The Most Important Thing I've Learned in this Class

The most important thing that I learned in this English class is to be conscientious of my audience when I am writing compositions and how to write to different audiences. For example, I code switch when writing to different audiences; I can be informal when I write to my friends but I need to be formal when I write to my teacher or my boss. I can send my friends messages on Facebook, but I need to write a formal email to my teacher. Another example is that I can use abbreviations and write in short-hand when I am writing to my friends but I cannot do this if I am writing a paper for English class.
I can carry this information with me through my academic career. All throughout my academic career, I will need to be conscientious of my audience when I am writing compositions. I cannot forget who my audience is because I need to use the appropriate format and the appropriate language. I can carry the information I learned in this English class through my vocational career, eventually. As of now, I want to be a psychologist so I will need to be aware of code switching depending on who I am talking to. Most importantly, I can carry this information with me throughout my life in general. I will be writing compositions all throughout my life so I will need to remember what I learned about shaping my compositions to my audience. If I remember all of this, my compositions will be better, since they are actually shaped to their audience.

How can photos of people make emotional, ethical and logical appeals?

Photos of people can appeal to emotions, ethics, and logics in many different ways. One way photos appeal to emotions is by the facial expressions and body language of the person/people in the picture. For example, if the person is smiling then the photo may appeal to happy emotions. On the other hand, if the person is frowning then the photo may appeal to sad or displeased emotions. Body language can express these and other emotions too. For example, if there is a photo of someone who is standing with their arms crossed then this may appeal to emotions like annoyance, disgust, or rejection. In addition to appealing to emotions, photos of people can appeal to ethics, too. Basically, photos show this when the person is doing something ethical or when the person is doing something unethical. An example of how a photo of a person can appeal to ethics is if the photo is showing someone helping another person. But, an example of how a photo can show a person is unethical is if it shows the person physically hurting another person. In addition to this, photos of people can be logically appealing. It is only logical to have photos that you would not be embarrassed for others to see or that could get you into trouble. For example, many teens have photos of themselves on their Facebook that shows underage drinking. It is not logically appealing to have these photos out for others to see since they can get you into trouble. Photos are usually appealing in all three of these areas.

How I View Advertisements

My view about advertisements has not changed that much through this project; hence I still view advertisements the same way I did before the project. Even though I actually thought of the ethos, pathos and logos of the two ads for the project, this does not mean that now I do that when I see an ad. And even more so, I do not compare and contrast the ethos, pathos and logos of different ads. For those reasons, I still think that I am a passive audience to visual arguments; therefore, I have not noticed a change in the manner that I look at visual arguments. I have not changed because, for the most part, I ignore a lot of ads. Many ads do not catch my attention so it would not make sense for me to care about their ethos, pathos and logos anyways. When an ad actually catches my attention, it is because the picture (visual) is of something that stands out from all of the other ads. Or it catches me attention simply by being something I usually buy, for example clothes from particular stores I like. If the visual is of something I do not care about, like sports, then I am not going to read more into it or even actually read what may be written on it; that would be a waste of time to me. These things that I do when I view an ad are not going to change just because I viewed two ads differently.

What is the rhetorical triangle and how can it be applied to visual arguments?

The rhetorical triangle was invented by Aristotle and it consists of the three ways in which someone can appeal to their audience in an argument. The three areas are called ethos, pathos and logos, and they all influence one another. Ethos is the part of the argument that appeals to the morality and credibility aspects. Pathos is the part of the argument that appeals to emotions. And, logos is the part of the argument that appeals to both logic and reason.
The rhetorical triangle can be applied to visual arguments because, even if it is a visual argument, someone is trying to appeal to their audience. In a visual argument, the visual needs to appeal to its audience in the three areas of the rhetorical triangle (ethos, pathos and logos). For example, if the visual argument is in the form of an ad in a magazine , then it can appeal to the morality/ credibility aspect by having a person that has a good reputation on the ad. A visual can emotionally appeal to its audience by having a person on an ad that is smiling. If an ad has something written on it that logically makes sense then it will appeal to the logic/reason aspect of the rhetorical triangle. All three of the areas work together to help make an argument better, and in this case, they help make an ad seem appealing. A visual argument needs all three parts in order to be the most appealing that it can be.

What Visuals Communicate to Me

The way I view visuals is that they can be very helpful when they are used in addition to another type of composition, such as an essay. This is because pictures can sometimes show things that are hard for words to describe. Not only do pictures show more than what words can say, but also I believe that pictures are truly worth 1000 words. For example, I can try all I want to describe what a person looks like, but my description does not nearly mean as much to someone as actually seeing that person, even if its just in a picture. When I see a picture or any other type of visual, I usually only see it for what it is, and I do not try to find some abstract meaning to it. One reason why I do this is because there are so many different messages that you can think that a visual is trying to convey, including the wrong message. I do not want to look at a visual and try to come up with different messages its conveying and then have those messages be wrong. Therefore, for example, if I see a picture of a flower, all I get from it is that it is a flower; the picture does not mean anything else to me. What I mean from this is that I do not think critically about the message the visual is trying to communicate; I am a passive reader of visuals. I do not know why I am like this, but I have always been this way. I have never liked abstract things and thinking critically about what something means is too abstract for me.

How I Will Prepare For The Exam

I will prepare for a timed writing exam by first making an outline for what I am going to write. I will need to take a lot of time doing this outline and do it thoroughly so it will actually help me on the exam. By making an outline, I can organize my thoughts, and if I organize my thoughts before I write my paper, I can write a more organized paper faster. Therefore, this should help me on a timed writing exam. However, while I write this outline, I need to be aware of how redundant I make it. I have a big problem with redundancy, and I need to try to fix this problem. Another problem I have is that I forget to make transitions. When I write my outline, I need to be brainstorming how I can transition to different topics throughout my paper.
Another way I can prepare for a timed writing exam is that I can do a lot of research on the topic before I take the exam. I should do the research before I make an outline in order for it to be useful. I need to take the time to read and understand what I research so that it can help me on the exam.
Nevertheless, there are many grammatical concerns that might cause me trouble. The one thing that troubles me the most is comma splices. Before taking the writing exam, I need to study my notes about comma splices and make sure that I know what I am doing; this will help me prepare for the exam. Besides comma splices, spelling is a major grammatical concern. I cannot really do anything to help me prepare for the exam that involves spelling, but I can bring a dictionary with me to the exam. So I can definitely prepare for the exam by making sure I have a dictionary with me that day. By preparing in these various ways, I am taking into account what troubles me before I take the exam.

My Writing Process

My writing process changes depending on what I am writing. But, for the most part, I brainstorm a little before I write. First, I think of the main idea of what I am writing and then build from that. For example, when I am writing a blog that I know has to be at least 250 words, I usually do not have the 250 words at first. I have to read over what I have written and see how I can expand on it to make it long enough. I can do this by adding transitions since, when I brainstorm, I usually do not think of the transitions. I usually come up with transitions at the end even if I do not brainstorm, but I just sit down and write. No matter what, I always read over my compositions after I have written them. I always have mistakes that I can easily fix from just reading over my compositions. I do not read over it quickly, but then again, I do not necessarily read over the individual sentences. When I read over my compositions, I am making sure what I have written makes sense and that my grammar is correct. Sometimes when I read my compositions, I think that what I have written is grammatically correct, but it’s not simply because I do not know better. For example, before I learned about comma splices in this class, I knew I was using them, but I never paid much attention to them when I was reading over my compositions. Since I now know about comma splices, I try to make sure I use them correctly. That is just one of the many things I do when I write and read over my compositions. I do put effort into writing and going over my compositions, but I know I could put even more effort into it.

How Presentations Change The Way I Address My Audience

When I give presentations and I can actually see my audience, the way I address them is different from when I cannot see my audience. When I can see my audience, they can see my body language, they can hear the tone of my voice and they can see my facial expressions. This has a big impact on the way I address my audience and this is because I can be less descriptive about what I am saying. People can infer a lot from my body language, facial expressions and the tone of my voice; therefore, I do not have to go into great detail to express my emotions if they can already infer it. But if you cannot see and hear these things, then I have to describe them so my audience will know. For example, you can tell if I am happy about something by the tone of my voice and you can see it because I am smiling but if I were to write something that I was happy about then I would have to actually write in some way, shape or form, "I am happy about…" so my audience knows. When I am writing, I do not want to assume that my audience knows how I feel with out directly stating it. But, a lot of the time, I can assume these things when I give presentations. And this is all because my body language, facial expressions and tone of voice tell a lot about what I am saying. I usually can tell if my audience understands what I am saying and if they understand my emotions about what I am saying by their facial expressions and body language. For example, when I am talking about something that makes me happy and I am smiling, my audience usually smiles too. My audience reacts in some way to what I am saying that allows me to know if it is understood or confusing. If something is confusing then I can elaborate or describe it in a different way. For that reason, my audience can actually help my presentation to be better. But if I write a paper, I only have that one chance to get my point across and I cannot try to re-explain something later. The differences that I listed above are also differences that I see myself making. I know that I rely a lot on body language, facial expressions and tone of voice when I am presenting and I know that I cannot rely on these things when I am not presenting.

Shaping Compostitions to Their Audience

My compositions have different audiences, therefore; I must shape my compositions to their specific audience. I often do this by changing what words and phrases I use. For example, if I am sending a text to my friend, I may write things like "lol" and "jk". But, if I am writing an essay for my English class, I would not write those things. If I am writing to anyone besides my friends, I also cannot use slang. It would not be appropriate to use slang while talking to someone who you should be respectful towards. The words/phrases I use in order to address my audience change depending on who I am talking to. For example, if I am writing a formal letter to someone, then I may start it off with, "Dear Mr. Smith," but if was writing a note for a friend I may write, "Katelyn,". This is related to the fact that, for certain audiences, I have to be formal and respectful. There are other audiences that I can be informal and casual with. This idea of respect and formality influences what form of composition I use. For example, I may text my friend or send them a message on Facebook but I would not do that to one of my professors. It would be inappropriate to do that to a professor unless they tell you to. Another example of the form of composition is that I may write a formal letter asking for a recommendation for a job but I would not text someone in order to ask for that. The same ideas of respect and formality influence whether or not I can write in shorthand. I can write in shorthand when I text my friends or talk to them on Facebook, but otherwise, I cannot do this in my compositions. For example, I may write "nvr" in a text, which is shorthand for "never", but in an English paper I would write "never". Writing in shorthand, using certain words/phrases, addressing my audience and picking the form of my composition all rely on who the audience is.
When writing compositions, I often think of audiences other than my instructor. But, if I am writing a composition for school, I only think of my instructor as my audience. There are some exceptions though. For example, when I wrote my Meet My Neighbor papers, I thought of my instructor as my audience and either an old pen pal or a friend, depending on the composition. Typically, I only think of my instructor as my audience.

What I Want to Accomplish in This Course

There are many things that I would like to accomplish in this course. By the end of this course, I would like to be able to write overall better papers. There are many things I need to accomplish first in order to accomplish that one goal. I will have to learn how to write more clearly and effectively, therefore; I will need to be able to get my point across successfully to various audiences. In this class, I would like to learn what it takes to effectively write to different audiences. Another thing I would like to learn is how to write better blogs. These blogs are short so I will need to learn how to be concise when I write. Although I need to be concise, I will need to thoroughly respond to the topic. This will be hard for me to do. This writing class can help me accomplish my goals for my college career and eventually my vocational career. I will need to become a better writer in order to do my best in college. I have to write clearly and effectively in all my classes, not only my English class. I will try to do my best in all of my classes and learning how to write better will help me to do so. The same thing goes for my vocational career. I want to become a psychologist. For any vocational career, you need to know how to write well and this includes being a psychologist.