Wunderlich 1 Jacqueline Wunderlich Professor Gonsior WRT 1010, Section 30 05 December 2013 Final Reflection This semester, I think

my writing improved from previous years because I was able to focus more on the process of actually writing my paper and less on rushing to get it done and busywork. Because all of the essays we did in class had a specific point, I was able to invest myself more because I felt like the assignments were worth my time and effort. That probably significantly helped the quality of my essays as well. I think my writing in general is fairly decent, however, I tend to prefer to stick to analytical papers such as papers done through a formalist, feminist or historical lens or even rhetorical analysis of a non-fiction work, such as in my rhetorical analysis, An Inevitable Conclusion. I find it simple to dissect the techniques used in a work to deliver the reader to a specific point and consider things such as: His rhetorical questions are phrased in such a way that the reader is forced to consider his perspective and answer in the way he expects. Therefore, the rhetorical questions further lead the readers perspective towards Brinkleys. By contrast, then, the most difficult for me is writing narratives and description. I love to read fiction but I have never been a big fan of writing it myself and the same goes for non-fiction narratives. Describing setting and action does not come naturally and I struggle to make my stories more than mostly inner dialogue sprinkled with conversations between people. Writing the narrative essay was a battle and I was very glad when it was done.

Wunderlich 2 In writing my compare & contrast essay, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about going into it. When I was in high school, a bunch of parents tried to ban multiple books my class was reading in AP English. I remember being horrified, especially considering both books were highly acclaimed and one of which was being contested over one paragraph in a 200 page novel. One paragraphwhich was already whited out in many copies, including mine. I wanted to find out more about censorship and so I decided to look into the websites that help people find out about it to begin with and the issues that surround censorship. I found that essay to be fairly self-explanatory and did not have much issue. My second essay of the second half of the semester, my research paper, was more difficult to write because I had to delve into looking into sources and really considering what was reliable and what actively added to my essays content. I had hardly looked into Madonnas databases until I began to write my research paper and at first, it was tricky but then I was able to get a handle on it. My biggest change with my research paper was stating some information earlier oninstead of defining the achievement gap in the concluding paragraph, I revised to add it into my introductory paragraph. I made little additions here and there in order to make it flow more smoothly. The best essay I wrote this semester was my rhetorical Analysis, An Inevitable Conclusion. I thought I was able to make excellent word choice and also, I felt like this essay in particular had a very strong point throughout. It did not wander off and every sentence contributed to both the thesis and my overall theme and mood. The conclusion is my favorite because of the way I was able to capture the overall development of both the article I was analyzing and the development of my own paper. I have attached it here to better show what I am talking about.

Wunderlich 3 Though Brinkleys methods of persuasion are each individually impressive, together they are even more effective. His direct language opens a personal dialogue with the reader even as his parallels and allusions appeal to their emotions and cause them to remember 9/11 and the sorrow Americas early encounter with al-Qaida brought. And still, his rhetorical questions nudge and push the reader firmly onto his opinion. Altogether, they persuade the reader both emotionally and logically and allow Brinkley to present what seems to be a very inevitable conclusion- regardless of how the government and citizens feel about entering another war, the U.S. must intervene to prevent leaving the country open to attack by terrorists.