‭Malik‬‭1‬

‭Basant Malik‬

‭Dr. Sharity Nelson‬

‭English 1301-130‬

‭26 October 2023‬

‭Reflection Essay 2‬

‭One thing I learned about visual text analysis and the rhetorical situation while doing this‬

‭second essay unit was how to see an image and analyze every major and minor detail about it.‬

‭For my essay, I delved into what the album cover of “Astroworld” by rapper Travis Scott truly‬

‭symbolizes. Being a fan of this rapper, it allowed me to interpret this album art to an extent I‬

‭never knew was possible. Both the concepts of visual analysis and rhetorical situations will help‬

‭me in other courses and writing situations by allowing me to be fully able to analyze a visual‬

‭image and understand its true purpose. For example, if I take an art course in the near future, I‬

‭will be able to apply my knowledge of examining art to that course. I am a business major, so a‬

‭writing situation that would be applicable to me would be in a writing situation where I need to‬

‭analyze an advertisement and write about how it uses certain imagery in order to persuade‬

‭consumers into purchasing its product. (Malik, “Visual Analysis of Travis Scott’s Astroworld‬

‭album cover and its meaning” 1)‬

‭My knowledge of the drafting and revision process was built upon during the second‬

‭essay unit by practicing the method of freewriting. This is a writing process used in order to get‬

‭the author’s thoughts flowing without having to worry about grammar. This allowed me to jot‬

‭down all my thoughts without having to worry about structure when drafting my essay. For‬

‭revision, I did not necessarily build upon my knowledge, but instead applied what I learned from‬

‭the process of writing Essay 1. This was to go see a tutor, and he provided me with several‬
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‭helpful tips on how I could improve my essay. The concepts of brainstorming, prewriting,‬

‭drafting, and the revision process can help me in other courses and writing situations by allowing‬

‭my work to be submitted to its best quality.‬

‭Conferencing and receiving feedback from my instructor helped me improve my essay in‬

‭a couple different ways. For one, she explained to me that since the essay was a visual analysis, it‬

‭was to not use any background information that goes beyond the scope of simply analyzing the‬

‭album cover. I had to rework a lot of my essay since a lot of my focal points were talking about‬

‭what had occurred in real life after this album had been released. She also helped me by‬

‭explaining that I needed to elaborate a lot more than what I had for my first draft. I applied this‬

‭by going much more into specifics and details in my body paragraphs.‬

‭The peer review section with a classmate helped improve my essay by allowing me to‬

‭apply several helpful tips that I had missed beforehand. These ranged from simple grammar‬

‭mistakes and helping out with my flow and structure, to overall explaining where the focus for‬

‭the content should head towards.‬

‭Editing and proofreading helped my visual text analysis essay by helping me recognize‬

‭different missing connections between ideas, irrelevant information, and any confusing‬

‭expressions in my draft by allowing me to examine my essay and notice these flaws. One‬

‭element I ended up changing was my thesis alignment. I felt that some of my body paragraphs‬

‭did not fully explain the message I was trying to display, so I went back and changed that during‬

‭the editing and proofreading process. Becoming aware of any missing elements in my writing‬

‭helps me prepare for future writing assignments by being able to fix anything that may sound off.‬

‭This can range from identifying/forming a connection between the thesis and the body‬
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‭paragraph, and deleting any excess information in my essay which does not add any substance to‬

‭the overall paper.‬

‭The most challenging part of this essay assignment for me was after I had turned in draft‬

‭1. I thought I was on the right track with my essay, but turns out I was completely off. I had‬

‭originally implemented background information into my essay. However, after conferencing and‬

‭receiving feedback from my instructor, I had to rework the entirety of my essay to not include‬

‭any background information, and instead focus on simply the album cover. Recognizing this‬

‭challenge helps me understand that it is fine to make mistakes, and that is what drafts are for. It is‬

‭important to learn from these mistakes, and make sure to correct them before submitting the final‬

‭draft.‬

‭The least challenging part of this essay assignment for me was choosing the actual image‬

‭to analyze. Whenever I came to the understanding that the essay was going to be centered around‬

‭a visual body of work, I immediately thought of choosing “Astroworld” for mine, as it is a‬

‭vibrant album cover with many minor details, and I thought it would be interesting to be able to‬

‭learn more about it by analyzing and interpreting it.‬

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‭Work Cited‬

‭Malik, Basant. “Visual Analysis of Travis Scott’s Astroworld album cover and its meaning” 17‬

‭October 2023. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M International University, student paper.‬