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Self-Assessment

During my time in Honors English Composition II, I have improved my rhetorical skills.

Through my studies, and through my research paper writing process, I have been able to take

away from this class numerous skills which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. These

skills include learning how to rhetorically analyze texts, how to conduct research, and the

importance of peer review.

First, I learned how to analyze arguments rhetorically. I did this in many ways. One way

that this happened was through our discussion of different modes of argumentation. I discussed

the Rogerian mode of argumentation, which suggests the use of three different viewpoints to

avoid a narrow perspective, the Toulmin Method, which postulates that there are several key

ideas which are held in every argument, and the Aristotelian method which emphasizes the use

of logos, pathos, and ethos, which are better known as logic, emotion, and authority. I also spent

time rhetorically analyzing modern texts. In class I examined Super Bowl Advertisements which

are designed to entertain and convince people to purchase products. Throughout the course of

my research, I also had to rhetorically analyze various texts. To understand the three main

infrastructure plans, I had to derive information from countless news sources through looking at

what the article stated, who the other was, where it was published and other rhetorically pertinent

factors. In order to create my conclusions, I needed to be familiar with various modes such as

historical texts and economic studies. Also, I spent many weeks creating and editing an effective

analysis of a modern article critiquing President Trumps infrastructure plan. Through all of this,

I discovered that research is not listening only to arguments in your favor, but also examining

other arguments and observing all of what they have to say.


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One of these ideas that greatly helped me to write my paper was the Rogerian Mode of

Argumentation. It helped me to look at various arguments in a non-biased light while trying to

represent each side of each argument fairly. Not to mention that the Rogerian emphasis on the

three viewpoints was the basis for the structure for my research paper which focused on the

infrastructure plans of Donald Trump, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party. For

more information on how this mode of argumentation helped my writing process, reference my

blog post entitled The Rogerian Mode of Argumentation.

In my research project, I was also able to analyse a real world situation. I looked at an

issue that is being discussed by many people across the country, Americas infrastructure and the

engineering jobs that can be created from it. Through this process, I was able to examine

exigences as I tried to reason through the the three positions on this topic.

Secondly, I was learned how to conduct effective research through effectual

technological techniques. Through opportunities given to me in class, I have been able to search

through the online databases that are available through the UCF library website. Using these

databases, which were often specialized to produce information in only one field of study, I was

able to find professional studies related to my content. However, many of my sources for my

paper were not found in such a particular manner. To locate many useful references, in many

cases I relied on a simple Google search to find these articles. In the course of my research

process, I found that these searches often provided me with news sources and the websites of

organizations, which were not only professional sources, but also provided material relevant to

my research project.
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In order to find information pertinent to my area of study, I would in many situations

need to use certain keywords. For example, keywords such as Infrastructure, would give me

broad results about infrastructure while modifying this keyword slightly into keywords like

Trump Infrastructure or Infrastructure Jobs would give more specific results.

Thirdly, I learned the importance of the peer review. Through peer reviews, I have

discovered not only how what I say impacts others, but I have also discovered how a text is a

conversation of many voices. Through peer reviewing other peoples work, I have learned how

to constructively criticize as well as praise my peers papers when needed.

However, peer review has also aided my research paper. Through all of the peer reviews

and the feedback given to me by my professor, I have been able to identify problems that I

probably would not have seen by myself. Through this process, I was able to realise that I had

poor structure for my research paper that needed to be reordered. Also, there were many times in

my paper, I thought that I was providing greater clarity to my audience. However, peer review

helped me to also realise that I was being redundant at many points in my essay. These peer

reviews created a chain of revisions which helped to make my paper of a much higher quality.

For more information on this topic, refer to my blog post entitled, The Value of Peer Review.

Looking back, I am proud of the work I have done over the course of the semester. I

have examined various viewpoints on writing, underwent a lengthy research process with

numerous peer review, and then presented on my research. During this period of self-reflection,

I have realized that even though I was required to take this class, I am glad that I have

participated in this process because through it, I have been able to become a better writer.

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