Final Reflective Statement

    Through taking ENC2135 I have advanced as a writer. Although I previously had confidence regarding my writing skills, this course helped me realize that I still can improve my abilities, especially in my future field of work. My high school did not offer any theatre classes and thus I missed out on a lot of activities that involved academic writing about the industry. Therefore, I had not developed any research skills to see what kind of sources were available about the subject. In this class, I was forced to revise my research question multiple times because I struggled with finding enough reliable sources. Although, I was able to use boolean operators which helped the process greatly. Eventually, I landed on the Golden Age and the history of American Theatre. I went to the library and the theatre resource room and looked at textbooks, websites, blogs, and reviews which helped me find reliable sources that enhanced my knowledge and were beneficial to my essay. This process alone made me more prepared and helped me understand how to use the resources that surround me at Florida State University, especially as a freshman. I learned about resources I could access as a theatre major, got a better understanding of not just how to find books but also how to check them out, and spent time reading and learning through the sources in order to find quotes that wouldn't just restate my claim but rather would strengthen my argument. Now, I feel confident that in the next course in which I will be required to do extensive research I will be equipped with the experience and abilities to more effectively do so. 

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   Additionally, I learned more about genre conventions and rhetorical appeals. I found out what consists under a genre because previously my knowledge had been limited to seeing genre within movies or literature. However, I never found the need to look up the definition. As a result of this course, I see now that a genre is simply a way to compose work and it is backed up with common conventions that help do so effectively. I had a decent amount of knowledge regarding rhetorical appeals but I only used or analyzed them when they were straightforward such as using statistics for logos. Although, in Project 2 when I analyzed a poster with no known author I was forced to look at these rhetorical appeals in a different way. Pathos were pretty recognizable but I was able to find ethos despite there being no author in the other names credited on the poster. Similarly, an opinion-based review may seem to have no logos but I found logic used in analogy made by the author. Thus, I was able to expand upon my previous knowledge. 

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   Therefore, through my time in ENC2135 I was able to become a better writer through the curation and development of new skills such as research methods, conventions of genres, and rhetorical appeals. Not only that but due to taking this course over the summer in which we only had six weeks to do four projects, this class also prepared me to better manage my time more effectively.