I wanted to start off by saying that this class was a very challenging but rewarding experience. I can’t recall any other time that I have ever written this much material in such a short period of time but the experience of it will definitely be successful later in life.

My main goals throughout this course were to analyze and interpret key ideas in several genres, draw conclusions based on compelling evidence, Identify and engage with credible sources and multiple perspectives, and learn how to better incorporate peer feedback into my work. I did a considerable amount of work throughout this class on a broad spectrum of material. I had analyzed works from journal entries, novels, newspaper articles, letters, movies, commercials, to video games. This exposure to all these different genres has significantly increased my knowledge and understanding of rhetorical analyze. I now realize how often we are exposed to rhetoric in our daily lives, whether it be a casual walk outside or enjoying some television after a long day’s worth of work.

I initially tackled my first goal of analyzing and interpreting key ideas in several genres when I began the first project, Rhetorical Analysis of a Cultural Artifact. I was exposed to several different mediums which utilize rhetoric, which ranged from commercials to letter. I analyzed the core ideas and purposes for each work and attempted to understand its true nature. For example, when I was analyzing the video game, Grand Theft Auto V, there was a lot of material I had to filter through to find the main idea or purpose of it. I urged to understand how such a gruesome and inhumane game was so commercially successful; being one of the top four best-selling videogames of all time. Through much analysis and research that I conducted, I came to the conclusion that the Grand Theft Auto V’s widespread appeal is partially due to its three main protagonist’s diverse psyches that the players could subconsciously relate to through their values, emotions, and motivations. The experience that I gained through this work has helped me realize that I need to dig much deeper to uncover the true rhetoric.

I pursued my other goals of Identifying and engaging credible sources with multiple perspectives and drawing conclusions based on that evidence in my final two projects, the research-based project and the remix. I conducted extensive research in both of these projects and was exposed to a myriad of diverse sources. I had to sort through all the material to find multiple perspectives and to make sure they were all credible. This work helped my arguments become stronger and more well-rounded overall. A good example of this is where I used Philip Bump’s article on the con-side and Davidson Adam’s article on the pro-side of the argument to dispute that unsubstantiated view. I learned that having multiple perspectives is key to having a convincing and believable argument, and is just as important as providing the numerical evidence.

Although I’ve learned a significant amount of material, the biggest takeaways that I will have from this class are the importance of first drafts, peer-review, and organization. I’ve never truly understood the importance of first drafts throughout my high-school years and have always pushed it aside as something insignificant. But with Dr. Blankenship’s guidance and advice I couldn’t have been more convinced. Instead of working on making the first draft sound “good” and resemble as close to the finished product as possible, I began working on making my drafts more about my main ideas and getting my thoughts down on paper. I began to understand that having the right ideas and thoughts down first is more important than grammar and sentence structure. This is where peer-review for the first time in my life actually became helpful. I took my extremely rough first-drafts and gave them to my peers who contributed their honest thoughts and opinions on my work; giving me the green-light to continue on. It’s hard to describe how immense of a difference this has made on the amount of analysis I include in my papers.

It’s difficult to not sound cliché, but after finishing this semester, I feel much better as a writer than I’ve ever felt before. I have a much better understanding of the writing process now and know that I need to focus on the analysis a lot more and the minor details which I have overlooked before. I feel very comfortable and confident with the work I did in this class, not something I could say about my other English classes.