Rogers 1 Gavin Rogers Mr.

Li ENG 111 6 December 2013 Reflection on English 111 As I began writing in English 111 at Miami University, I noticed a monumental change in how my essays were formatted, written, and styled almost instantaneously. Before coming to Miami University and participating in this course, I lacked a purpose of organization in many of my high school writings. For example, during my junior year of high school I wrote a paper that explained the works of idealism in relation to the theme of resistance to change in F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel, The Great Gatsby. As I wrote the paper, I did meet the expectations of my English teacher at the time. However, I failed to make an argument out of the facts that I presented. Instead of making an argument of the information that I had gathered in my incessant research and analysis of The Great Gatsby, I presented the facts with a matter-of-fact tone that had no intention of convincing the reader that I was correct, accurate, or reliable in my research. Throughout the course of this semester, I was continually challenged to adapt my writing to become more effective in pursuing a purpose with my writing. I was regularly tested to improve my writing through the lessons that were provided to me. These lessons included understanding how people have misunderstood my language, understanding several formal and informal rhetorical strategies that are available for use, and finally understanding how I can apply these strategies to research in order to develop and apply an argument to my research and analysis of a topic.

Rogers 2 I came to my first sudden realization that my old writing habits would no longer be acceptable when I was in the process of making very necessary changes to my Inquiry One rough draft. Inquiry One required me to reflect on past experiences where my writing or language was misunderstood. As I wrote this Inquiry One on the mistakes that I have previously made, I began to see how these mistakes could be so easily avoided. For example, when I chose my topic, I decided on writing about an experience that I had when I encountered someone who was openly homosexual, and because of the religious reputation that I had acquired throughout my high school years, he refused to give me the opportunity to talk to him at all. Because of the fact that I was able to reflect and retrospectively analyze the situation, I was able to see how I could have used my language, my specific choice of words, and possibly my organization of the conversation in order to build a relationship with this person, and let them see that I am a person that he can rely on. Looking back on the conversation, I was able to pinpoint very specific things that I said that could have caused tension. What I understood and gained from this lesson was the word choice that would have given me the ability to have a civil conversation. I would not only gain knowledge of formal rhetorical strategies that could have been of use, but also informal rhetorical strategies. As I analyzed and researched the intense argument behind Neil Youngs Ohio for my Inquiry Two assignment, I began to understand the impact of both formal and informal rhetorical techniques. Through studying this song, I came across several rhetorical techniques that Neil Young used in writing such as ethos, pathos, and logos. In addition to these formal techniques, I also discovered Youngs use of informal techniques that he used to evoke emotion such as the way the song is structured in terms of chord

Rogers 3 and lyric choice, and how the dynamics of the song (how soft or loud a note is played) evoke a specific emotion that he aims for. These examples of formal and informal rhetorical techniques have helped me tremendously in my works. Learning the importance of both formal and informal rhetorical techniques has helped me tremendously in my writing. All throughout my Inquiry Three assignment, as I was explaining the importance of using peaceful techniques to keep violence out of schools, I used several rhetorical techniques to get my point across. I used several examples of logos in my most recent works of writing in order to convince the audience of my paper that I have a very understandable way of thinking through logic. For example, I mentioned that the preventing of violence by means of adding guns (which is the very source of the violence that were trying to prevent) to schools does not make sense. Its not logical to do such a thing. While I did think that logos was the most powerful tool that I used in my paper, I also used informal rhetorical techniques to convey emotion in my paper. For example, I used certain words to describe the classroom as a warzone in my paper. I chose these words, and then continued on to place them in a specific order so that they would be powerful, and very intimidating to the audience. Overall, the rhetorical techniques that I have encountered through this semester have challenged me a great deal, and continued on to help me improve on my writing skills incredibly. I have seen a dramatic change in the style, format, and purpose of my writings since I have been enrolled in ENG 111 at Miami University. Starting at the beginning of this semester, when this course began, I have been continually challenged to adapt my writing skills to apply to a specific purpose. My writings have gained this purpose of

Rogers 4 arguing a specific point, and I am very pleased with the progress that I have made this year.