1 One of the first learning outcomes that we tackled was understanding what rhetorical situation is. By exploring two forms of media, a political cartoon and a painting, as one of our first assignments, among other genres as well, we learned about literary elements such as stance, purpose, etc. Our first paper in this class was on these two  pieces, and how each piece demonstrated its purpose, as well as our feelings on them, therefore completing Learning Outcome #1- Explore and analyze in their own and others’ writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations

“my professor handed out both a painting and political cartoon of two female beings that have shaped and are still shaping America. Upon seeing the first work, a painting of young African American girl Ruby Bridges, exercising her right to being educated in unsegregated schools, and being escorted by the National Guard, I was caught in both a mix of sympathy, admiration and disparagement. Juxtaposed next to this painting, however, was a political cartoon of a tall, white lady being escorted by into a public school surrounded by peaceful protesting parents. Immediately, I felt anger unraveling in my chest and spilling out of my mouth.”

In this excerpt, I portrayed my understanding of the two pieces of media, and how these genres affected my thoughts on the respective messages. I learned how important it was to understand a genre, its purpose, and how it affects the audience’s thoughts by reading my peer’s essays as well, and noticing how different our rhetoric in our papers were, showing the difference in our some of our viewpoints.

2. This first Learning Outcome was supplemented by our knowledge on how to identify rhetoric and rhetorical tactics used by authors, AKA Learning Outcome 4- Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations. I first exercised this outcome in my literacy narrative as well.

“Upon an initial glance, it is easy to see basic similarities in the two pieces of media. Both illuminate two females not being allowed to enter a public school. However, with a closer look, it is easy for the audience to understand the two situations, eras, ages, and races. Ruby Bridges was a young child whereas Betsy DeVos is a grown, middle-aged woman. Ruby Bridges was a poor, African American female who lived in a time that those two characteristics pushed people like her to the bottom of the social scale. Betsy DeVos is a white billionaire, who lives in a time where women in white collar careers are respected and who hasn’t received any sort of racism in pursuing it. These two factors need to be taken into account when comparing the two works. The bigger picture is understanding the purpose of both females in their settings. Bridges was fighting for her right to get an education; DeVos was facing opposition at her appointment of being Secretary of Education (and in my opinion, rightfully so). Trying to equate these two situations is not only irrational, but unjust. It is a crime trying to evoke the same feelings the American mind has for the civil rights movement for conservative and wealthy Americans.”

It is in this excerpt where I exhibit my identification of rhetorical strategies in both a painting and political cartoon. I explain how the strategies used by both artists, such as age, race, and time periods, are used to emphasize the message being delivered, and how this impacts me as a viewer. Consequently, I use dramatic and strong adjectives to describe my emotions in viewing both medias to elaborate on how I feel such that my audience understands. I used my skills in recognizing rhetoric in the painting and political cartoon, and used this skill to implement it into my own writing.

3. We demonstrated our skill of exploring our own stance on works of media as well. By delineating what our feelings to both the painting and political cartoon in our literacy narrative, we achieved Learning Outcome #8- Compose texts that integrate the student’s stance and language with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.

It isn’t often that I stumble upon political cartoons of or current time that have evoked such critical thoughts out of me. Usually, I like seeing how we’ve progressed as a nation because we definitely have. However, the question of “Have we really progressed?” definitely crossed my mind as I saw the portrayal of a selfish, affluent young woman, who is effectively trying to break down the American education system by introducing more charter schools and destroying unions that protect teachers and their rights, being compared to a young African American girl trying to exercise her rights. It is absolutely ludicrous to compare these two scenarios and almost makes me question the integrity Americans seem to portray so often. I felt guilty in questioning our progress as a nation, but the truth of the matter is, there is no comparison in these two women’s lives. Something as small as juxtaposing these ideas in most people’s minds sets us back as a nation.

In this paragraph I explain how I felt on the pieces of media we discussed, as well as my analysis and interpretation of what these pieces meant to me and the audience. Recognizing my own stance and comparing them to others, in my completion of ^ Learning Outcome 1, ties into this Outcome as well.

4. Lastly, finalizing this literacy narrative included many steps, from outlining, writing, peer checking, revising, etc. I came to a final paper after several peer reviews, and even submitted a final draft after my initial submission. It was through these peer reviews that we achieved Learning Outcome #2- Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing.

This strategy of peer review and revising created such a big difference between my first draft and my final draft, and many drafts in between.

5. After our first peer review, my classmates and I warmed up to each other’s personalities and writing styles. It became a routine that before every assignment we would discuss our ideas on the prompts, and this involved many classroom discussions as well as multiple peer reviews throughout the entirety of our assignment, thereby accomplishing Learning Outcome #5- Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes

Now that the semester is ending, I’ve realized how important the social aspect of writing is, not only through my own writing, but also through other writers’ work. Getting different perspectives on how to make sure my message is being articulated to the best capacity, as well as how to achieve coherence and a good flow, is so crucial to writing a great essay.  I learned how even more important the social aspect of writing is when I scoured databases for scholarly sources for my Critical Research Paper.I went out of my way to find peer reviews of my scholarly articles to enhance my understanding on the pieces, as well as understand other viewpoints on the topic at hand.

6. On the subject of the Critical Research Paper, this paper was where we as a class had to locate sources the most effectively in the semester. Because of our requirement to include 2 scholarly sources and additional credible sources if necessary, my sources included both online pdfs, as well as printed books. Doing so completed Learning Outcome 6- Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences

7. This Outcome completion also overlaps with our knowledge of interpreting the credibility of our sources. It was essential to not only find sources that supported our arguments, but to also make sure that these sources were reliable, credible, bias free, and precise. We were given a plethora of databases to search, but this was only the beginning of our journey in identifying usable sources. After much research and library visits with a librarian, we all learned how to find good sources, and eventually found sources that worked for us, therefore attaining Learning Outcome 7- Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias

Using credible sources is not only important to the audience we want to direct, but to articulating our argument in the most powerful way. In our era of fake news, it is more important than ever to find reliable information.

8. Last but not least, finding our accurate research sources was only half the battle- citing them and giving credit to the authors whose works we utilized was the other half. Our Critical Research Paper was the hurdle where we needed to cite properly more than ever in our semester. We learned how to do in-text citations, as well as a works cited in numerous class discussions, with the help of Purdue Owl and other handouts our professor handed out. By using citations effectively in our papers, we completed Learning Outcome 3-  Practice systematic application of citation conventions

Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. “Five Lectures on Psycho-analysis.” 1955. PDF file

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Print.

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm. “Little Snow-White.” Grimmstories, 2018, www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/snow-white

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm. “Hansel and Gretel” Grimmstories, 2018, www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/snow-white