RWS 1302 Final Learning Reflection

Throughout this semester we had several assignments that challenged

our writing skills. These helped us develop researching skills as well as
analytical. From this course, I will be taking the ability to analyze different
perspectives that differ from mine and be able to write about these
altogether. Most importantly based on these assignments I also learned the
importance of ethos, pathos, and logos in literacy. Overall, this course was
meant to build efficient communication skills through research, film,
presentations, and the use of technology.
The first assignment in this course was the Genre Analysis. This
assignment was intended to teach us how to identify the different genres and
their rhetorical features, and understand how these work within different
communities. It strengthen our writing skills in textual analysis through the
understanding of different genres. These included oral, typographic, and
iconographic/ visual. An example of oral would be public speaking, a podcast,
or face-to-face interviews. Typography refers to books, magazines, primary
source documents, laws, etc. Lastly, iconography refers to video, YouTube,
cartoons, or a corporate logo. By understanding these different genres, we
were able to understand what was being said about our chosen topic within
the discourse community. These helped gather further understanding of what
was already happening about the topic. To complete this assignment, we
were asked to create a writing process were it could facilitate the overall
analysis. We were also asked to write this assignment maintaining a third
person voice throughout. Through this assignment I was able to develop the

RWS 1302 Final Learning Reflection

intended ideas. For example, by analyzing two different genres I was able to
understand the importance of their differences and how each conveyed the
same topic but in a different perspective.
The second assignment was the Literature Review. This assignment
was intended to help us develop knowledge through research methods.
Through these research methods, it taught us how to create a more efficient
argument for our topic. This assignment developed ethos as we learned how
to make our arguments in the taken position more credible. It taught us how
to persuade our audience supporting our argument through the variety of
research. We had to create four research questions as well as conduct
primary research. A third person voice throughout was one of the
requirements as well as AP formatting and an abstract, an introduction with
general background information, and a review of the literature where it was a
blend of discussion between the primary and secondary research findings.
Lastly, this assignment needed to be completed being informative not
argumentative.
Our third assignment was the documentary film which we were able to
do it in groups of no more than 4 per group. The purpose of this documentary
film was to create a visual expression to convey a message or point of view
that could make a change in our community. This film had to create
awareness and advocate for a change in thinking or behavior concerning a
topic of political, civic, or social importance by persuading the audience to
the specific purpose. Overall requirements for this assignment were to

RWS 1302 Final Learning Reflection

support the film with substantial amount of research supporting our claims,
and be clear about the persuasive purpose. Since this assignment was in
groups, it allowed me to take into consideration other point of views different
from mine.
What made every assignment similar was the required use of ethos,
pathos, and logos. These differentiated as I decided to research different
topics such as immigration and the ecological footprint. Both being social
issues I decided to analyze literacy in the many different perspectives.