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Amy Zakerski
Lang120
Dr. Leslee Johnson
December 5, 2015

Language 120 has been a significant learning experience for me. In high school, I was
never required to write an essay longer than 2 pages. I did didnt know what a rhetorical analysis
was. Most of my writing assignments were either creative writing or 1 page, doubled spaced
summaries. At my high school, we discussed and analyzed verbally rather than through text. So
as you can image, this was a bit of a leap for me. I was constantly challenged throughout this
course, to articulate to my thoughts and to do it efficiently.
In language 120, we wrote a good handful of rhetorical analysis essays. The first, I have
to admit, I was not happy about. We were told to analyze a chapter from They Say, I Say. It
seemed like a difficult and uninteresting assignment. For the second one, we analyzed a
photograph. I found this more intriguing, but I still wasnt grasping the meaning of rhetoric. Here
is a quote from my essay on the photo, Rock Art:
In this photo, I do not just simply see the desert sand and a bundle of rocks. I do not just
think of the Sahara location where this photo was taken- I see much more. If you think
about it, it makes sense that, in a photo called Rock art, there is more to see than what
is blatantly there.
I was very pleased with this essay by the time I turned it in. However, looking back, I realize that
I didnt spend enough time discussing the purpose, meaning, or message within the photograph.
Instead, I shared my personal viewing experience with the photo. I may have effectively

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communicated my reaction, but I didnt give the photo a voice of its own. My third analysis
was on the blues album, Born Under a Bad Sign by Albert King. Similar to the photograph, I
had a personal experience with the album. Even more, I had a sensory-shifting encounter with
Albert Kings music. But I think I did a much better job on delivering the nature and art of the
album by letting it speak for its self at times. Heres a quote from that essay:
Booker T. and the MGs were an instrumental funk, R&B, and southern soul band, lead
by the famous pianist, Booker T. Jones. So when they were paired with Albert King it
was a big bad collaboration of sounds and tones. The music was both sharp and smooth
-classic and original. It was harder than most blues but with a peppy tempo. It was
experimental yet masterful! This contrast is what really set the album apart.
I also improved on addressing the influences on of a work. Here I included information outside
of the album that helped explain why it sounds the way it does. I described the album with more
objectivity than the photo, and feel that it was an improvement. I was given more opportunities
to improve on rhetorical analysis, and believe that my final analysis revealed a great
improvement. Heres my concluding paragraph from that essay:
The larger conversation is about writing colloquium. As much as Strassers essay may be
directed at the professors and academics that construct first-year writing courses, I think
that this essay has to potential to enlighten anyone to attract people to the greater
conversation about literally writing what matters. Strasser supports the importance of
learning how to write in an academically astute manor by explaining the true purpose of
the technical devices learned in the first year of college. And that true purpose is to
strengthen the voices of the students and to empower them to take part in a world of
meaningful conversation.

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This time, I really aimed to understand the text and its purpose. I was significantly more engaged
than my first rhetorical analysis, and certainly more interested.
The research project that we spent several weeks on was the biggest highlight of the
class, to me. In high school, I didnt work on making a research paper seem specifically relevant
or intriguing. Instead, I would just state the facts in the paper and make the project appealing. I
chose to research the tobacco industry and struggled to make my papers on it as provoking as an
auditory and visual presentation. The essays I wrote on this topic were more engaging than most
of my work, in my opinion. However, they were flawed due to my drifting focus. My message
and thesis evolved greatly, but in the end, it was beneficial. My final presentation much more
specified and precise. I read more sources for this research quest than I have for any other
assignment. However, I narrowed my sources significantly more than usual. I learned to
distinguish important information from the excess. I also discovered and fell in love with google
scholar.
Working in small groups was also a good experience. Although I was sometimes reluctant
to accept the recommendations of others, feedback from my peers really evolved my perceptions
and project goals in the long run. I also felt much more comfortable revising peer writings by the
end of the semester. Overall I feel much more confident about writing college-level essays. I
recently got a 98 on a nine-page paper and 20-minute presentation in my sociology class (and the
professor is not an easy grader). I could not have done that a couple months ago. Ill end this
reflection by stating that I only feel equipped for future writing courses because of this class. It
wouldve sucked if I had waited until next semester.

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