Throughout the course of this semester I learned to use rhetorical elements and course learning outcomes (CLO) to help improve my writing. This self-assessment will be used to see whether I achieved the elements and CLOs or not.  

   English hasn’t been my favorite subject because it has always been hard for me to write an essay. I get distracted easily and would have taken a long time to finish my essays. In high school I had written an essay in MLA format, which at first was a bit confusing but it really helped me be prepared for this semester. As a freshman I know I must put in more work into my college assignments.At the beginning of the semester my professor taught us what were rhetorical elements and course learning outcomes. Rhetorical elements are ways that an author conveys the goal as to why they are writing. There are 6 elements: purpose, audience, stance, genre, media/design, and exigence. I had trouble understanding a few of these elements like exigence and genre. Exigence is what made you choose a topic to write, I still have trouble understanding this element because I just chose a topic without having in mind as to why. When I think of genre, I thought that it was the tone of the essay, but it is more type of essay.

    Before starting an essay, the professor would show us examples of the type of essay we were going to do. There would be examples of how to cite in MLA format, and how to find research depending on the essay. When the first draft was completed, we had peer reviews. Other students would read my essay while editing it, as I edit  their work. When I got my essays back most of the feedback were grammar issues and issues with structuring. With these peer reviews I improved my writing skills and it showed me my strengths. At first when I got started with an essay I didn’t know where to start but as the semester went on, I developed a writing process to help me progress. Outlining my paragraphs helped me get started on my essay quicker and efficiently. 

   There were 3 essays: literacy narrative, expository, and argumentative essay. The first piece of writing, this semester, was the literacy narrative. It introduced me to the professor as a writer, while sharing a story about how I achieve the ability to read and write. The second piece of writing was expository. It was to inform readers about a topic, while using credible sources. My topic about the attraction on 90s vintage apparel. This fashion trend is soaring because of reasons like expressing personality, originality and it is Eco-friendly. And the last writing was an argumentative essay. It was about the one reason as to the attraction on vintage apparel. The only reason for this attraction is because of expressing personality and originality, not because of Eco-friendliness. My writing process grew and changed in this course. With outlines, multiple drafts,  scaffold work, and reviewing other peer’s works, all helped my writing process. 

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