Reflecting on Progress

Being this far into the semester I have noticed a big improvement in my writing skills, my writing process has really developed. I have noticed that my introductory paragraphs are a lot shorter and get straight to the point. The good thing is that I have not only developed better writing skills in my English class but also, these skills have become a second nature for the rest of my classes, especially my History of Europe class.

             Peer review has really helped my writing grow, its good to get input for my writing as a whole instead of just getting input for my grammar. In high school my teachers emphasized grammar and spelling but through peer review my fellow classmates help me in coming up with better word choices and organizing my ideas better. Also by looking at the way other people's writing I get a better idea of how to develop my own writing.

            Before I came to this class I was really bad with punctuations, I wrote lots of run on sentences and my writing was poorly organized. Now half way into the semester I have a better understanding of how to use punctuations, in particular the semi colon and transitional words, which is what I had a hard time with in my writing. When I came into this class I thought that because I could speak English well that meant that my writing was fine and all I had to worry about was grammar and spelling. Attending this class I became aware of the fact that just because I can say something does not mean that it will sound the same when I write it down and/ or read it.  Through this course I have learned that good writing takes a long process and a long period of  time, not to mention it takes collaboration with other people.

Considering Rhetorical Situations

            The purpose in writing a literacy narrative was to tell a story that had a connection between myself and my literature skills. The purpose in writing an ad analysis is to break apart a commercial advertisement to analyze it's purpose, technique and intended audience. The audience for my literacy narrative was my teacher, my classmates and myself; whereas for my ad analysis the audience will be more general. My literacy narrative was of a story telling genre, in an ad analysis the genre would be a somewhat of an analytical report. I am planing to take a informative tone for my ad analysis and I am as  well as a formal tone, as I did with my literacy narrative. My purpose will definitely have an effect on the way I write my paper because I want to inform my audience in my ad analysis, but I also want to entertain my audience; ultimately this means that I have to find away to work some comedy into my analytical essay.

Analyzing an Advertisement

Purpose: By placing the words ''Life is good'' in big font lettering and a girl holding a Bud Light beer bottle the advertisement argues that if you want to have a fun good life you should drink Bud Light.

Audience: The image of an attractive girl in the advertisement appeals to men. The girl in the advertisement is attractive and seems to be happy. One can get the impression form the advertisement that the girl is a party girl of some sorts. The advertisement tells men that drinking Bud Light will lead them to hook up with girls like the one shown above.

Genre: This ad like many other drinking advertisements urges people to drink, especially young people to drink. Many beer ads depict people having fun at parties and men attracting women, they also depict beer as a fun, refreshing beverage that only cool people drink.

Tone: The "HOT'' Girl, the large text and the blue background give this advertisement a  seductive, inviting and smooth tone.

Thinking Critically About Revisions

     When I first came up with a literacy narrative I did not expect to have so many grammatical errors, and I did not expect I would have to make so many corrections. I honestly thought I would have to make some changes here and there and turn it in. My final draft however is two pages longer than my first draft. The person who reviewed my essay suggested that I add more detail to my essay, so that I can paint better a picture in the reader's head. While I was sharing my story out loud with my peer I was catching my grammar errors and misspellings, I was embarrassed. This guided me to re-read my paper again on my own time and make revisions to my grammar.

     After revising my essay I was able to pin point my weaknesses. I have always had trouble with my grammar but I was never able to catch it on my own. By reading my paper out loud I became aware of where my paper needed a pause or a period at the end of the sentence. By reading my paper out loud I also became aware that my conclusion lacked a closing statement, I had just made a reference to the begging of my essay and nothing else. 

     Lastly, I feel as if the weakest aspect of my essay will be the ability to relate to the reader. I am aware that although there are people in college that come form high schools with bad reputations, not everyone does. I am not sure if I provided enough description or detail in my story to paint a picture in the reader's head. Throughout the essay I explain how one teacher in High school was able to help me embrace literature and helped me develop certain skills to think critically. My essay does a good job of describing the transitions from a kid who took literature for granted to a kid who later would use it to develop a different perspective in life.