Hello There Fellow Individualists,

Welcome to my FIQWS 10108 CUNY Commons Portfolio!

Please enjoy some sweet Hamilton Tunes while you read my portfolio:

That being said, here is my full self-reflection for the 2020 Fall Semester:

I’ve used writing as a developing hobby and a chance to escape the reality of life and establish my sense of the world. I never thought of applying rhetorical languages to my writing before, even throughout everything, I was using rhetoric unconsciously. However, taking my time to take a writing class in my first year in college stood as an opportunity for me to learn and develop more skills in portraying my language. It motivated me to give a chance to self-publish the stories I have in mind, to accommodate the beauty and artistry of writing. And, of course, I couldn’t have done this without having the confidence to tell myself that I grew, not only as a writer but as a person as well, and I feel as though that remark is what separates my current self from the past. 

To demonstrate that I have explored and analyzed the theory of rhetorical context and have developed strategies for drafting and revising, allow me to convey my assignment on evaluating rhetorical terms through the New York Times article, “Stephen Miller’s Dystopian America”, written by Jean Guerrero and how my peers and I collaborated on reviewing each other’s language. First of all, my part was to examine the rhetorical context of genre and media from the article given to us. I went on to define what genre means in this particular context, and I have stated that genre is Guerrero’s utilization of an activist genre to clearly illustrate her message of developing dystopian America. To further elucidate, she followed the role of what an activist genre is, through the exploitation of countless civil rights essays throughout history, which then gave her the ability to discern that the genre of her language must have emotional examples that create affinity from her audience towards these targeted minority groups to show the racial discrimination of the current Presidential administration. Moreover, defining the design and media of this article was an easy task since Guerrero decided to publish her article on the New York Times website. The rhetoric of discerning which media platform you want to publish your article or essay relates to which kind of audience your writing is targeting and for Guerrero, New York City is one of the most diversified regions in the entire country. Guerrero’s decision of issuing her literary work with this type of media entices activism and amendments against the mistreatment of the political situation. In hindsight, the language I presented to my group has been reviewed by all of my peers to engage in the social aspects of the writing process. I inquire my peers to openly state any constructive criticisms they may have on my writing, such as grammatical errors, proper in-text citation, cohesive format, and appropriate use of diction and syntax. Fortunately, they followed my suggestions immediately, and they gave applicable propositions that I used to revise my writing. 

Subsequently, my group members asked me to review their paragraphs, which gave me the chance to advocate some of my ideas in their writing and for me to learn about the rest of the rhetorical terms. With this in mind, Raaed Zaman illustrated his understanding of the term purpose in-context of Guerrero’s article. In my inference, he stated that Guerrero brings about factual evidence to prove how systematic racism will destroy our democracy. The goal of her writing is to spread awareness that a specific political affiliation mistreats people of color, and she successfully conveyed this message by presenting pathos and logos to her writing. Raaed also presented Guerrero’s use of tone, and how the author makes use of the words “manifestation” and “fantasy” to illustrate the seriousness and intensity of the topic of racism. Furthermore, Madeha Hussain has the role to describe what the audience means in-terms of a rhetorical context. Madeha consulted how understanding what your audience wants to acknowledge through your writing helps validates your intended purpose. In this matter, she stated how incorporating readers who have experiences and are aware of this situation will assist the achievement of Guerrero’s purpose. 

By discussing these different attributes that make up a rhetorical context, we should converse about how I integrated these terms into my language throughout the semester. I suppose the best strategy for this is to discuss the development of how I applied writing strategies through the three main humanitarian essays we’ve done for this course. The first one was the Summary and Response Essay, in which I couldn’t incorporate the amount of summary and analysis in my essay. When I was writing this assignment, I was tempted to include many claims that Freud mentioned in his lectures but wasn’t able to integrate them properly in my writing. Part of the challenge of learning how to write a synthesis essay is finding a balance between summarizing the text and transitioning to your interpretation, and then connecting it back to Freud. For this essay, I couldn’t find the correct strategy to synthesize my resources properly, which lead to the downfall of my writing. Though, I have to mention that this particular essay is where I experimented with using rhetorical context in academic writing, which assisted me in writing the rest of my essays. This development led to my implementation of the Exploratory Essay, where I distinctively convey my analysis and constructive reasonings in-consideration for the viable social problem Poe alluded in his short story. This essay focused on the genre that exemplifies psychological problems in our society, using Freudian psychoanalysis. I referenced much additional research on certain themes in Poe’s “The Black Cat” to help form my main argument on psychological disturbances. I also looked onto a melancholic tone, so that my audience can discern the intensity and unnerving-ness of the topic and how easily an individual can fall into hysteria. I wanted to construct writing that properly integrates the purpose of my language and consolidates the framework of social impulsion. However, for this essay, my language lacked analysis through the use of the Freudian concept. Ideally, we should be able to interpret a literary text through a Freudian lens, however, I made my essay very fancy that it lost many of its presented contexts.  

In all honestly, I presume that my Critical Research Analysis relinquish my best understanding of the rhetorical context, composing appropriate strategies, collecting research data, and practicing MLA citation. At first glance, the title of the essay demonstrates the main idea present in this writing, to entice readers who are interested in reading about the psychology of finding purpose. As they read the introduction, they are driven by the historical context and the target of this essay, in which it talks about the relationship of African-Americans in their society during Harlem in the 1950s. Also, the essay properly integrates the short story and Freud in the body paragraphs, while it used outside sources as background to establish and strengthen the connections between the two. Moreover, this essay correlates with the importance of properly using MLA in-text citation, since I needed to use three additional Freudian sources and two outside sources. With this in mind, I acknowledge that I did develop as a writer during the duration of this course. There many more experiences and opportunities that will come for me along with my growth as a writer, but it will be a chance that I will certainly not miss. As I said, creative writing has been a passion and an escape that helps me consult my individuality. 

Thank you for reading!

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