Being in this English course this semester, I learned how to incorporate many skills and techniques into my writing. At first, I did not expect to learn anything new and just thought that this course would be a refresher for myself on terms I had already known in High school, and I would just write essays of different compositions. However, looking at it now it was very different from what I initially thought. This course introduced me to new skills that I was able to pick up on and be able to utilize in my writing assignments given in class and described by the course learning objectives.

To start off at the beginning of the semester in Phase 1, we began to read many different texts from different authors. One of these texts that I really enjoyed reading and exploring was Amy Tan’s personal essay “Mother Tongue.” I especially enjoyed this text because of how relatable it was and how it demonstrated a real-life situation that Tan, and her mother had gone through. By using the rhetorical situation worksheets given to us for homework, I was able to “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” The worksheet we would have to complete included a series of 10 questions that surrounded the text and had us research and look for important details that would set up the rhetorical situation. In each worksheet we were asked about the context, author, publication, audience, purpose, argument, evidence, and rhetorical strategies that the author used in their text. Having asked these questions, we had to look through the text given and search for the answer to each question as well as think more deeply about the text overall. For this specific worksheet, I focused on the author Amy Tan, and her personal essay “Mother Tongue.” In my worksheet, I answered the question referring to the authors purpose as follows, “The author is trying to inform the audience of how people that do not have the “ideal” English language do not get the same treatment as those who do have the “normal” English. The author also includes a small shock factor by describing how they had to speak for their mother in order to get apologies and things to be done correctly.” I came to this conclusion by thoroughly reading the text and analyzing the purpose and context that the text was focusing on. When completing this worksheet and answering this question I remember myself flipping back and forth through the pages of the text and really thinking about the purpose of the text and what Tan was trying to accomplish, as well as how exactly she got her point across which I explored more deeply in Phase 2.

Moving along in the semester, we reached phase 2 where we started to learn about rhetorical appeals such as ethos, pathos, and logos and how we could incorporate them into our own creations. A homework assignment given to us during this phase was when we got to revisit any text and write down any rhetorical strategies or appeals, we observed through the text and post it on to the class discussion board. Doing this assignment helped me “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations” since we had gotten to reread any text we covered in class and see as well as jot down any rhetorical strategies we saw that the author had used.

This assignment helped me achieve this course learning outcome because I was able to explore and understand the different rhetorical strategies/appeals and see how Amy Tan used them in her personal essay to be able to use them in my own creation in the phase. Additionally, when it got to the point where I had to make my own creation, I had to think a lot about who I wanted my audience to be and how exactly I would appeal to them. In my part 3 of phase 2, I explain who my audience is and why I choose that specific audience as well as the rhetorical appeal and strategy I incorporated into the piece as seen in the screenshot below.

I made sure that my poster made sense and showed at least 2 strategies for my audience to ensure that they knew what point I was trying to get across to them. By making my own poster and giving it an intended audience as well as appeal to them, I was able to “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.”

Lastly, during phase 3 we were assigned a research essay that we all had to search sources for and use our own creativity and thoughts to come up with a topic. The topic that I decided to research was language discrimination in the workplace, since it still related to the politics of language. Exploring this topic thoroughly in my research essay allowed me to “Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users” because I learned that there were many people of different backgrounds who were discriminated against by their employers for speaking their own native language in the workplace. Not only that but simply just having an accent led to them being discriminated and seen differently. It led to employees who speak different and multiple languages feel as if they are seen as inferior, which I stated in my research essay. Writing the research essay, I also was able to “Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation.” During class and throughout the weeks that we were preparing for the research essay, we gathered sources that we found were reliable through the CCNY databases and using google scholar. We also had in class workshops on our thesis statements to ensure that our arguments were strong and arguable. Additionally, we practiced how to summarize and synthesis our sources in the homework given within the week, as well as going over the terms in class presentations which helped us understand what exactly synthesizing and summarizing was.

In conclusion, this course was very beneficial and important to me and my learning because it made me realize that I can incorporate different abilities into my writing to make me as a writer strong and have my own arguments/stances. The course learning outcomes that we tackled throughout the semester helped me create my works throughout each phase and made me realize of all the abilities and goals I have achieved in my writing.