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Something that I really enjoyed about English 101 with Professor Swinson was how organized she is. Professor Swinson always laid out what we were doing for the week and even the entire semester. She always let us know what was going to be expected of us and how we can find/manage the time to do it. However, I think the grading weight system could be improved. I had some unfortunate circumstances while one of our projects was in it’s prime of being composed and submitted. Due to me not performing well on one of the projects, my grade is going to suffer even though I performed well on the other projects. Overall, this course is a great first year class for freshman as they transition from high school to college. 

The writing process is a universal process that I feel allows you to produce the best writing that you have the ability to compose. It is very useful outside of English class, and even outside of school. Writing papers is something that has become a regular occurrence in my life and this process is something I have been using for every single one. I have already used the writing process outside of English class. I have used it in my UNI class, criminology class, and my political science class for my major. When I use the writing process, I create a rough draft, revise, have someone else look over it, and then create my final copy. 

I do believe that my writing has significantly improved this semester because I find it easier to write in general. I very rarely have the time period before beginning an assignment where I am stuck and do not know how to begin an essay. I can also tell it has improved because I do it so frequently. My major courses require lots of writing which has naturally made me better at getting my ideas onto paper. 

My infographic consists of an addition to the argument that was conducted in my original assigned article. I claimed in my infographic that in order to make a true impact on college students over the pandemic, universities should care for their students in all aspects of their life. By all aspects, I am not only financially but mentally, emotionally, and physically too. My argument does not necessarily diverge from the original argument but it leaves out some of the information from the article retaining around how covid affected students financially. I added more to the argument by covering how Covid-19 impacted students mentally and emotionally. 

It is important to evaluate your source when citing something because not everything you find on the internet (or anywhere) is true. Some sources also are biased which is not creditable when doing factual research. The most important thing from chapter 46 in my opinion is the paragraph addressing avoiding the echo chamber and fake news. Fake news is a huge issue in today’s society and I think it is important to know how to avoid it. I think this knowledge will change the way I read because I will be able to check the source and see if the article is biased. This knowledge will also help me look for articles that are reliable because I now know how to determine if a source is reliable. 

The main argument in my article that I used for Project 2 was that colleges and universities need to readjust how much they are charging their students due to Covid-19. A lot of the evidence in my article was first hand reports from students and lawyers who struggled with the issue at hand. I think the author could have gone so far as to show number examples of how universities and colleges got impacted. I think the most intriguing evidence was the quote from students. It was really cool to me that the author provided quotes from students who were impacted by the issue. I could ask for more evidence from universities how they felt on the issue regarding how students were impacted, did they have understanding and sympathy? A good counterargument for this issue would be that universities did not know what was going to happen. When Covid-19 first started, everyone was scared and in shock. No one knew what to do including universities, people run universities and did not know what to do. 

I found my infographic on the USDA’s (The United States Department of Agriculture) website. I believe the intended audience is people who have the power to change what goes on in our school’s. The images purpose is persuade change in students’ eating habits while at school. Yes, I believe that the image uses logos and ethos because it contains statements about schools’ eating habits now and provides trustable facts from the USDA. The image contains elements of CRAP. Contrast being all the different colors and images, Repetition being the constant reminder of students being the number one priority, Alignment being the organization of the images and the facts surrounding them, and Proximity being how the number at the top of each fact relates to the words under it. This image reflects my subject because my subject is education and this image pertains to students and their eating habits at school. 

As I look at my rhetorical analysis article, my author quotes first hand students who struggle with the issue at hand. He states a student saying “I am spending thousands of dollars—and I’m going into debt for the rest of my life—to sit on my couch.“  She continues, “I feel like I’m not getting what I paid for.” Before the quote the author says “A Cornish College of the Arts student declares..” He invited the students quote in by using the word “declare” which I feel was very asserting and got his point across. The author then explains how students do not feel like they are getting the whole college experience and what they paid for via online classes. I think the author successfully incorporated this into the main idea of this article by showing us first hand experience from students and then explaining his view on how the issue is not fair. 

I personally think that peer editing can be more helpful than help from your instructor if it is taken seriously. I feel that your peers tend to be more open and honest about what needs to be changed or taken away while an instructor may try to sugar coat it. The most helpful advice that I get is when people tell me if something does or does not make sense. Although it may make sense to me, do you believe that the reader will think it makes sense? I think the least helpful advice is advice on spelling and grammar because the computer does that for you, it is a waste of time on the editors part. 

In the article that I read, I believe they used all three type of rhetorical appeal but ethos more heavily then logos and pathos. Ethos was used a lot because the author used a lot of first hand examples (quotes) of people who were affected by tuition costs due to the pandemic. Although I do not think logos was used that much, it was still used. I believe the author used logos to have an emotional impact on the reader while talking about poor college students. Pathos was also used in my article because they mentioned multiple universities, quotes from students and lawyers. 

Rhetorical writing is used to ask questions in order to create an idea, not to prove a point. It contains ethos, pathos and logos in order to get an emotional, logical, and creditable reaction out of it’s reader. It is the use of many literary devices to help the effectiveness and persuasiveness of a piece of writing. 

When I originally had sat down to write my paper, I wrote down all my ideas on to a notepad. After I wrote down all my ideas, I drew an outline of how I wanted each and every paragraph to look. The outline organized my ideas that I had written down and which paragraph I wanted them to be in. I put my ideas in an order that I thought made sense and made my paper flow. After this process, I wrote my first draft and decided that I did not like the order of my paragraphs. After the revision process, I completed my final draft and I was ready to submit my paper. I feel that writing down my ideas and organizing them in an order that made sense was very helpful when writing my paragraphs. In project 2, I am going to focus more on my wording and making my sentences flow. 

When I was in middle school, I had a teacher that I will never forget. She told me that anything I write will never be wrong, it just may not meet the standards of the assignment. She really put an emphasis on creativity and following your heart. I found this advice very helpful because it allowed me to believe in myself and follow my heart. This teacher ended upcoming to my graduation party and we still stay in touch until this day.