All five of these papers taught me how to write clear, concise arguments and how to structure them. They are all significant in that they all required me to dig deeper into issues and explore them more. I have become more unbiased in my writing which is more persuasive. I have learned how to edit correctly and look at my work objectively to achieve a goal. All five of the topics I chose connect to me personally. I chose personal topics because they are easier to write about. I had a personal experience with the sport of wrestling that has changed my life, so it was only appropriate to choose it to praise. I am a Conservative Republican, so that is why I chose to analyze Ted Cruz’s campaign ad. Campus food hours upset me; freedom to speak my beliefs and being pro-life are very important things to me. I hold all of these topics close to me. Writing is a form of expression, so when I picked these topics I was able to express how I really feel and articulate my thoughts well. Three out of five are also hot political topics at the moment so they are fresh on my mind. The processes behind these papers are many. There was the brainstorming, the writing, the writer’s block, more writing, editing, and then re-editing after grading. All of these processes were necessary to produce my final products. My papers all fit together like a puzzle that depicts part of my brain. The ceremonial argument represents the family and athletic part, the proposal argument represents the academic and functioning part, the causal paper represents the Christian part, the rhetorical analysis represents the political part, and the Rogerian argument represents the humanity and moral part. The common theme within all of my papers is myself. I put myself into everything I write, whether I use first person or not. Involving myself can simply start with the topic. The words I use are also important. I learned how to use ethos, pathos, and logos to strengthen my arguments and create credibility for me as a writer. These papers helped me push through writer’s block and find new writing ideas. I believe that I accomplished all of the goals of these papers which were to persuasively praise something, evaluate the effectiveness of rhetoric used in a political ad, analyze a problem and suggest a proposal, explore a cause-and-effect relationship of a current event, and mediate between two side of an argument. Some were more successful than others, as I have said, but
I feel that they all have succeeded in the above areas.
I feel that they all have succeeded in the above areas.