Maria Valdez

Allison Fernley
English 1010
April 3, 2016

Reflection
Throughout this semester I developed some understanding on how to
write a summary, a rhetorical piece and a synthesis paper. To do this, use our
textbook and in class guidance as well. I researched from different sources
such as book, online opinions and reports and radio interviews to mention
some. Being able to break down a whole information into more
understandable pieces and comprehend its meaning is a crucial step to
appreciate what I'm reading and learn something from it. The purpose of
knowing what to look for in a text is being able to grasp the main idea and
develop my own critical thinking of the topic.
The first move I learned was to recognize the "they say/I say" part of a
writing. In my own synthesis this is represented by advocates and opponents
of the law that would allow dying patients to take lethal medications
prescribed by a physician mention in the first paragraph. By indicating in the
second paragraph a well known case of a woman who was terminally ill and
supports this practice plus the debate of this particular bill in the state
legislature I use the sense of kairos applied to this topic. I also made use of
Ethos by stating all my sources along my writing and highlighting the most
important contribution they made to the issue. One example that can be

found on the third page is Margaret Battin who in a radio interview described
how people in different societies and circumstances interpret suicide as
either positive or negative depending on the method they use to kill
themselves. I put some logos to support my point of view such as in the first
paragraph of page number four where I stated that assisted suicide had only
0.21% increase of all deaths after the law was enacted in 1994 in the State
of Oregon. The last appeal is pathos and came with the story of my own
grandmother detailed on the fifth page.
This debate has a great number of naysayers and I used their position to
make my own point on this matter. For instance, in the last paragraph of the
sixth page I referred to opponents of the law but in favor of death penalty
which sounds a little bit contradictory. Finally I ended my paper addressing
patients, family, doctors and public in general to think what they would like
their last day of their lives would be.
I definitely believe I've learned some important writing skills throughout
this course and I'm sure it will help me do my job better both in school and in
my career. I personally appreciate a correct writing and spelling and I'm
trying to do it properly in English as my second language.