Studio Ten

Rhetorical Knowledge

For the example above, the purpose for me was to inform and yet to entertain; I wanted
my introductory of myself to be light and fun, while informational. I dont quite know how to
describe the genre; is a letter a genre? If so, then its a non-fictional letter. My audience was
Barbara Presnell, my UWRT 1104 professor. The context was to introduce ourselves to her,
seeing as she had written us all a letter first introducing herself to us, and its only fair she
learned about us through the same method. The topic was, of course, myself.

The assignment above was a little bit more serious. The purpose was to analyze
the photo and then answer questions that were posted with the assignment, writing about what
was going on in the photo, like the emotions of the people and the setting and time period. The
genre was non-fiction. My audience was again, my professor, but also my peers because we
gathered in groups in class and shared, and a few shared with the entire class as well. The context
was what was going on in the photograph; Jewish women being liberated from a terrifying
concentration camp, and the topic was the photograph itself. This differs from the assignment
above it, because its more serious than something like an introductory letter. The context and
topic were morbid compared to that of the letters.

Critical Reading

In the post above, I used critical thinking skills to answer a question contemplating
whether Bragg was critical or understanding of father. What I gathered from the piece was a man
who was broken by a bad habit his parent was inhibited by, so what Bragg truly hated was his
fathers alcoholism addictions, not him as a person. When reading the reading, I used the
authors tone to identify exactly what he felt for his father or at least what I gathered from it. I
also used his reactions to the gift rom his father to see what he really thought about his father. I
dont think he ever resented his father, but rather what the alcohol caused his father to do, which
was tear apart his family. I think he felt for his father when it was obvious the effort his father
went through to give Bragg his gift.
Knowledge of Conventions

Shown above, Im using a semi-colon to connect two ideas in two different sentences. In
the first part of the first sentence, Im talking about how children seven to nine at out in a
classroom setting, and in the second part past the semi-colon, I say that that stays common as
they grow older. In the second sentence, I talk about how once adolescence starts, kids can
develop physical actions and then after the semi-colon I provide examples of what these physical
actions can be.

In my first piece from this semester, I used a convention in the first line of my
assignment. I used the comma to signalize that a pause was needed after addressing who my
letter was directed to, and afterward I continued on with a new thought. I was communicating to
my audience the obvious that I was writing a letter. And afterward I used the comma as a way
to cut off my address line and to start the basics of introducing myself.

Composing Process

My inquiry paper allowed me to give insight to my audience on my personal experience

with my parents divorce. However, I didnt introduce it as I should have; as shown above, my
groupmate Jordan suggested for me to include more include about how the divorce effected me
at age six, when it happened (seeing as I had only mentioned that it had happened to me then, not
how I felt about it or the toll it took on me). I took her suggestion to heart and ended up making
an entire paragraph about my experience from past to present, as shown below her comment. I
actually took it further, too. In my final draft I included my entire paragraph about my personal
experience, as well as started off my beginning paragraph with talking about how my parents
decided to divorce when I was six.
Critical Reflection

In this reflection of the second studio from this past semester, I wrote about how I was
confused about rhetoric for the past two years; in completing the assignment and reflecting on it,

I realized how much the studio actually helped me in gaining clarity on what rhetoric really is
and how its used. The notes we were asked to take down also aided in building an understanding
for me. Now, I dont think of rhetoric with tones of hatred in my head; instead, I see its
usefulness and take advantage of it when writing.
Creative Writing

I feel like these last few lines of my inquiry paper show my creativity because of the way
I relate medication to divorce. In a way, divorce has its way of healing it gives people the
opportunity to heal from a bad marriage, to get better for the future. Medications always come
with a long list of side effects, some hidden and some more known, like divorce does as well.
But you can always take something to cure the slight headache your medicine could cause, just
like you can go to a therapist to talk about the issues your battling from a parents divorce. It may
seem random to place at the end, but I feel like its a strong ending couple of lines that truly do
show my creative thinking.