Moment #1:
My first big moment in class was learning what a rhetorical
situation was and how to apply it to my writing. I had been in high-level
English classes in high school, but was never taught what a rhetorical
situation was. In fact, I had never even heard of it before this class.
Learning how to use rhetoric was definitely a good way for me to better my
writing. By adding exigence and constraints to my writing, along with keeping
the audience in mind, I can then display ethos, pathos and logos into my
writing as well. Learning about the complexities of how to piece together
writing in a thought out way gave me a new perspective towards my writing.
I used to write whatever came to mind without putting much
thought into who would read it or how my audience would react to what I had
written. Now I am able to make my
writing that much better because I know to keep my audience in mind by evoking
emotions, displaying credibility and how to define my argument in a logical and
realistic way.
Moment #2:
Learning about specifically audience was also a big eye
opener to me. I had kept audience in mind some of the time, but in a way I
still did not alter my writing to cater to a certain audience. By writing the
newsletter aiming towards freshman college students, it helped me realize that
different styles of writing and expressing different tones can really benefit
ones writing. For example, the book The
Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is not aimed towards adults- unless
they are reading it to their kids. On the contrary, the book The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin
Graham is written strictly towards adults, specifically in the business field.
Whether you are writing a children’s book or a book about
how to be a better investor, you always need to keep audience in mind and think
about whether or not your writing will intrigue whoever will read it. This
class really helped me realize that your audience should have an impact on how
you portray your argument.
Moment #3:
Learning about genre has been very beneficial to my writing
as well. Practicing different styles of writing has helped me realize that not
every written piece is formatted the same way. Being able to work on different
styles of writing has been a great experience for me in this class. From
reflecting on articles to writing newsletters to writing blogs and columns, I
think being able to write well using multiple genres is a good skill that can
benefit ones writing significantly. I also like that using my voice in my
writing is encouraged. In high school, most English classes are just research
papers and only some reflection on reading books. I really enjoy that our
weekly blogs allow us to use our voice and personality in order to enhance our
writing and capture our audience. Learning about different genres and how to
write in different ways has helped me enhance my writing significantly.
I love how you connected using rhetoric in order to achieve ethos, pathos, and logos. I never really thought of it like that but you're right. Rhetorical situations and rhetoric appeals seem to go hand in hand. I also wrote the same way. Of course I had some idea of who my audience was but I still never altered my writing in order for them to understand easier or connect with my writing better. I would just write whatever first came to mind. You're absolutely right when you say we should realize our audience to have an impact on how we portray arguments.
ReplyDeleteGenre became important to me too after I learned about it. I hadn't realized before that there are different constraints with the different genres. I had been writing the same for every piece that I wrote, and I now realize that it is not longer the case. I also agree about using my voice. I like putting my personality into my writing. In my opinion, having the writer's personality injected into the piece makes the paper more interesting to read and gives it more life. Both of those have helped my writing immensely as well.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy giving a more personal feel to my writing--I want to make the audience feel like I do, in that as a reader, I don't want the voice in my head to be a monotonous drone reading the words. I want to hear a voice, a voice that isn't my own mind you, to express emotions and give a "real" feeling to what I am reading.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas you brought up about genre really resonated with me. Just like you, I had never given much thought to how the audience connects to the style of writing and the rhetorical situation in which the writing takes place. I would always write as if I where writing to a teacher, even when the situation called for me to write to a popular audience.
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with you. Before I take this class, I have never thought about who is my audience when I was writing. I was always just put things that I thought logical and engaging to me. However, by taking this class, I learned that I should always keep my audience in mind because I mow know that the aim/concept of writing is about persuade and engaging people.
ReplyDelete