CJ Case

ENG 201

Prof. Carpenter

December 19, 2022

Writing has always been something that I’ve loved. It has helped me through my darkest times, and has even encouraged me to major in public relations and advertisement, which involves a lot of writing. In this portfolio assignment, I will be analyzing several course objectives, while also delving into what writing is and how has my writing of evolved this semester.

  The first essay was an eye-opener for me, as it discussed the roles of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages, and their users. It introduced the concept of language conflict that immigrants faced in America. As an African-American person who lives in America, I found it very enticing and interesting. We also got to analyze other authors writing in different genres and rhetorical situations. I personally didn’t understand what a rhetorical device was until I entered this class. It was interesting to see and understand how different writers tackled similar discussions but using their own experiences. This encouraged me to add my own sense of style into my writing. This leads me to my next point with developing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing. I found it helpful to have class peer review sessions to help each other with our work. It also gave me the chance to become more of an editor in a sense, and help others with their work. 

  The second essay was the hardest out of the three. In this essay branching off of the first, we had to develop solutions in a sense to combat the controversial topic. We practiced systematic applications of citation conventions, and also recognize/practice key rhetorical terms/strategies when engaged with situation. for this essay, I felt that it was important to fully delve into whatever topic we would write about so we can get a sense of what strategies we could implement for solutions and what strategies the author had used in relation to rhetorical terms. The students also got the chance to develop and engage in collaborative and social aspects of the writing process. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, we were able to peer edit our essays, while also providing ideas to enhance our essays. I feel like this course objective was important and I was happy that it was heavily implemented, because three ideas are better than one.

  The final essay was the least challenging out of the three. We were able to understand and use print/digital technologies to address a range of audiences while also being able to locate research sources and the library database. Our last essay was a multimedia project, so I feel that using technology is was to our advantage. We basically had to create an image from scratch; what do use of stock images, AI generators, or even our friends who can draw it was really beneficial to have the technologies on hand. Not to forget to mention being able to use our libraries database so we can go further into our controversial topic, so when explaining the picture, we know exactly what to say.   Overall, I feel that this class has enhanced my writing and also my critical thinking skills. Writing is a form of expression, it can create a story and take people to a different world. It can also inform people of the unknown and I feel that’s what I’ve learned the most this semester. My writing has evolved with my knowledge as I feel that my vocabulary range has brought in along with knowledge of what block binocular English is. The course objectives along with my peers has helped the writing process for all of my essays and I can’t wait for what the future has for me with my writing