Reflective Memo ENGL 219

In this section I will be discussing everything I have worked on this semester and
how effective it was and what I can use from what I have learned, as well as the process
of my writing, in the order of the Rhetorical Canons. This class has been an excellent tool
to add to my writing abilities. This semester has been spent covering all of the technical
writing applications one would need to know in the real world. The things that I believe
will be the most helpful is the skills relating to memos, reports, proposals, and application
letters. Throughout my discussion of Rhetorical Canons I will be referencing my above
works. As I go through the stages of the canons it is important to keep in mind the
original purpose was for preparing a speech. But I will mention where things need to be
differentiated.
The first step in writing and in the Rhetorical Canons is the invention. It is the
finding a topic and selecting what to write about. This comes with doing research to
insure there is enough material on the subject for one to work with. Then when you have
the idea and the research to support it, the writer can move on to the brainstorming.
Brainstorming works differently for everyone, one thing I can appreciate about this class
is we used all the different models so that everyone had a way to find their signature.
Some of the tools we used in the class were mapping tools and free writes. These were
the first step; they would get the juices flowing and ideas going. Then we would post on
the discussion board, this was helpful because sometimes you just need to see what others
are thinking about to come up with one of your own. Also through the discussion posts
we could give feedback to our classmates. My favorite was the use of the small groups;
this was a really nice critical tool to receive feedback followed by advice. All of these
tools and dozens more that the book covers and which we covered in class encompasses
the first canon on our journey.
Once all your ideas are laid out it can be difficult to remember what train of
thought each came from so we must take a step back and give each idea purpose and then
create an outline to designate what kind of attention it needs. Here we are arranging our
information; arrangement is the second canon on our journey. When we arrange we find
our flow, we assign transitions, and give it character. Most times we find our flow after
we begin writing but when we find our rhythm first we have the entire paper to give it
heart. Rather than in the second half once we have found it. Identifying the rhetorical
situation is also important in your outline stage, although it lies in the third canon we
cannot ignore the importance of it being clearly established in the arrangement phase.
Tying in with that we want to make sure we are meeting our requirements, the outline
should cover all the requirements so when we are building our paper we dont forget a
crucial step. In the outline I always have my introduction points either listed or written
through. When you have the main point written out, it becomes easier to build the
supporting evidence, rather than doing it the opposite way. One thing we could have done
more is discussing this process in a discussion board or peer review. It would be a great
practice because its safe to assume most people ignore the outlining step and jump into
writing out their paper.

Once the information has been arranged we can begin to adapt the structure. This
requires more research to support the main points, which includes details and critically
discussing your points. Which should all ultimately tie into your main point discussed in
the introduction. Each topic you discuss should have a small intro and background then it
should become critical and have the evidence to support what it is claiming. I believe in a
60-40 ratio of facts that are supported by research to instill your credibility, and then the
rest should be evidence paraphrased with your personal opinion to give it a more
comfortable and human touch. With a critical outline such as this you will have a solid
foundation.
When your foundation is set, and you have your structure the next move is know
who your audience is and how you will be conveying your message. This process belongs
to the rhetorical canon Style. The canons place rhetorical situation as a style tool because
of how rhetorical situation determines audience, which determines what kind of visual
tools you need. I believe this should be split up and should have more of an influence in
the outline. Never the less, the style is important to know what direction you want your
idea to go in. That could be a purely analytical paper to an info-graphic with just detailed
pictures. It could be addressing a board of professional businessmen to a class of 1st
graders. It is important to know how you are going to present your information. Your
writing tone is a big deal, you want to be clear and give the impression of confidence in
your words. When you speak to someone it is clear by their tone and body language of
what they are intending but through only words one must spare no detail and intention.
We must steer clear of bias thus not to detour anyone from really taking in our message.
And I always like to use strong vocabulary to give the sentence more power. The best
way to understand style is by exploring all the different types of rhetorical situations and
we did that very frequently. I was always happy that I could refer back to at least 2
example texts while working on any assignment.
Memory is the fourth canon and it has to do with memory, it is the act of using a
more personalized touch in your papers. Anything that we have read or seen, we have
absorbed and it has been evaluated in our minds. Then when we regurgitate it, it mixes
with our personal experience and feels like a piece of us. This is a powerful tool and I
have used it in each of my writing assignments. First in the proposal my passion drove
my resolve to fix the bus system. It was a solution to a problem that I believed would
make a lot of people really happy. Then when I was giving my opinion to the entire
upcoming freshman in my walk through of UNM freshman year I put lots of passion in
my words so that those young boys and girls wouldnt have to be a slave to the system.
They could learn from my mistakes and hopefully share the message to others. Then
finally in my MWA III when I spoke of student loan debt it was not light heartedly.
Everything was backed by what I have experienced and seen in the world. The reason I
chose those topics was because I had the background knowledge and the passion. It was
not something I had to force. The second part of this canon is in presentation; it is
literally meaning remembering your presentation and the tools you can use to help
remember, and the use of different connections.

Our final Rhetorical Canon is about how the argument is presented. It is entirely
possible that someone creates the greatest piece of literature but it is presented poorly and
never looked at twice. It is our Delivery that makes a house a home, which can move
mountains, and make great leaps. It is crucial that we incorporate the pathos and ethos,
the emotion and the credibility. You want to appeal to those who think logically and those
who think emotionally. Then we go into how you can present your material, and having
the right about of images, everything you would need to support your claim. During your
presentation it is important to make all the necessary connections with your audience to
get the message across. We must do all of these things so we can appeal to every part of
the audience. Its apparent that delivery was used in every assignment so I will only cover
two examples that demonstrate lots of visual tools. In my MWA II my group and I wrote
a welcome to UNM, in this we use lots of visual tools so that the readers who know
nothing about the campus could familiarize themselves, without pictures they would have
nothing to reference and would be lost. Then in my presentation I noticed people paid
more attention to my graphs and charts than the text. So by referring to my visual tools I
found the best way to deliver my point.
I was very happy with this class; you have done an excellent job of giving us all
the tools necessary. I was happy that you didnt completely model the class with the
rhetorical canons, as I know most teachers use Student Learning Outcomes and are
sometimes unwilling to see otherwise. I only had one recommendation of what I would
have liked more of; everything else was above and beyond. One tool that I always try to
use, which really helps me get my across in a more natural way is a process called the
why, how and what. It is a method of speaking that easily translates into writing. It works
by appealing to emotional part of the brain first and working outwards into the logical
and critical. I learned about it from a ted talk called How Great Leaders Inspire Action
by Simon Sinek. I want to conclude with it because after all the different types of stages
in writing that we can use, our goal is and always will be to get the reader to believe and
understand our idea and purpose. So what Simon proposed is that when we want others to
believe in our idea we need first talk about why the matter is important and why your
audience should care about the matter. Then you go into how to solve the matter and how
it can be changed. Finally you tell them what it is you want, and what your message is.