12/18/22. Self Assessment:

English Composition taught me how to recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations. Rhetorical analysis is one aspect of this course that I had never experienced prior to my attendance. In the first half of the course, I was assigned to rhetorically analyze two video sources. These sources where Jamila Lyiscott “3 ways to speak English”, Melissa Lozada-Oliva “My Spanish”. The class was given introductory lessons on rhetorical analysis before this assignment was given, but I did not have any clue how to execute the practice. In my analysis it was clear that I had little to no ability to gauge exactly what to analyze. I attempted to focus on just the topic the authors wanted to discuss and the points they had brought up. For example, Jamila Lyscott discusses how her experience with language was affected by her parents’ divorce at a young age. I write “Jamila Lyiscott was successful in putting the audience on their toes and having them consider her situation in her own shoes”, but I fail to get at exactly how she does that or what type of language rhetoric she used. I manage to completely miss the aim of the rhetorical analysis in a parallel fashion when the second source becomes the subject. I do say “She [Lozada-Olivia] used very specific and descriptive diction and strong analogies to compare her personal experiences to”, but I fail to give one instance or describe how she uses this vocabulary. My rhetorical analysis skills were sub beginner, as I did not start anywhere on track of what rhetorical analysis was. 

Fortunately, I was able to completely change my abilities as it came tiem for my fase two assignment. My final rhetorical analysis essay was about June Jordan’s “Nobody Mean More To Me Than You And The Future Life Of Willie Jordan”. After more practice, and heavy research on rhetorical analysis and its methods, my writing was unrecognizable. Spending a bit of time learning about rhetoric allowed my writing to hit it on the nose. I learned about the difference between strong and weak descriptive verbs and transition verbs, as well as when to use them. I learned how to give analysis in a structured chronological order, while picking up the finer details that I failed to recognize beforehand. When analyzing Jordan’s text I write “She injects a taste of the experience to hook the reader and orient their gaze towards the topic at hand. Jordan uses terms like ‘us’ and ‘our’ (pg. 1/363) to share the experience with her reader when she writes…”. Aside from the glaring difference in the quality of my writing, I use words like inject and orient, which are much sharper verbs that are able to specifically share what the writer is accomplishing with her rhetoric. I am also able to recognize instances where Jordan uses vocabulary that is tailored to relating to the reader. I am able to point out the difference between ideas that the author claims explicitly and ideas that the author only suggests subliminally. I am very proud of the strides I have made in reading text in between the lines. It is not a skill that I ever imagined I was lacking, but this course has completely developed my rhetorical skills.  

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