#1 My Experience with Peer Review
After reading and watching this week’s assigned materials it is clear that peer-review is the foundation of knowledge-making. Knowledge-making is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic by engaging dialogue, an effectual message, and coherence. This can be achieved by peer review because it gives us as writers a different perspective. It allows us to question our peer’s writing and the message they are trying to portray. Peer review helps us learn from other writers and develop our writing through the process. It is an opportunity to help our writing grow because of the guidance we are receiving from our peers.
#2 Hit and Run Quotes
#3 Bitzer
The rhetorical situation of my chosen news media post is that Financial experts and the United States Department of the Treasury inform the public that the top class gets away with not paying the amount of taxes they should be, and how they do it. A piece of writing needs to consist of purpose, audience, context, genre, and exigence to even be considered to have a rhetorical situation. This media post includes a rhetorical situation because it was made to inform individuals about how the rich are paying less in taxes compared to the poor which is an injustice in itself. This is clear seeing as Lloyd F. Bitzer mentions in his writing piece “The Rhetorical Situation” that “A rhetorical work is analogous to a moral action rather than to a tree. An act is moral because it is an act performed in a situation of a certain kind; similarly, a work is rhetorical because it is a response to a situation of a certain kind”(4). This post was created as a response to rich Americans using tax avoidance strategies which is why it is a perfect example of a rhetorical situation.
#4 Exploratory Essay Thesis
It is clear to readers that throughout “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, that Emily acted on a wishful impulse that would be viewed as unethical and humanistically wrong in the eyes of society.
#5 Synthesize
Due to being intensely socially isolated for many years, Emily felt strongly about marrying a person she loved such as Homer. As a result of her father’s overbearing and overprotective style of parenting, she had trouble finding a partner. She held on to the feelings for Homer even if they were not reciprocated. Her mental state, and what Freud would call a wishful impulse pushed her to kill Homer. A wishful impulse is a Freudian concept described to be “a sharp contrast to the subject’s other wishes and which proved incompatible with the ethical and aesthetic standards of his personality.”(Freud 2212) However, her actions can be interpreted as desperation that came from a place of love and fear as opposed to threatening. It can be inferred that the cause of Emily’s wishful impulse stems from her loneliness.
#6 Metaphorical Musings
Reids 2nd Metaphoric Musing Show and Telapaths have shown me where I can improve in my writing. I have always had trouble showing readers my ideas and end up just telling them without creating the proper foundation that is essential within a piece of writing. Reid mentions that “if you tell without showing, your reader might not only be confused but might entirely disbelieve you.” (Reid 5). She opened my eyes to the possibility of losing my readers right from the start by telling my story as opposed to if I had shown them properly. Reid expressed her main point by supplying us with anecdotes proving her point. What stood out to me and made me realize that I was guilty of telling rather than showing was when she brought up how best friends may be able to read each other’s minds, but that does not guarantee that everyone will know what you are trying to say, so remember to show them your point accurately (Reid 5). Reid has made me realize that I need to start expressing my main idea in the correct manner within every academic writing piece I produce, which in the end will help make me into a better writer.
#7 Hulst’s “Grammar, Rhetoric, and Style“
One good writing and stylistic choice Baldwin made in “Sonny’s Blues” is the dialogue and word choice throughout the story. Baldwin’s repetitively mentioned the word “face” within the story to portray the emotional elements that occur between the main characters. The dialogue that occurs between Sonny’s brother and his mother regarding looking out for her son Sonny also represents how important the word choices throughout the story are. Hulst argues specifically that word choice is important in responding to the rhetorical situation of the literary piece because it relates to the overall concept. The dialogue is the foundation that is needed for the rhetorical situation to be present. Hulst mentions “word choice and sentence structure are an expression of the way we attend to the words of others, the way we position ourselves in relation to others” (719)(Hulst 89).
#8 Bizups “The Ethics of Style”
Original: When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action”. (From New York Times “CNN Fires Chris Cuomo Amid Inquiry Into His Efforts to Aid His Brother”)
Rewritten: We saw no reason taking them seriously when new allegations came to us this week and took immediate action to delay.
This sentence changed via syntax by portraying the complete opposite message of the original text. Seeing as I switched around “ we took them seriously” with “ we saw no reason” and “taking them seriously” the message altered showcasing that CNN did not think allegations against their staff are serious. The end of the sentence stands out to readers as the main point of the meaning. So switching “no reason to delay taking immediate action” with “took immediate action to delay” alters the original message. This switch affects both the tone and syntax. Both the beginning and end of this rewritten sentence rely on syntax because the arrangement of the words formed different sentences.
