This Fall semester in my First-Year Composition FIQWS class of Self & Other in Literature, I was able to develop different strategies that allowed me to build on my writing and address the Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) for the class. The class focused on developing my ability to persuade since every writing piece is argumentative in their own way. Therefore, I greatly improved on my use of rhetorical skills and language to convince my audience of my argument, hence, thesis. Overall, the assignments required for the class, such as the Literacy Narrative, Annotated Bibliography, and Researched Critical Analysis Essay (RCA), enhanced my writing experience, each uniquely depending on what the assignment asked for.

The first major assignment for the class was the Literacy Narrative in which we had to identify a character from a piece of literature that parallels our experiences in regards to an aspect of our identity or describe how literature has shaped it. In my essay, “Because I Am Hispanic”, I focused on explaining how a character shares a similar aspect of my ethnic identity by referring to the speaker of the poem, “Latino-Americanos: The Children Of An Oscuro Pasado”. In this assignment, I worked on identifying what a literacy narrative is and how to format it. The several readings assigned in class such as “Coming Into Language” by Jimmy Santiago Baca allowed me to recognize what is expected in a narrative while maintaining to address the task at hand.

In order to successfully complete the assignment, I used the rhetorical techniques learned in class to develop my exigence and the CLO of summarization, the practice of rhetorical terms, and developing strategies for drafting and editing. I learned how to employ a writing piece within my essay and use summarization to give my audience, directed to those who shared my ethnic identity of being Hispanic, enough background information to better understand my thesis. I used a persuasive tone through pathos to convince my audience that ethnic identities strengthen and motivate one. However, to get to this point in my final draft, I had to draft an essay first and have it peer reviewed by two other classmates and the professor in order for me to recognize what is lacking in my narrative. In return, I peer reviewed their essays as well and gave them helpful feedback. The whole editing process was necessary and advantageous because it aided to improve my essay and realize that my thesis needed more significance.

The second required assignment for the course was the Annotated Bibliography that was in respect to the RCA. I had to pick three secondary sources that corresponded to my proposed thesis and explain them while discussing how the information entailed within them will help to develop and strengthen my argument. This required plenty of research to identify how the sources will be employed by keeping in mind the rhetorical situations worked within the sources. Therefore, analyzing the sources helped me reach the CLO of locating research sources, composing texts that integrate my stance with appropriate sources, and practicing systematic application of citation conventions.

Before beginning I had learn how to format an annotated bibliography which I did by reading the text Norton Chapter 15, provided by the professor, that indicated how to format one. Afterwards, I located and researched my sources. In class, on a day to the library, I learned to identify valid and credible sources through the outlet I was retrieving them from. I mostly relied on the CCNY Library Databases for my sources since the articles it contained where scholarly. However, I also searched the web and made sure that the articles I picked contained valid information by researching the corresponding author’s credibility. Aside from this, I was able to properly use chosen sources so it would benefit my argument and to do this I had to correctly cite them, which I did with the guidance of my professor.

The final major assignment was the Researched Critical Analysis Essay that focused on developing a proposed argument in accordance to a film, TV show, or piece of literature and using evidence to support the thesis. This assignment, which I titled, “Humor: A Distasteful Concept in Life Is Beautiful”, helped me reach all the CLOs and build on those that I had previously learned. I explored and analyzed a variety of rhetorical situations when identifying the sources I would be employing. There was a productive drafting process that allowed me to recognize my mistakes and improve on them, especially my grammar. In addition to this, I learned how to integrate the sources into my writing by using proper citation. With guidance from the professor’s lecture and “OWL Purdue” I was able to grasp how sources should be cited in MLA format according to the type of text they are. Not only did I learn how to cite them within my essay but I also acknowledged that a ‘Works Cited’ page was needed in case the reader wanted to refer back to the sources used. Citing sources and using them in general helped to add credibility to my argument since it was supporting evidence for my thesis.

The essay itself, incorporated several rhetorical strategies learned throughout the course. To begin with, it is an argumentative essay so it includes a counterargument in order to prevent any bias affirmations. With the aid of the text They Say, I Say Chapter 15 and concepts discussed in class I build a counter-argument with a strong rebuttal. I employed ethos with the sources used by acknowledging the credibility of the authors through their education. Pathos was used to persuade my audience, which focused most on those inclined to believe anything seen on TV, by appealing to their emotions when stating the numerous deaths associated with the Holocaust, the topic discussed and argued about in my essay. Lastly, logos was highly employed with the use of statistics and sources for my argument. Therefore, all these rhetorical strategies aided me to strengthen and add significance to my purpose to inform and persuade readers.

In between assignments there were also discussion posts and reflection essays we had to do corresponding to specific assignments. These assignments allowed me to put knowledge of rhetorical terms into practice by discussing the purpose, audience, stance, genre, and media/design of certain writing pieces that enabled them to successfully develop their exigence. The discussion posts such as the Literacy Narrative Analysis and Poetic Analysis allowed me to identify rhetorical situations within texts from outside authors so I can learn how to incorporate such rhetoric within essays of my own. The reflection essays such as those corresponding to our Literacy Narrative and RCA allowed me to identify rhetorical techniques within my own essay so I can either improve on or learn from them for future references such as this one.

Ultimately, all these assignments and hard work has aided to become a better writer by employing rhetoric within my writings in order to strengthen, validate, and add significance to my thesis. Furthermore, I was able to reach and complete the Course Learning Outcomes for the class to be fully able to engage in the writing experience provided by the course. Therefore, the course assignments helped me to learn the terms associated with rhetorical situations and put them into practice with my own writings.

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