Writing 120 Reflection

Writing 120 was an interesting experience for me. Going into the semester I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I didn’t know what to expect, knowing how to write, but not knowing certain concepts and different ways I can grow as a communicator. It seems since I have been in the course, my writing and the way I communicate through writing has improved. As we first started reading Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing, I found it interesting that it was a comic book. Even though it was a comic book, the book helps the readers understand the concept of rhetoric and the process of writing. While in the course Writing 120, not only did I learn how to become a better writer, but I learned how to do better research and in the book
Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing also learned critical thinking strategies. They’re different types of writing. When I mean different types of writing I’m talking about how a writer can have different conventions and a different writing process. When the semester first started, I wasn’t so sure about what different writing styles there is and how to exactly write just like a writer.
The Introduction of Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing; Issue 2 helps you discover the context for writing and understanding what visual literacy is and how you can find and use visual literacy. The goal in this chapter was to help think about how writing can occur in different situations, different forms, and different spaces. This chapter helped me understand that writing can be influenced by the audience expectations. When you are writing a piece, the piece can be read by anyone some way, even if the piece is for private. The Introduction of Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing explains how a writing situation has its own demands and expectations.
Visual linguistic is a great concept term that was also helpful to learn. Visual linguistic is where the readers are interpreting any situation and make meaning from any information. This means that the author helps try to get the readers to understand information that might not have been clear from the beginning. When I first heard of this term I asked myself, “How can I define visual linguistic?” after asking myself that question I tried connecting the dots by trying to fully understand the key term, doing research and reading Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. In Issue 3 Writing Identities taught its readers that while a writer is being creative and is presenting a character, then it’s best to create a character that the audience can trust. During this chapter, it teaches you information about rhetoric and how to use the term in any context. Rhetoric can be found anywhere and everywhere you look. The Rhetoric statements can be found on t-shirts, video-game quotes on a t-shirt. Issue 3 Writing Identities gave me a clear understanding of writing identities and how to use any type of an Identity. Throughout the book, In the Issue 7 Reading Introduction: Spaces for Writing helps them understand what type of writing spaces there is and how to use writing spaces.
The author helps readers while reading by displaying examples and talk about the conventions. While reading I found one thing that was stated interesting and that was, “Some genres that are designed for particular purposes and audience may seem pretty alien to outsiders”(Issue 7). What this quote means to me is that some genres are designed for certain people, but if an outsider looks at that exact genre then they could be confused at what’s going
on. During the summer I was in a program that was required to complete courses during three weeks. Therefore coming into this Writing 120 course, I had a little idea of what to expect while being in this course. I always thought to myself at the beginning of the semester that if I pay attention in class and turn in my homework assignments when due, then I can have a shot to get a good grade in this course. My past education experience I did not truly understand the importance of knowing your individual learning style.
After the first few units, I was getting a clearer visual of what learning styles can be considered as. Learning styles are defined as the different ways in which people learn. Some people have one or two different learning methods. Not only did I find out what type of learning styles can be learned, I figured out what learning styles I have. My preferred learning style is Kinesthetic/Visual. A Kinesthetic/Visual learning has helped me to process new information in my school setting. Knowing and understanding my preferred learning style allows me to be flexible and take responsibility for my learning. This Writing 120 course helped me understand different modes of writing. The different modes that I’ve learned were Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. While communicating with people around you, we use these key terms which are effective while communicating. Ethos is used when a speaker is trying to convince the audience about something, and talks heavily about his/her beliefs. Pathos is used when authors express emotions throughout their context. When using Logos, it’s often used when writers try to persuade the audience for any
reasons. While reading different issues from Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing, there was one particular Issue that I found interesting. Issue II Strategic Readings is the issue that I found interesting because they use wonderful examples and mindset for readers. The example that they use is Frederick Douglas. They explained how Frederick analyze things and how he viewed slave owners as animals. When I was reading this issue, I found out some rhetoric devices I learned about during this course. Ethos played an effective role in many examples from Frederick Douglas such as most of his feelings towards certain situations that he expressed. Not only has ethos played an important role in this issue, but logos also showed such an important role because how much logical comparison he gave in the text. The example he uses throughout the text was how the slave owners remind him of a type of beast and wild animals. There are other types of concepts besides ethos, pathos, and logos. Other types of concepts that are important and are used during writing are tone,voice, and evidence. The tone is a concept where an author is showing their viewpoints on a topic or they express their attitude through writing. Voice is how an author tells their story with a certain form. The evidence is when you find resources that help you while writing. These concepts were used for my essays that I learned throughout different units. These four units helped me with understanding rhetoric and showing examples of how to use certain writing styles.