We have overall learned various topics, but the four main ones are on how we examined how different views/opinions, perspectives towards linguistic standards, empower or oppress language users. Also analyzed and explored rhetorical situations through writing or reading. In addition, learn to develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing. And integrating sources, using skills such as summarizing, paraphrasing, analyzing, synthesizing, and argumentation. Learned key rhetorical skills and utilized them through our writing. But the four specific claims regarding what I learned over the semester are the ability to integrate sources by summarizing and synthesizing them, learned key rhetorical skills, how to write a first draft (how to begin one), and the linguistic diversity through standard English.

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We learned how to integrate sources and summarize and synthesize them through a synthesis matrix. We learned how we could find commonalities with each text for our research essay, and adding our own thoughts gave us a more synthesized piece of evidence. It is far better than just heavily using quotes/phrases from the texts; that way, we could elaborate deeper, so that it’s not just the source, text, or article, but your voice is also being shown in your writing. This would not only give credit to authors but also strengthen your essay with a much stronger explanation for each quote or paraphrase. Apart from that, I learned to properly cite evidence also in our essay using MLA format, which includes the author’s last name and page number. It gives credit to the author, which is a big part of writing and essays, also that being credibility; otherwise, it would be plagiarism.

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I learned key rhetorical skills and also how to utilize them. Through analyzing ads and what their audience is, and how they appealed to them through either ethos, pathos, or logos. This was helpful again for our research essay to have a topic to write about, but also to know your audience, the people you’re addressing through your writing. For example, for my essay, I talked about Standard Language Myth, but spoke to the people who have this imperfect way of communicating, either because they have an accent. And another example, like an essay on AI and its impact, it’s too broad, but knowing your audience and knowing to whom your writing is very significant and helps have a specific audience, like I could say what type of AI is and say to students who are in college, and how it would affect them.

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But going back from that, writing my first draft was hard, but I learned how to begin one through the reading of shitty first draft, just write anything that comes to mind, I couldn’t do that at first and had a difficult time even writing my first word or figuring out how begin the essay but also since a first draft isn’t perfect. I tend to fix like any mistake at first glance, during writing, and just sit there for hours on how to proceed, either on the second paragraph or even a sentence. In transitions or even the introduction and conclusions, just knowing what to write took time. In my essays in the past, I would take hours, probably just on two paragraphs, perfecting every sentence or structure of the essay. This is significant even if many students would say otherwise; most students would relate to my issue of not being able to relate freely, and then, like revising once the essay is finished. This would be something that I will utilize throughout my entire college journey, just being able to write freely and then fixing the wording and other points in the essays that I will probably write in the future.

And, I explored and learned through articles to understand the genre, audience, title, and author. This is similar to the second claim, but it is more in-depth. I learned to do this through analyzing different texts, with the rhetorical situation analysis worksheet, in which I analyzed different texts and determined the audience and genre of the writing. This helped me engage more deeply and grow my critical thinking. To understand what someone is saying and doing in writing, how each piece of writing is constructed, based on the author’s purpose, and to determine the audience and genre. This is again useful for my research essay since I utilized each source. I was able to engage at a deeper level in the context. It essentially strengthens my essay because I would be able to engage my writing on a profound level since I know who I would be writing to as well as how to write it, and it is basically kinda like a heads up.

In summary, the skills I learned throughout this course will not only help me succeed in other classes but will also carry over into my entire college journey. Learning how to write a first draft without overthinking every sentence allowed me to write more freely and confidently. Understanding rhetorical skills helped me become more aware of my audience and purpose, which strengthened my arguments. Additionally, integrating sources through summarizing, paraphrasing, and synthesizing taught me how to include evidence while still maintaining my own voice. Finally, learning about linguistic diversity and questioning the idea of Standard English changed how I view language and communication. Overall, these lessons helped me grow as a writer and thinker, and write our research essay, also with its appropriate MLA citation, of course.