Coming into college I expected a challenge. I was expecting an immense amount of work that would most likely keep my stressing for a good portion of my days. I was truly expecting my first semester to be rough. It’s all I was told in high school. But things took a surprising twist when I arrived. Upon landing in college and most importantly taking this course I was definitely met with a challenge, but a fair and wonderful experience as well. Out of all the classes I’ve taken throughout all my years in school (specifically English classes) I can say this was by far the one where I’ve truly was the most productive and seen the most growth in myself as a writer. Through all the assignments I did this semester in this class, I’ve truly seen a growth in my writing ability. Prior to college, I can say that writing wasn’t my strongest nor my favorite subject. When i wrote it was usually dual. Written by a person who really doesn’t care. After taking this course, writing still isn’t my strongest nor my favorite subject, but I can say my writing has evolved. I write more with passion and put more emotion and thought into what I’m saying. In this class I feel like I not only met most of its requirements, but at the end I also increased my writing abilities, a skill that could benefit me greatly in the long run.

Phase one of this course was interesting although it didn’t offer much. As the introduction to the class phase 1 gave me a chance to really explore and learn more about the class and my writing capabilities. Phase 1 was mainly focused on the personal narrative. I liked writing the personal narrative, as it’s one of my favorite assignments I’ve done this semester and I’m extremely proud of it. Through my personal narrative I was able to express myself and share a piece of my life with my audience. Through my personal narrative I also started to grow as a writer. I started using more rhetorical literature devices, some of which we learned in class such as tone, syntax, style and diction and incorporate them into my writing. I’ll say this allowed me to really connect more with my audience and keep them intrigued into my writing. This also helped me meet some of the requirements. But what truly helped me was watching the ted talk and open mic videos played in class. The one in particular was with a black woman and her expressing how she was articulate. Within the video the women express how due to her different backgrounds and the history of language in this country she is articulate and isn’t ashamed of it. She isn’t fazed when people judge her different accents and has embraced them.  In my personal narrative i wrote something similar. As someone who doesn’t necessarily come from different backgrounds but belongs to different communities, I also feel articulate as through the course of my life I adapted 3 forms of English. This made me code switch a lot, but overtime I too also embraced my forms of English and incorporate them as one. This assignment was truly great. This phase of the semester was a great introduction to the course and truly laid the foundation for what’s to come next.  

Phase 2 was one of my favorites as well this semester. During this phase I felt like I achieved so much in my skills as a writer and in meeting the requirements for the class. For this phase I mainly focused it on my Op-ed. For the Op-ed, the goal was to choose an issue in our local community and argue for a change in our writing. But in order to accomplish this we needed to “contextualize, analyze, and cite sources and appeal to our audience with a mixture of logos, ethos, and pathos.” Through the Op-ed I was able to grow even more as a writer and unlock more skills allowing me to further meet the requirements. Through my Op-ed I was able to make a clear argument on my topic of choice, which was trash in NYC specifically the Bronx, and argue on it through the use of logos, ethos, and pathos. Appealing to your audience is key when you are trying to persuade them through your writing. Therefore, making your point relevant and strong is important when you’re trying to get people on your side. This can be done using specific words, sentences and utilizing sources. This assignment truly helped me grow when it comes to my choice of words in writing when addressing a specific audience and helped me learn to better utilize sources into my writing to further make my point stronger. The Nobel Laureate assignment was also another assignment that helped me grow when it came to utilizing sources in my writing. For this assignment we were tasked with choosing a notable CCNY alumni and write a biography on their life and contributions to this world. For this I chose Faith Ringgold an artist. This was really my first biography I had to write about a person, so, it was going to be an interesting experience. Through the use of a multitude of online sources, I was not only able to meet to course requirements for this assignment, but better my skills of using sources to better my understanding of a topic and incorporate that into my writing.

Last of all, phase 3, the hardest of them all. As we were ending the semester, we were all met with arguably our biggest challenge yet, the research paper. Not only was it the longest paper we had to write but it was also the most complex in terms of what was expected of us. This assignment required us to take a stance in bioethics and genomics and create an argument. We were tasked with meeting the requirements through the utilization of sources along with the use of some rhetorical devices such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, and synthesis. My experience writing this paper was a wild one. This is by far one of the most challenging papers I had to write. This paper for sure took up a lot of time, even a little more than I was expecting. My main struggles while writing the paper were starting it. It took me about a week to think of a good introduction. Also, since this paper was a combination of both classes I feel Like that just made it a little more challenging. But the moment I sat down to think about it, it wasn’t as complicated. This paper was particularly different from the rest, as both a research paper and argumentive essay there were a lot more components to it. My topic I chose to talk about was informed consent and how it’s involved in genomics. My standpoint on this topic is how informed consent is important and necessary in genomics. My intended audience when writing this paper was mainly people who have concerns towards clinical studies in genomics and our health care system.  As well as healthcare providers and researchers. In my paper I used a lot of pathos to get my point across and persuade people. I also used a lot of logos.  This paper had me writing more with purpose and more on a deeper level with my audience, something I don’t do often in my writing. I’ll also say this paper helped me practice more rhetorical techniques. Aside from pathos, ethos, and logos, in this writing I utilized a little bit of hypophora’s to really connect with my audience. I’ll say this assignment also allowed me to better use sources to incorporate them into my writing. Overall, I’ll say this paper helped me improve my skills as a writer and helped me gain new skills for future writing assignments. 

Overall, this class was truly amazing and is a class I will hold dearly. From this class, I was able to better shape my skills as a writer increasing my writing capabilities. As hard as it was all the assignments, we did in class truly contributed a lot to my growth and helped prepare me for my ongoing journey here at CCNY. It saddens me that this class had to come to an end, but I will continue to use the skills I learned, and continually evolve my skills a s writer as much as I can.