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Colin Parks

Professor Thomas

UWRT 1104

6 May 2017

Final Reflection

Rhetorical Knowledge

1. Metal music has been around since the late 1960s. Bands such as Deep Purple, Black

Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin were pioneers of the newly emerged genre. It was similar to the rock

and roll music in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but soon branched out to develop its own style. The new

style changed drastically over the next few decades, eventually developing subgenres of metal

with different characteristics. A few popular examples are heavy metal, thrash metal, death

metal, nu-metal, and metalcore.

2. One of my favorite moments learning to play the drums was when I played with my

fathers band. It was at my Uncles studio, with two drums set up for two drummers to play

simultaneously, and room for the guitarists and singer. There were microphones scattered

around, set up on the drums to pick up each sound, from the crisp sound of the snare to the loud

bang of the bass drum. At first (since it was my first time playing along with others), I watched

my father to pick up when he hit which drum, how he fit into the rhythm of the songs, etc. Then

after a few songs, I jumped in to play along with him. I was praised by the band members, they

were quick to compliment how much I had improved in a short time and that I was a natural. I

felt like one of them, feeling like I had been playing with them for years. I improved more in
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those couple hours than I had in a week's time of practicing on my own. This is because I was

learning from my father, who was my inspiration to start learning in the first place.

The development in my rhetorical knowledge in this class has allowed me to make an

assumption on the target audience of a text, analyze the ethos, pathos, and logos the writer uses

in a text, and determine what writing style to use based on the purpose of the writing.In the first

example from my inquiry thesis, I gave the reader background information on the metal genre.

Based on the target audience (classmates, professors, and the UNCC community), I assumed that

the majority were unfamiliar with the history of the genre and what became of it towards the late

1900s and early 2000s. Most of my target audience are likely unfamiliar with the genre, only

from what stereotypes they have heard. They have probably heard multiple metal songs, not even

knowing they belong to the metal genre. So, giving them this background establishes some initial

knowledge before going into the analysis of the genre and its impacts. The second example is

from my literacy narrative, where I described how my family is my biggest influence in my life.

The purpose of this paragraph was to give the reader a vivid image of the setting in which I

played with my fathers band. The descriptive details should allow the reader to feel as if they

are actually there with me. I utilized the senses sight and sound to describe my experience there.

This description of my time playing the drums with my father and his band gives the reader a

clear understanding of the connection between my father and me. The purpose of the two papers

was what led me to use different rhetoric. The purpose of the first example, to give the reader

background information on the topic, was different from the purpose of the second example,

which was to give the reader a descriptive setting to which they can see the connection I have

with my father. This was the difference in the rhetorical situations, and how I used rhetorical

knowledge to write based on their differing purposes.

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Critical Reading

1. A study from Humboldt State University considered if the heavy music affected fans,

and band members decades later. It was found that there was an effect, but a positive effect. In

the late 20th century, metalheads were running wild with dark imagery. It was found that

metalheads were just as well adjusted to everyday life as non-metalheads. Results found that

middle age metalheads were not more likely to attempt suicide or have sex at an earlier age.

2. Thirty-five male college students age eighteen to twenty-two were picked to participate

in a study they were told was to examine the relationship between auditory stimulation and taste

sensitivity. They were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: a group that

listened to heavy metal with violent lyrics, a group that listened to heavy metal with no violent

lyrics, and a control group that listened to no music. The songs with non-violent lyrics were

Bounce, Old School Hollywood, and I-E-A-I-A-I-O by System of a Down. The songs

determined to have violent lyrics were Blood meat and Limb from Limb by Protest the

Hero. Assuming that the 35 college students are not active metal-listeners, they most likely do

not understand the lyrics of the songs by Protest the Hero. This is due to the nature of the vocals,

they are almost impossible to understand if not an experienced metal listener. Even I, who listens

to almost exclusively metal, had a difficult time understanding the lyrics, even when focusing just

on the lyrics. Therefore, I disagree with the conclusion that the violent lyrics were the cause of

the aggressive behavior. As for the songs by System of a Down, they have reasonably easy to

understand lyrics with no violent lyrics, albeit explicit.

My critical reading skills have developed in this class in how I can understand the writers

purpose of using literary devices, whether or not a writers analysis on a topic is an effective one,
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and if and why a writer is credible. The first example of my critical reading is from my annotated

bibliographies for my inquiry thesis. It was done by a journalist for Seeker, Trace Dominguez.

He takes many different perspectives in his article, but Ill only include one paragraph I

summarized. He only went into detail about the purpose and results of the study he references,

but doesnt provide any analysis or judgement on the study. In addition to this, when I searched

the journalist up and viewed some of the articles he has written, there doesnt seem to be any

area of expertise. He focuses on topics pertaining to science, news, history, technology, politics,

space, and psychology. The fact that he doesnt stick to a couple topics decreases his credibility.

The journalist and article provided me with information not beneficial for my paper, due to the

lack of credibility and Dominguezs lack of analysis on the topic. The second example is from

my thesis. A study was done to find a link between aggressive behavior and listening to metal

music, using hot sauce as the indicator of the level of aggression in the participants of the study.

First, the use of hot sauce to measure aggression is not a good indicator. This is due to the nature

of the music; loud, bass heavy, and fast. Because of these characteristics, listeners will be more

energetic, not necessarily more aggressive. An energetic person may put more hot sauce in the

cup of water, regardless of what music the person has been listening to. Secondly, the songs

chosen to be used were flawed. I have listened to each of them multiple times and analyzed the

lyrics. It took me, an experienced metal listener, many times listening to piece together the lyrics,

meaning that a non-metal listener would most likely not even have a clue what the vocalist is

saying. It takes years of listening to this style of vocals to understand what they are saying.

Because of this, and the use of hot sauce as the dependent variable in measuring aggression, the

conclusion of the study that violent lyrics in metal music lead to aggression, is not completely

accurate.
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Knowledge of Conventions

1. In school, I always pushed to do well, and be one of the best in my classes. My parents

always told me to just do my best, although I felt the need to do more to be more successful in

school. I was offered no reward for doing well, nor punishment for doing bad (which rarely

happened). Instead, I was happy with myself, and my parents praised me for doing as well as I

did. So, I believe wanting to please my parents - at least in elementary and middle school - was

more important to me than the overall to be successful. Not the same can be said for high school

and college, since the stakes are higher.

2. Many studies have been done to attempt to find a link between listeners of metal music

and delinquent/aggressive behavior. This is what I will be using as evidence to prove or disprove

the hypothesis I believe: Metal music has more positive influences on its listeners than

negative.

3. Another study producing findings countering my hypothesis is one done by Maarten H.

W. Selfhout, who has a Doctorate of Philosophy and is an educator at Utrecht University,

Netherlands. This study examines the stability of adolescents preference for heavy metal and

hip-hop youth culture styles and longitudinal associations between preferences and problematic

behavior. The sample was 931 adolescents, 52.3% boys and the rest girls, between the age of 11

and 18. A questionnaire of cultural preferences was given at the beginning, and only participants

displaying interest in hip-hop and metal were analyzed. Externalizing behavior was analyzed by

determining the level of direct and indirect aggression and delinquency. On a 4-point scale, the

participants were asked how often they displayed behavior described in the categories

(Maarten).
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My knowledge of conventions has improved in this class in regards to my syntax and

grammar usage to create a well-structured essay as well as convey my points more efficiently

and my knowledge of MLA format. I have found that improving knowledge of conventions is an

ongoing process, where you find your style to bring out your voice in your writing. The first

example is from my literacy narrative. This paragraph uses I because it is a more casual text,

not arguing a thesis or providing information from a source. The use of the quotation marks

around do my best show that these are the exact words they reiterated to me whenever I felt as

if I wasnt doing enough. I used commas in every sentence to finish a piece of my thought, and

make it flow better. The use of the hyphen separating at least in elementary and middle school

gives the reader the knowledge that things changed after middle school, without creating a new

sentence to do so. The second paragraph is from my thesis. In this example I used a dash to

include both delinquent and aggressive behavior into the argument, because in my thesis, they go

hand-in-hand. In the second sentence, I used a colon to show that I will be telling the reader what

my hypothesis is. After the colon, I surrounded my hypothesis is quotation marks, drawing the

reader to inside the quotes. I do this to show the importance of this statement the whole thesis

paper revolves around this idea that I am arguing. The third paragraph is also from my thesis. It

is a long paragraph with a lot of information that goes together, so correct syntax must be used to

structure the paragraph, make it flow, and make sense to the reader. The use of an appositive in

the first sentence to connect the psychologists name to his credibility negates the need for them

to be two separate sentences. It also helps the reader finish the thought that he is credible, rather

than saying his name, pausing, then giving them his credibility. The use of the apostrophe on

adolescents shows that it is representative of all adolescents. Using multiple commas to connect

the sample information gives the reader all they need to know about the selected participants,
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without the need for multiple sentences. At the end, I included an in-text citation in MLA format.

This tells the reader that this information is coming from the source beginning with the authors

last name, Maarten.

Composing Processes

1. The results showed that heavy metal listeners are significantly more delinquent than

other music listeners. Simon claims low parental control led to more delinquent behavior, and

low intelligence also had the same effect. The multivariate analysis shows that the effects of

heavy metal preference are small, and it is more important to consider interaction with the

measures of social control (Singer). Singer refers to social control as the societal impacts on

the youth, such as peers, family, school, etc.

2. The lyrics of many metal songs contain themes that are disturbing to most people.

Id give anything just to cut you free

I'd give blood,

just to watch you, just to watch you bleed.

Some are even offensive to regular metal listeners, such as myself, containing themes

such as rape, death, and murder. One example is the band Cannibal Corpse, whose songs all fit

this description of disturbing. The bands name is representative of the content their songs

contain. Many listeners use this music as an outlet for their anger, so they are calmer after

hearing these lyrics, the opposite of what most believe.

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3. One of my favorite moments learning to play the drums was when I played with my

fathers band. It was at my Uncles studio, with two drums set up for two drummers to play

simultaneously, and room for the guitarists and singer. There were microphones scattered

around, set up on the drums to pick up each sound, from the crisp sound of the snare to the loud

bang of the bass drum. At first (since it was my first time playing along with others), I watched

my father to pick up when he hit which drum, how he fit into the rhythm of the songs, etc. Then

after a few songs, I jumped in to play along with him. I was praised by the band members, they

were quick to compliment how much I had improved in a short time and that I was a natural. I

felt like one of them, feeling like I had been playing with them for years. I improved more in

those couple hours than I had in a week's time of practicing on my own. This is because I was

learning from my father, who was my inspiration to start learning in the first place.

Revision is a necessary part of the writing process. Having someone else read your paper

as well as reading it yourself allows you to find mistakes, find points where you can improve

sentence structure and the way you convey ideas, and find places where more or less detail is

necessary. I have improved my ability to find places for improvement as well as fix mistakes

based on peer feedback. The first example of composing processes comes from my thesis. I

mentioned towards the ending, I give a quote from Singer, in which he mentions social control.

In my first draft, I neglected to notice that I didnt clarify what Singer meant by this, and was

under the assumption that this term was self-explanatory. So, in my second draft, I added my

part, clarifying what Singer determines social control to be. The second example is also from my

thesis. I was told to give an example of lyrics that contain themes disturbing to most people. The

example I give is a very minor example, but it would be incredibly inappropriate to include more

disturbing examples. So, I added a description giving the themes of some of the more disturbing
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content, as well as the example of the most disturbing metal bands, Cannibal Corpse. This gives

the reader the opportunity to see what some of the more disturbing examples are, without me

putting them in my paper. The final example is from my literacy narrative, describing my

experience playing music with my dads band. This whole paragraph was not included in my first

draft, but I added it when given the feedback to be more descriptive of the relationship between

me and my father. I felt as if a paragraph dedicated to one of my favorite events with my father,

where we bonded the most, was appropriate. I was told by several classmates that this additional

paragraph clearly shows them our relationship.

Critical Reflection

1. I received feedback pertaining to more detail in some places, as well as less in other

areas. More details such as examples or visual details were encouraged. I added examples of

bands my dad and I like, example of the thought process behind figuring out why I have an

undesirable feeling, and what my parents look like. The first paragraph was unnecessary, since it

added no value to the paper as a whole. I also added some open-air writing for playing the

drums with my dad.

2. The problems I had in this was trying to put my input in the proposal, rather than

stating mostly facts, even though I did. I am considering cutting pop and rap from the genres and

focus on metal primarily, because it interests me the most.

We were required to reflect after each studio we did in class and after every draft of each

of the writing assignments. This helped me understand what I just did, and how I could improve

next time. This skill allows me to continually improve my writing skills. The first example
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reflects the first draft of my literacy narrative. I was told, and noticed a need for detail in some

places, and unnecessary detail in other places. The paper revolved around my parents, so more

details about them was important. I included their appearances to give the reader a mental image

of them. This adds to the immersion of the reader in my story, making them feel more like they

are there too. The addition of bands my dad and I enjoy gives the reader an idea of what kind of

music we listen to and play, and what similar tastes we have, showing them that we enjoy some

of the same music. The last piece of information I added was an example of the thought process

of determining the reason I was feeling a certain way. This gives the reader an example of what I

think of when I am not feeling well, which shows them what my mother has taught me, and

made me more interested to know about. It was necessary to add this for clarity, giving them my

analysis on the hypothetical example I provided, and what I would deduce given how I feel. I

was told to take out the first paragraph, as it added little value to the paper. It acted as a thesis,

but this wasnt necessary for the purpose of the paper I was writing, since the ideas expressed in

that paragraph occur in other points in the paper. Taking this out eliminated redundancy. The

second example was from my inquiry proposal. I found that I had added mainly facts, rather than

giving my input in some of the topics I introduced. It was necessary to add my opinions so that

the reader draws a connection between the me and the topic. The second reflection I made was

the decision to take out hip-hop from the inquiry. Focusing on metal strengthened my argument,

allowing me to show more perspectives, rather than dividing the perspectives between the two

genres and having two incomplete or mediocre arguments. Also, although the genre of hip-hop is

considered negative due to lyrics involving misogyny, gangs, drugs, and violence, it is very

different from the metal genre. The two just cant be included in the same argument.
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