Frq Reflection

Over the course of Quarter, I composed more than a few FRQs. Throughout my many in-class essays, I learned not only about rhetorical analysis, but also some tendencies I have as a writer. In all four of my essays, the most prominent trend I exemplified was a lack of focus on certain pieces of my analysis. Often, I would provide a strong analysis of certain evidence, but then would begin to stray from my original point. Occasionally, my sentences proved nothing, such as when I wrote that, “This major depiction of the two vastly different sides of the soldier’s lives makes the men seem more real and human”. Another pattern that was prevalent in my FRQs was writing one or two sentences that seemed clumsy or awkward to the reader. One such sentence
The most improved of these skills being my overall focus of the essays. In my first FRQ, I focused the whole essay on the different rhetorical appeals used in the text, and did not identify an argument in my writing. However, I then began to focus in on the text, and by the fourth essay, I truly honed in on a solid claim, and supported it by explaining how the rhetorical appeals were then used. Starting with paragraphs on ethos, logos, and pathos, and ending with, “Lincoln strives to unify the North and South”, my change in content is clearly substantial. Doing so led to a much stronger essay as a whole, which actually contained meaningful
In my essay, I had a very strong thesis, and I believe that the three supporting points I wrote about were significant to the text as a whole. Also, I thought my organization and structure was very easy to follow and my essay flowed well. Lastly, I believe my last FRQ was my strongest because I truly enjoyed the topic at hand. In the former essays, I was writing for a grade, but in the Lincoln FRQ, I was writing to make an argument. I was writing to tell whoever would read my essay precisely what Lincoln was trying to accomplish and how he did