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I saw this online and just remembered how many times this has saved me in many of my english courses. To be honest the first time I read through it I was still confused but now it definitely comes in handy. Just something funny to think about while learning grammar. Punctuation has always been difficult for me and it is definitely something I need to work on throughout the next couple of years. Goodbye tumblr :(

I could translate my writing process to other work outside of the classroom by using the tools and tips I’ve learned in real life scenarios. Knowing how to structure and right a strong essay is so important. This is a skill that I could use to write letters or when applying for a job. Learning how to brainstorm throughout this course will also come in handy when brainstorming for other projects or functions in life. Using the process and steps we take when forming an essay can correlate to almost anything you take step by step outside of school. 

I am not sure if I had enough time in this class to actually improve my writing but my knowledge about writing has definitely improved. It has been a great refresher of how form a solid essay rhetorical and persuasive. I also really enjoyed creating the infographic. I have never done that before. 

This infographic was fun for my to create because I immediately knew what my counter argument would be after reading about our project. I discovered that Johnson did not show the rhetorical appeal ethos to the extent that she could have. I plan to use the idea of how she should incorporate anecdotal evidence and bigger names to further the appeal of ethos. She can also use rationality in her article to expand her audience. This creates more credibility for the author and gives her a more diverse audience. 

I have known this information while writing papers but actually applying it can be difficult. It is honestly not difficult, it just takes a little more time. But by knowing these key factors when checking for credible sources can make it easier. Some key factors would be when it is published (preferably past 10 years), who the author is (check their background), and the quality of the writing (grammar ect). 

I found this article called, “Here are 5 reasons why the ocean is so important”. This article is written by Sean Fleming who reaches out to his audience about the five main reasons why the ocean is crucial to life on earth. This article would appeal to anybody who is interested in protecting our oceans and to the age group of older teens and up. He goes through each topic in order 1-5 and provides multiple statistics for each one. He even provides a graph for the reader under the topic, “it helps regulate the climate”. This article definitely supports the argument of my original article. They both connect ways how the oceans are so important to our climate and ways we use the ocean in a positive way. 

I understand the subject or topic of the environment however, I feel like most people are always focused on improving the environment to control climate change, improve our oceans, or to save animals lives. Not everybody focuses on how we can improve OUR health. I think this infographic gives me a different understanding on why we should improve our environment.

One piece of advice that stuck out to me was when the author said, “A common piece of writing advice is to make your sentences plain, unadorned and invisible....A reader should notice the words no more than someone looking through glass notices the glass.” This quote caught my eye because it is something I’ve heard before and something I struggle with when writing. I didn’t realize how important this strategy is until I wrote my personal essay for college applications. The hardest part by far was shrinking my essay and cutting out as many sentences and words that I could. It was shocking to me that as much as I cut out, the story remained the same. I also really liked the analogy he used at the end of the quote.

I remember doing peer reviews in high school but I have not done one in a very long time. I really liked when my classmates took the time to dive deep into my paper and give me feedback that I could actually use. Comments that I could read and then go back to a specific spot on my paper and change were the most helpful. Whether that was reorganizing my paper, tweaking my thesis, or grammar corrections. One thing I did not think was helpful was when my peers would just comment “great job!” or “I like this sentence”. Those are nice comments, but if you like something specific about the paper say WHAT you liked about it so the author knows what exactly they did good and they can take note of.

In the article “To Save the Climate, Look to The Oceans” by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson she successfully pulls in the reader while persuading them how we need to heal the ocean because it is a source of climate solutions. Johnson uses multiple rhetorical appeals as in pathos to connect the reader emotionally from the beginning and logos to support her statements. Johnson uses these appeals to draw in her audience which would be people who are also interested in saving our climate and oceans or researches who are out to get more information. 

After reading the 11 Golden Rules of Writing Content for Your Website I learned a lot and some techniques that I have not been taught before. Something that surprised me would have to be how challenging it is to catch the readers’ attention. The website mentioned that study found that 55 percent of visitors spend 15 seconds or fewer on a webpage. Now that puts someone creating a web page up to the test. That is shocking statistics and something we can all learn from. This means we really need to use the 11 golden rules. One of the techniques I learned about that I have never been taught before is the “inverted pyramid”. I think I could imply this into my future essays on how I structure it. This is important because if I start with the most important information at the top, like my hook and thesis, is can pull the reader in. Having a strong introduction paragraph is important. What I also thought that is important that I should start doing in my writing is using short and simple sentences. Sometimes I find myself writing run-on sentences and repeating the same words over again. I need to learn how to get to the point by using multiple short and simple sentences therefore, the reader can understand better and I won’t lose their attention.

It has been a while since I have written an essay, even an informal one. Therefore, I didn’t know really where to begin so I set up an appointment with the writing center on zoom. This helped me so much because I knew that if she could get me started I would be fine the rest of the way. So together we chose to start with an outline which worked well for me. I got a feel for what each paragraph would look like and what I would talk about in each one. She also asked me questions about my high school journey as a writer and I would just write down my answers to brainstorm ideas for my paper. For the next project I would like to take in what I learned from my tutor session and try to do it on my own. However, if I get stuck I will definitely schedule another appointment.  

I started learning how to write in elementary school. I have never truly had a negative experience, but I had frustrating experiences starting in high school. My dad majored in English so he always had a positive impact on my writing and helped me improve. He taught me most of what I know about writing besides my teachers. I started to get frustrated later on in high school when I started to take harder classes, for example, AP Lang like I described in my last journal. My essays were never good enough and my grades were never where I wanted them to be. That is the only negative experience I would say I had with writing. 

Writing has always been one of my strengths throughout school. The only issue I have most of the time is once I start writing I can’t stop. I never thought of it as an issue until later on in high school when the rubric said 600-750 words and I would have over a thousand. I really had to learn how to shorten my essays when I was applying to college and it was not easy. Learning how to only keep what’s most important and relevant is a skill I’m hoping to get better at. I am also hoping to get close to perfecting my grammar. I really enjoyed writing until I took AP Lang. Learning all of the different types of essays and being forced to write about a specific topic that you aren’t interested in is difficult. What I enjoy most about writing is when you get to write from your heart, what your passionate about, or something personal. That is when writing comes easy to me.