a picture of Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, that correlated to this color scheme; not only is she wearing purple herself, but the background behind her is also purple. I did this to allow for unity among the piece and not cause misguidance, as everything is of equal importance. I chose to only utilize two different types of fonts, as to not overwhelm the reader or cause unnecessary distraction. I let the title be short but direct and to the point, trying to capture the attention of my audience; the period at the ends of both sentences make the matter seem urgent and serious, as it is.
The motive of this infographic was to engage my audience and inspire them to support and be a part of movements led by progressive Black, female activists. I, therefore, chose to create a timeline, which provided information of past Black, female activists and their work. One of the most important decisions that I made in this piece was to connect each box presented in the timeline with an icon of two holding hands, thus symbolizing the unity of Black, female activists throughout the ages. This correlated with the point that I was making to my audience that the activists' work is ongoing and builds off of one another. Finally, I ended with the direct question of "Will you take their hand?," insinuating that it is, now, the readers turn to take part in their progressive activism. This question was meant to draw at pathos, pulling at their values of morality and enticing them to join the movement.
Genre
Each genre possesses its own structure, standards, and disciplinary. When given a genre to write in, the author must follow these in order to fulfill the requirement of the piece. Two genres that I studied this semester are that of the annotated bibliography and rhetorical analysis. Both have differing guidelines that I had to follow as the writer!
Annotated Bibliography
Within the annotated bibliography, my goal was to read a scholarly article thoroughly, and then to determine and summarize the main points throughout the entire piece. In other words, I was expected to identify the author's claim, subclaims, and evidence provided in support. Further, I had to remain objective throughout the whole piece, not letting any of my own opinion shine through. My only purpose as a writer was to provide knowledge to the reader on what the article is on and what information can be found within.
Rhetorical analysis
Within the rhetorical analysis, my goal was to create my own claim that is created by careful analysis of the rhetorical devices used by the author of the article. Rather than summarizing an article, I was expected to try and understand how the author was utilizing linguistic measures to persuade the audience. This time, I did not have to remain objective and had more opportunity as I was able to form my own, unique claim. I gathered my own evidence, rather than restating what the author had already given me. It was more personal to me as a writer and allowed for critical thinking to occur.
Transfer
Before taking this course, I had brought in prior knowledge on writing mechanisms taught to me by previous teachers and I, also, brought with me a passion towards social justice and helping others. Within this course, however, I have learned so much more. I was introduced to Adobe Spark, a tool that I was then able to utilize in my chemistry and Spanish class for the creation of video assignments, Jack Selzer, James Paul Gee, Tarana Burke, and Visme. I was taught about rhetorical analysis, something that later helped me in the completion of my Spanish compositions, as I began to consider my audience and purpose before drafting my writing. I was welcomed into the realm of genre and all the different standards found within each, something that helped me dearly in the completion of my formal Biology Lab Report. The most beautiful part that came from my engagement in this course is what I was able to repurpose in other classes and enhance my abilities as a student.
Below are two images from my formal Biology Lab Report. Completing the APA citation formatting for this assignment came easily to me, as I remembered what I had learned in this course when it came to proper in-text citations and a title page. Further, realizing a scientific lab report is its own genre, I took the time to research what was expected me within the writing. I learned the different sections that were required, such as an introduction, methods, results, and discussion heading. Being science, I also knew I had to be objective, something I practiced previously in Major Project 1.
The End of this Journey
Overall, I could not be more thankful for all that I have learned in this course. It truly has helped me to grow tremendously in my understanding and way of writing! Thank you Professor Gunter!!!
Credits:
Created with images by karinafoer - "anemone flower blossom" • Pavlofox - "sunflower seeds sunflower seeds" • congerdesign - "germ seedling oak" • congerdesign - "germ seedling oak" • fotografierende - "write notebook pen" • Bru-nO - "wheat grain cornfield" • Lancier - "lotus flower bud" • TheUjulala - "bluebells campanula portenschlagiana" • Pezibear - "tulips two tulips two" • Couleur - "poppy flower blossom"