Monday, May 19, 2014

TOW #27: TOW Reflection

TOW Posts Re-read: #1, #13, #20

     Throughout the school year, I have made a lot of progress in writing my TOWs. After reading through previous posts, I was surprised to see how much my writing has improved and developed every week. In the beginning, I remember struggling with how I was suppose to organize the necessary content in each post (ie. context, audience, rhetorical device...). Slowly, I was able to eventually come up with a "TOW template" that I followed for each one. It helped me organize my thoughts and ideas, resulting in better TOW posts as the school year went on. One major change I noticed was that I went back to the thesis after analyzing each rhetorical device. For the majority of my earlier TOW posts, I failed to do that, and now, I understand what I need to do to write an effective analysis essay.
     Right now, I think I have mastered how to write a brief yet concise introductory paragraph. Quickly after the hook, I transition into the context, audience, purpose, and the rhetorical devices used in the text. Another aspect I feel I have mastered is being able to pick out rhetorical strategies and explaining the author's purpose of adding them. I used to just summarize them, but that eventually changed into actually analyzing them.
     Even though there are some things I feel confident with, there is still more I need to work on. Firstly, I need to make sure I remember to tie my analysis back to my thesis and stating how/why the rhetorical device helps the author achieve his/her purpose. In my current writing, I always make the attempt to do that, but I don't feel like I do it adequately enough to produce great body paragraphs. Additionally, I could also improve my conclusion paragraph. I can quickly summarize my essay in that paragraph, but I have trouble ending my essays with a "so what."
     Given that the purpose of the TOWs was a way to practice and improve our analysis of a text or image, I felt that I benefitted a lot from them. Evident through my progression, my writing improved and so did the perspective in which I analyze texts. Instead of looking for rhetorical devices first, I instead search for the author's purpose and then find the devices. Having that approach in mind, I was able to apply it to our analysis essays we did in class and at home. In the beginning, I thought that TOWs would be an unnecessary waste of time, but now I realize how useful they have been toward my writing. 

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