Hailey Schaeffer

Professor Graves

Lang 120

Developing as a Writer

This fall semester has taught me a lot about writing and has allowed me to

grow as a writer. It has taught me to think in greater depth not necessarily about

what I read, but as to why I read it and how reading it could impact me. From

figuring out the purpose behind what I read, I much further enjoy reading these

articles and feel like I get a better understand of them as well.

First of, throughout this semester I have learned more about Rhetoric and

rhetorical analysis than I did in high school. I learned how to analyze the authors

reasonings for their writings and how their use evidence to support their ideas. For

example, in an article that I annotated previously, In an excerpt from Bootstraps:

From an American of Academic Color, Victor Villanuevas (author) purpose is to

find out about the diverse obstacles that individuals face if they are in anyway part

of the minority. He talked about why he was unable to go to College, but then ended

up in a University being Puerto Rican and not having a very decent GPA. In my

opinion, the Intended audience is pretty much anyone but more specifically English

professeurs. His goal was to graduate and shows the readers (audience) the

difficulties that they, similar to him, could experience when they desire something

that much. He does this by using great philosophers and political leaders as his

examples. From this analysis, one is able to understand the who the author is, why

they are writing what they are, and the purpose or goal to take away from the
writing. This is one of the different types to analyze information and learning this

new concept has allowed me to grow as a writer and be able to express myself

through my writing, more fluidly. Although I feel more exposed than previously, I

still feel that I have a lot to learn. I think continuing to learn more about these

concepts will help me grow further and gain a better understanding of language.

Following rhetoric, I learned a lot about how the format or layout of an essay

can affect its flow from one sentence to the next. At the beginning of this school

year I felt so accustomed to the five-paragraph style of writing as compared to the

more anamorphic style. Now, instead of my writing be the usual introduction

followed by the next three body paragraphs tied off with a concluding paragraph,

my writing now encompasses more depth and complexity. I can use any form of

paragraph length that I choose, and instead of following a specific outline I am free

to choose what I think makes my own writing sound or flow the best.

Besides having so many changes in my physical writing, the way I interpret

and understand the writing that I read has also changed. For example, when I read

an article I often wonder why did they write this or for what intended audience?

When coming to considering the intended audience of a piece of writing, I

also consider how determining the intended audience can help me improve upon

my own writing. I can highlight why what I have to say may impact them in any way.

I can choose my vocabulary and style of writing based off the intended audience as

well. If the audience is of higher academia, I would use a broader span of vocabulary

and vise versa.

 Lastly, this semester I have been exposed to free-writing, which was a fairly

new idea for me. Although we do receive a basic prompt, there is still so much

freedom and expression allowed in the classroom to elaborate what we have to say.

Sometimes I end up becoming aware of unconscious thoughts when I sit down to

write in this setting. I actually love to elaborate on my thoughts in writing, because it

can sometimes help me grasp and understand them better than previously. This

type of writing is something that I hope continues to take place in my future classes,

or perhaps even outside the classroom.

Overall, I have gained way more practical and applicable knowledge than I

was expecting from this class so far. Many of these include rhetorical analysiss,

essay structure, vocabulary and free-writing. With this knowledge and exposure I

will hopefully continue to grow and develop as a writer throughout all of my classes.
 Sources Cited

Villanueva, Victor. Bootstraps: from an American Academic of Color. National

Council of Teachers of English, 1993