Reflecting on My Moments as a Writer

During this writing course, I have experienced three significant moments that have helped me to improve my writing skills and grow as a writer.

The first moment was when I realized how little I knew about the concept of rhetorical situation. I have come to realize that rhetorical situations are present all the time in our everyday lives and that I can use these situations to inspire what and how I write. I have learned that the key elements of a rhetorical situation include: the nature and disposition of your target audience, the exigence that impels the writer to enter the conversation, the writer's goal/purpose, information that is already known about your topic, and the general state of the world outside the more specific context of issue at hand. I know now that once I can identify and analyze these elements that I will have the tools to help me create a solid argument that will be much more persuasive in convincing my target audience to consider my viewpoint and in turn generate positive discourse.

The second moment was when I learned I could still write well while under pressure in class. Normally, I absolutely hate writing on the spot. I am very methodical when it comes to my writing and I like to research my topic thoroughly, carefully plan out what I am going to say/write, and proofread my work.  I have come to the realization that a lot of writing, both in college and in the workforce, is done under pressure and I think that some degree of pressure can be a good source of motivation. Even though I still may not like writing under pressure I believe that the more I am exposed to it the easier it will become.

The third moment was when we were discussing ethos, pathos, and logos. I have always enjoyed writing about topics that were close to my heart because I was able to put a lot of my emotion (pathos) into it. In fact persuasive writing was the only type of writing that I cared for and I knew I was good at it. So I found it funny that in this class when we were assigned to write our columns I found myself holding back and not putting enough pathos in my writing. I think that I was trying to focus on ethos and logos more and not have pathos overpower my writing. I revised my writing to include more pathos, which was easy for me and this is what I should have done in the first place. Through this process I have learned that as long as you establish ethos and use logos it is still okay to include a plethora of pathos because this will actually make your writing stronger, especially when it come to argumentative writing.