When I enrolled in English 21007 I had enrolled simply because this course is a graduation requirement for my major. This course, however, has shown me how important communication is and how many things should be taken into consideration when writing (CLO # 1). This course taught me to analyze the text that I am reading and to look for the rhetorical elements, purpose, and exigence. It has shown me just how subtle writing can be. The skills learned in this class are easily transferable to other fields and to writing in general.

To what extent have I achieved the course learning objectives?

During this semester, I have completed all course learning objectives. From the memo assignment to the engineering proposal, I have utilized all of the learning objectives. I have worked in a group, performed draft work, researched for my data, cited my sources, and adjusted my writing based on the audience. A look into the rhetorical elements was what enabled me to make adjustments with regard to each audience.

In what ways have my perceptions on what writing is and does evolved this semester?

My concept of writing has been decent, but I have not looked into exigence, and audience analysis before. This course showed me why these concepts are important, and how to use them to improve my writing. it has shown me what the rhetorical elements are, and how to combine and use all of them properly.

How does the audience impact the content and purpose of text?

Audience and purpose and interconnected. As the audience changes, so does the purpose and content as certain terminology may be better suited for some audiences, and the purpose changes as the goals set for the audience is different. For example, one may want one audience to take action, while only wanting to inform another audience (CEO and general employees would be an example).

Was there a challenge in writing across genre and addressing specific audiences?

Writing across genres and audiences was difficult initially as I was not very experienced with it. over time, however, this became easier as I got to practice it more. I started becoming comfortable with it in the memo assignment and was fully okay with it by the time we did our engineering proposal.

What happens to the other rhetorical elements when you change one of the elements within the situation? For example, when you change media, do the other elements change?

All of the rhetorical elements are interconnected, which means that if you change one of them, that may impact some or all of them depending on what was changed and how. If the media changes from digital to print for example, the audience would change as it would be harder to reach people, and the people reached will be different than the ones reached by a digital media, as younger people tend to have a larger online presence than older generations. If changed to oral it would have to be more specific as questions may rise from the audience. The purpose is also changed by the media change as it could go from informing to persuading/taking action.