Rhetorical Analysis

English 1301 in a Nutshell

The course of English 1301 section 013 walks you through the process of writing while studying all aspects. At times work will be done with groups in collaboration advancing teamwork and other times individually building confidence in personal abilities. To be successful in this class the required book is Starkey, David. Academic Writing Now: A Brief Guide for Busy Students. Broadview Press, 2017. Classes meet Tuesday and Thursdays from 2:00 to 3:20 in the Arts and Sciences building in room 208. Professors office hours are Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Attendance for class is not mandatory but there will be a notecard written every day and this is how attendance is taken. They do count as part of the grade for this course but will not have a huge impact on your overall final grade for the class. The main grades are LU #1 Paper, LU #2 Paper, LU #3 Paper, LU #4, Website, Final Reflection, Engagement, and Information Literacy Quizzes. These percentages will add up to create an overall grade. In order to pass this course, a final draft for all 4 of the Learning Unit (LU) must be turned in on time. Failure to turn in these final drafts will result in an F for the course. In order to contact the professor if it is through the student patriot email, or you can call the Department of Literature and Languages office (903-566-7373) and leave a message. Finally, all papers and assignments should be written double spaced with one line between paragraphs. Fount should be Times New Roman 12 pt., 1” margins all round and one space after periods. Campus policy does not except cheating in any form and will result in automatic failure of that course as well as possible expelled from the University of Texas at Tyler.

Importance of Reading and Writing through Pekins

In a first-year English class two of the main focusses are reading and writing. Throughout the passage “A Community College Professor Reflects on First-Year Composition” by John Pekins it explains the importance in both areas as well as how students may struggle with it. Explaining why composition has declined is not as complicated as it seems. Perkins points out that in today’s day and age, the amount of technology students have at their fingertip tends to get in the way. Pekins points this out in his passage because it is a big factor that hinders students from reading on a regular basis. Now students and teachers have smart phones that are capable of almost anything a desktop computer can do without having to be in one location. Why read and write when surfing the web is more entertaining? The second point Pekins mentions is the lack of effort from k-12 teachers in making it a priority to enforce reading and writing. “The absence of reading in households” affects as well because if teachers where to send reading homework with a student at the younger level parents may not care to help then with it, so it doesn’t get done (Pekins, 233). The statistics done by Pekins in his research at Tallahassee Community College along with information from coworkers at other colleges showed a significant decline in the readiness of college level reading and writing abilities. Pekins suggest two major areas of practitioners to consider, one of them being assessments. More assessments should take place in schools from ages k to 12 to ensure the readiness students need for college level classes. The second solution from Pekins “involves more vigorous inclusion of reading… in the composition classroom” (Pekins, 235). To help advance the reading and writing areas of college more time and effort should be place into it at the younger ages so it will be built in by the time they arrive to college.

Tasks Reflections

Through these summaries the purpose was to show what English 1301 has in store and build confidence in writers. It also created a base line for why reading and writing is important. Through these summaries’ information was gained that will be useful to students throughout the semester in this course. In writing these summaries I didn’t really use any of the same tactics I normally use. I don’t write much anyways to have a certain way in writing and in the past when I would write I would turn it in without revising it at all because I didn’t really care. With these two summaries I revised them my self as well has have a classmate (Mikaela Kizer) edit and help me better my pieces. The way I went about writing was a lot better than the pasted and seamed to help me a lot more. Normally I would have problems in writing and since then I have opened my mind up to writing in hopes to better myself and gain the confidence every writer should have. I will continue to use these tactics of writing my papers and having them looked over my others as well as looking over them several times myself before summiting the final copy. I am not a bad writer and the process done with these two summaries showed me that in the feedback I got from Mikaela. It has changed my whole viewpoint in writing as to now I enjoy it more than before. It was a challenge in the beginning with the first summary assigned simply due to the fact I was not a fan of writing nor did I fell like my writing was good or mattered to others. Rethinking my whole writing process will help better my summaries and essays in the long run to make then the content needed to meet the tasks expectations. Having no preexisting concepts made me realize you cannot write blindly because it makes it harder. Overall the techniques I have picked up in this process will stay with me as I gain and better my writing experience.