04/27/19

Dear Professor Volstad,

Throughout the semester enrolled in UWRT 1104, the main goals one is deemed to know

by the end of the final class period are as follows; Rhetorical Knowledge, Critical Thinking,

Composing Process, Knowledge of Convention, and finally, Critical Reflection. With this letter,

I will demonstrate how well I learned these topics by giving examples of pieces of my work

throughout the semester.

Rhetorical Knowledge is the capacity to establish and apply strategies through a variety

of text and writing pieces. One may develop rhetorical knowledge by analyzing different types of

text such as nonfiction, imaginative, auditory, informational, and visual (Syllabus, 3). On the

paper, Descendents (2015): True Meaning, I analyzed the author’s purpose, audience, subject,

genre. I made it so that I covered ethos, pathos, and logos in throughout the paper. I made it clear

in my paper, who the target audience would be and explained why with proper evidence,

“Director Kenny Ortega uses princesses, princes, and villains in order to communicate with his

younger audience the true obstacles in society. For example, the stereotype of how the villains

are evil thus their children should come out to be the same way. They exiled the villains to an

island, the Isle of the Lost. because they are not to be trusted in Auradon for fear that they will

harm the ‘good’ people” (Cisneros, Descendents (2015): True Meaning 1). Another example of

using rhetorical knowledge would be in Studio Week Four. The purpose of Studio Week Four

was that I was to convince a particular audience to let me skip a week of classes in order to go on

a vacation. The way I convinced my audience was by using pathos, having that emotion in order

to connect well with my audience; “You always tell me that I am way too stressed out a school

and that I need a moment to relax, did you not? I know that this might not be the best of times,

but remember that time when you were extremely unhappy at school and you felt as if they were
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choking you and no one wanted to help? And do you remember the advice I gave to you? I told

you to stay home for a day or two and not worry about school. At all. You needed to detox

yourself from anything school related because it started affecting you as a person and I did not

like that at all. Recently, you know how stressed I’ve been about college and at times I have no

strength to do anything. I feel like this will be very good for me in order to feel like my old self

again” (Cisneros, Studio Week Four 1). These assignments made it so that I was clear on what

exactly rhetorical knowledge is about and also helped me persuade my audience into thinking my

way.

Critical Reading is the ability to analyze, combine as a whole, explain the meaning of,

and go over ideas, information, and writing pieces (Syllabus, 3). An example of using Critical

Reading would be in my annotated bibliography. In the annotated bibliography, I was to analyze

the purpose of the text and deem it appropriate to use in my final paper. I stated the main purpose

of the scholarly articles, the audience, the credibility of the author, and whether or not the author

uses rhetorical knowledge. “The purpose of this research book is how animals may be used in a

therapeutic way in order to help patients improve their day to day life. It goes all the way down

to the psychodynamics of it all. This book is a scholarly resource because it was produced by

scholars and uses the language of discipline throughout the entire analysis” (Cisneros, Annotated

1). Furthermore, a different example of how I achieved this goal would be in Studio Week Six.

The purpose of Studio Week Six was to analyze the personality that was chosen for one after a

series of questions. The end result for my personality was “The Consul” (ESFJ, -A/-T). “When I

first started to read my results, I saw that the consul personality type are popular because it is a

very common personality type, around twelve percent of the world is made of people with the

consul personality type. It then went on to say how in high school the people with the consul
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personality type are cheerleaders, football players, taking the spotlight, etc. to say I was shocked

would be an understatement because that is not accurate at all” (Cisneros, Studio Week Six 1).

This corrolated to Critical Reading because I had to analyze, interpret, and evaluate the

information given to me and determine if it was accurate or not. These assignments helped me

visualized what it meant to critically read a piece of text.

Composing Process involves the methods used by writers to discover ideas, formulate

goals, make plans, express ideas, and assess, revise, and edit their writing (Syllabus, 3). An

example of composing processes was the Personal Analysis Narritive. In the Personal Analysis

Narrative, I had to play a game that was very new to me, I had to analyze the game and narrate

what I did at eat step and when I got to the end, reflect on why I did what I did and how that

makes it important. “The game is not all clean-cut, straight to the point. RuneScape wants to

make the players think critically on their next steps and assure themselves that it is the correct

ones. Most games, the storyline is already set in stone, this is going to happen if you pass this

level. RuneScape is this might happen for you if you chose this, but to your friend, this might

happen cause you responded this way. All in all, this storyline was important because it makes

you aware of the decisions you make and why you made them” (Cisneros, Personal Anaysis

Narritive 3). Another example of composing processes was the Mini-Ethnography paper. One

had to go over various drafts and analysis before the final draft and it made it so that one was

improving their writing skills, editing their paper, so in the end, it is at its best. “Many repeatedly

confuse therapeutic animals with service animals or emotional support animals although, in

reality, they have differences. Therapeutic animals are often in the form of a dog but can also be

a cat or another type of animal. These animals…” (Cisneros, Mini-Ethnography Draft 1, 2). After

revision of draft one, Professor Volstad suggested I add in some things of service animals too, so
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in the final draft of the paper, I did. “Many repeatedly confuse therapeutic animals with service

animals or emotional support animals although, in reality, they have differences. A service

animal is any animal that is personally trained to perform tasks for the advantage of a person

with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual disability. While

therapeutic animals are often in the form of a dog but can also be a cat or another type of animal.

These animals…” (Cisneros, Mini-Ethnography Final Draft 2). These assignments helped me

realized what Composing Processes actually meant, looking back, going over, and improving.

Knowledge of Conventions are the rules and guidelines that define genres. In doing so it

shapes the readers and writers thoughts of accuracy or suitability. Conventions command such

things as mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices. Conventions also influence content,

style, structure, graphics, and design (Syllabus, 4). An example of Knowledge of Conventions is

Studio Week Seven, Is Everything a Remix?. Studio Week Seven is an examination of remixes

and the correct definition of the word remix. We look back at what remix usually associates with

and break it down. “While watching the video “Is Everything A Remix?”, one begins to analyze

how most of the things that we watch, listen to or even think, is not fully our own. For example,

music, movies, and even technology can be a remix. Most of the time, if people hear “remix”,

they automatically think of music (Cisneros, Studio Week Seven 1). Another form of Knowledge

of Conventions is the documentary that was assigned to every group in the class. It relates to

Knowledge of Conventions because one has to follow certain rules and guidelines when it comes

to the music used in the background and the pictures and/or videos used in the video. The credit

always has to be given if not, that is a form of plagiarism. These assignments helped me realize

that Knowledge of Conventions is not as complicated and difficult to understand.

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Critical Reflection is a rationalizing process to make the application of experience.

Critical reflection is detailed, analytical, and interpretive (Syllabus, 4). An example of Critical

Reflection was Studio Week Two. The purpose of Studio Week Two was to have a hunt in the

Atkins library and see as an individual what the library consists of which lets you get to know it

better for yourself. It also helps you find your favorite spot in the library and a book that gets

your interest. “As I walked throughout the library I would see students in groups laughing and

studying, or even just relaxing with a book in their hand. The feeling of being there in the near

future with my own group of friends welcomed me, even if it's not to study” (Cisneros, Studio

Week Two 1). Another example is Studio Week Three, in studio week three, I had to really

analyze my life and discover what discourse community I am in, it made me find out things that I

did not know about myself. “WOW Supermarket is also filled with people who are working there

in order to not forget their roots and connect once again into the Hispanic community. What

holds all these people together is, first off, the paycheck and second, the family bond one

receives when working there” (Cisneros, Studio Week Three 1). These assignments helped me

reflect and actually understand what I am writing for me.

All these individual papers made it so that my understanding of the five-course goals was

95 to 100 percent. I am able to define each goal and thoroughly understand each one. Because of

these writings, I have become a much more skilled writer, so I want to thank you. If it was not

for your class, I would not know the things I know now.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Cisneros