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Arielle Jasmine Michelle Irada

Professor McClure

Writing 39B

22 March 2017

Final Reflection Essay

Writing is an integral part of communication, but it is also an illustrious form of

expression. As I have reveled in the process of rhetorical analysis, Writing 39B has strengthened

my ability to analyze texts and media to further my understanding about their significance. This

class has focused heavily on practicing rhetorical analysis techniques through weekly reflections,

class discussions, exploratory writing, formal analyses, scriptwriting, and the ultimate addition of

an eportfolio displaying a collection of written work. Each assignment is tangible proof of my

improvements as a writer, and along with these works I have gained transferable skills that I am

likely to use throughout my future courses as well as my career. In Writing 39B, I have achieved

knowledge of rhetoric, techniques of analysis, and habits of mind throughout the quarter as an

academic scholar. In this essay, I will reflect on overall impressions that have relevance to my

growth as a writer, the knowledge I have obtained from the drafting process, what I learned and

benefitted from in making revisions, and lastly, how the things I learned can be possibly applied

to my later university career. To support my reflections, I will refer back to written assignments

located in my final portfolio, and I will also quote from expert authorities such as American

philosopher Nol Carroll, and Author Saheba Lokhandwala.

Although one final piece of written work may be skillfully crafted, it shields the plethora

of revisions and critiques that came before it: writing -- in itself, is a process which requires a

writer to listen and readily accept guidance and feedback. In my case, I had a struggle doing
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both. Two lasting, overall impressions that I felt helped me significantly in improving my essays

was actively listening to feedback and being open-minded about writing conventions. It wasnt

until I received feedback on my Rhetorical Analysis (RA) draft that I began to invest in the idea,

as I had scored unexpectedly low for sticking to what I had been taught in high school. I was

thoroughly conditioned to believe that thesis statements were a single sentence, that first-person

narration was to be avoided, and to have some general structure of the five-paragraph essay. In

Figure 1, I illustrate how my previous writing class experiences have impacted my thesis in my

RA rough draft. Author Saheba Lokhandwala writes that, With the openness you will know to

be open to the criticism and use it to make your work better than what it was in her article

College Skills: Intellectual Openness (Lokhandwala). Although I initially didnt agree with

how the thesis was to be structured, I realized how superior my final draft came to be by

accepting the suggestions given to me by my professor. Through this example, I was able to

demonstrate openness and flexibility in my writing as a result of my final draft.

Figure 1

Pertaining specifically to rhetorical analysis, the drafting part of the writing process not

only demands having intellectual openness, but it also requires in-depth understanding of the text
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and its conventions in order to begin organizing ideas. In order to deepen my understanding of

textual analysis, I had to write many of my own works with a rhetors purpose in mind. Rather

than analyzing other authors written works, I personally believe that being engaged and getting

hands-on experience best helped me understand which components of writing to analyze. In

Figure 2, in order to convey my desired meaning in my two-sentence horror story, I had to select

specific words that had certain connotations, and I would alter the sentence structure to create

tone shifts. From then on, as I paid particular attention to diction, syntax, sentence structure, and

tone during a textual analysis, I often gained a deeper understanding of the rhetors purpose.

Meanwhile, the texts we read in class were great resources for learning about horror as a genre,

meanwhile, utilizing these texts has helped me establish stronger ethos within my essays. For a

majority of my assignments, I found American philosopher Nol Carrolls definition of a

monster in his The Nature of Horror essay to be the foundation for discussing monstrosity in

addition to my textual analysis of Richard Mathesons I Am Legend (Carroll). By referencing an

expert authority to support my textual analysis, I learned that my argument becomes much more

credible. With respect to organization, I also learned that stringing topic sentences into coherent

paragraphs allows the writer to see the flow in logic much more clearly. Overall, my experience

with the drafting process was a positive one, in which I spent most of the time gathering sources

and recognizing rhetorical devices to further my understanding of the text.

Figure 2
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The last part of the writing process is where the piece of writing becomes near to

perfection, however, this may take strenuous effort depending on the severity of the critiques and

feedback. In both my RA final draft and my RIP script for my groups movie, I rewrote

numerous lines of text due to the suggested feedback I was given. Figure 3 shows the second

paragraph revision for my RA final draft, where the green-colored text represents added words.

Figure 4 illustrates the specific lines of dialogue I edited in order to add subtle foreshadowing

and character development to cultivate a certain audience reception and expectation. Although

the process was rough and time-consuming, comparing the end product with its original

counterpart is what motivated me to persevere, knowing that I could turn a failure into a success

with dedicated work.

Figures 3 & 4

While the skills for rhetorical analysis can be easily applied to another writing class of

any genre, the transferrable skills I earned from each endeavor are all traits that I can implement

in my future university career. As a rising game designer, I will need to possess multiple talents

and skills that deal with collaboration, mediating, and critical thinking. Intellectual openness and

flexibility are characteristics that I will need most as I continue to work in groups for game

projects, as being open minded will not only help improve the experience of the game, but it will
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also help me and my team become better designers. Engagement in material, resourcefulness

and increasing credibility can be applied to almost any particular academic subject where I may

need to research information I have no prior knowledge about. Most importantly, perseverance is

needed in any profession as success often comes with struggles, but if I cannot overcome them, I

wont be able to reach my goals towards a career.

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Works Cited

Carroll, Nol. "The nature of horror." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (1987):

51-59.

Lokhandwala, Saheba. "College Skills: Intellectual Openness." TheGuide. The OpenLab, 31 Oct.

2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.