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How can i become a better student essay
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How to be an effective student essay
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Growth is always possible if we hunger to learn something new and improve. That is the theme I would like to explore when presenting this self-reflective essay. Now when we strive to improve it is impossible to see such a difference overnight, it takes hard work and time to develop improvements in one’s work. However, over the time spent in this class I believe that I can see my own self-improvement throughout the essays we have worked on. Each one of them earning a higher grade one after the other. It feels me with great pride that I was able to actually see myself progressing with each passing assignment. I have improved my writing skills in this class because of the different lessons we learned along the way. If I’m being completely honest …show more content…
Pathos is supposed to appeal to emotions and values, which is something that everyone has so I believe that is an effective and powerful tool when it comes to writing. I had always valued pathos over ethos and logos because of the sheer appeal factor that pathos has and how easily it can persuade people. I feel that if I were presented an argument the most effective from of argument that would work on me would be pathos, so if it works on me that well it must affect other people like it did to me. It’s that reason that I use it frequently in all of my writings. This excerpt from my third essay, “Eye For An Eye”, is a good example of what I try to add to all my writings, “In a sense with all the deaths of these innocent people that never got another chance to prove themselves innocent it’s as if we are the ones committing murder against these people, their own justice system betraying them because the investigator couldn’t find the whole story behind the crime.” I like to try to connect to the readers by appealing to their emotions by having them imagine being put in situations and how they would react to them if they were real, and in some cases like the example above I try to almost guilt trip them into joining my side of the argument. This doesn’t always work on readers but there are some people that are susceptible to this practice. Another one of my strengths are my idea that I come up with to make points in arguments I believe that has always been something I have excelled at when it comes to writing essays. Pointing out flaws in the opposition is very important when it comes to classical arguments, not only that but coming up with points to support your opposition is important as well. Coming up with support for the opposition is just as important as having support for your own argument because it shows that the argument itself is even and not absolutely
Pathos is the author's use of emotions and sympathy to urge the audience to agree with his or her standpoint. And lastly, logos apply sound reasoning (logic) to attract the typical ideas of the audience and to prove the author's point of view. "Lockdown" by Evans D. Hopkins is a fine example of an author using these appeals to persuade his audience. Hopkins uses of the three appeals are easy to locate and relate to throughout the entire passage. He undoubtedly uses rhetoric to try and keep his audiences focused and to persuade them to feel the way he does about the treatment of prisoners.
Pathos is emotional appeal that influences what we think. According to everything’s an argument there are four main ways that Pathos is used. They are using emotions to build bridges, using emotions to sustain an argument, using humor, and using argument based on emotion. To build a bridge, the speaker makes the audience feel empathy for the situation. The speaker appeals to her or his own experience to gain sympathy early that way the audience will be more inclined to listen later. When utilizing emotion to strengthen an argument, it makes the claim stronger, because it can energize the situation. Humor can be a great tactic to lighten the mood, but a jokester must be careful because the joke may be thought of as ridicule. Arguments based on emotion are to strike a particular emotion, so that the audience will feel more
Torture is a loaded word. It conjures images in a readers' mind of any number of horrors, physical and mental. Many writers rely on this reaction and use pathos in their articles to illicit a strong response in their audience. Pathos is an emotional appeal used to gain sympathy and trust from the audience and works for people of all intellectual levels. It often casts the author or characters in a story as an Everyman, easy to identify, and therefore see eye to eye, with.
Throughout learning about all writing, the main achievement of any work or essay is to capture the audience and let them see any subject through the lens of what the author desires. To achieve this goal, one may use tools known as ethos, credibility of the author to the reader, logos, appeal to reasoning, and pathos, appeal to the audience 's emotions. A combination of all three of these elements creates an argument-like format which conveys a very convincing point, or thesis to the reader. Over practicing my writing my entire life I have always used these elements in my work, although, I was not aware completely of their proper usage. Throughout this year I have grown vastly as a writer through more precise control of and thesis with a linked analysis as well as consciously using the elements of pathos, logos, and ethos to most efficiently convey my thesis.
I came into this class under the impression that I already wrote well enough and wouldn’t need to improve. However, as I progressed through the semester I learned that there is always room to grow. The first paper I produced was not at the level I was hoping but after I actively decided to improve my writing my papers became much better. Looking back on my work in the class I wonder how much my writing has changed and where I still have room to improve. Without evaluating my work I can’t hope to become any better. Through this class I have grown much as a writer but there is still more I can learn.
Ethos, pathos, and logos are persuasive techniques used in writing to create a strong paper. Ethos is the aspect that focuses on the writer’s credibility. Lack of credible sources, tone and thoughtfulness create a negative perspective shown on the author by the reader, therefore, constructing a poor foundation. The audience must believe the writer is well-educated and or passionate about the topic being discussed. Pathos is related to the audience. For a piece of writing to be truly influential, it must cater to the reader. A writer should keep in mind who will be reading their content. Pathos can vary from personal anecdotes to the author’s use of language and word choice. Any means that attempt to connect with the reader emotionally
My development as a writer has flourished throughout this semester. The first week of this fall semester started out with writing responses from our readings in the textbook. Looking back through and analyzing my reading responses at the semester to now; I noticed a substantial improvement in not only my grammar skills, but also my summarizing, and in-depth studying of writing adeptness. Another way I have progressed this semester is the vocabulary of my writing has significantly improved and become more scholarly. Another advancement I noticed was that the content of my work has matured, along with my organizational adeptness.
Throughout the semester i only learned few new things but i did improve and solidify my skill of writing. Before my first year of college my skills have always undermined by other high school english teachers and with that came disappointing grades. I am writing this paper as a reflection of the semester and the progress i have made as a writer. I now understand many things that my high school teachers have done a poor job demonstrating and i am grateful that i decided to take my own route in my education instead of their syllabus. I entered the semester with anxiety that i would perform as i did before but i clearly outdid my own expectations by receiving top grades on my essays.
My Self Awareness score is an 85, which means that while I am slightly above average, there is plenty of room for development. I have a clear understanding of what I do well, what motives and satisfies me, as well as which people and situations push my buttons. (Goleman 2002, p. 25) Yet, there are times still seem to let my emotions take control of my actions. I am still discovering the balance that will allow me to recognize those emotions, accept them, and reflect upon them later and not to discourage me.
My portfolio absolutely reflects my understanding of persuasive writing. Persuasive writing focuses on the ability to formulate an essay that takes an argumentative stance, but takes the opposition into consideration as well. My portfolio also represents the goals and objectives of persuasive writing. The essays I have written for this course demonstrate that I have certainly developed my critical thinking skills, and developed, or better yet, mastered my communication and personal responsibility skills; but, because of my occasional lack of analysis and issues with word choice, my writing process is not perfected.
Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle links three elements of arguing together: the speaker, the story, and the audience. The relationship between the elements determines the speaker’s argument and whether it will be successful in oratory or literature. Ethos, Logos and Pathos are each different aspects of the argument that must be balanced in order to succeed in persuading or convincing an audience. Ethos, or character, relates to the speaker’s credibility that the audience appeals to: it is useful when persuading a group of people to trust what you are saying or doing. Logos, or logic, is a way of convincing and appealing by reason, truth, and facts. Pathos relates to the audience’s emotions and their response to what the speaker is saying.
Pathos is about the audience and the emotion that can be drawn upon from it. By being able to make the audience feel, you can get a call to action to be performed. Feelings are a strong motivator and an easy way to get a message across. Ellsworth Toohey uses pathos by employing guilt and the idea of happiness. He suggests that in order to be happy one must give up on all his desires and play to the desires of mankind. To paraphrase a quote he says “Ask not what society can do for you, but what can you do for society.” So when the people of the book hear this, they actually hear, that to be happy, we must get rid of all personal desires. Now to guilt. He portrays it as anything you want and wanting those things are bad. Which makes people feel like they’re bad for wanting anything. Pathos is strong part of the triangle. Emotion is and always will be a very powerful thing. By adding a call to emotion, people will more likely remember what you are saying, or writing. When drawing up on an emotion you have to be subtle about it. You can’t just drop bombs all the way through. Enthymeme or the hidden purpose should be used and conveyed but not in a straight forward manner. An example would be instead of saying “be excited about working out” during a presentation, list the benefits and show results of what working out can do. People will hear the benefits and see the results and feel excited about working out without being told
As my English 101 class comes to an end, I have realized how much I have transformed as a writer. In this essay, I am going to explain what I realized my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer and how they have manifested themselves throughout the quarter. I was skeptical at first coming into this class knowing that English takes formidable work and dedication, but I am very proud of the progress I have made. We completed a great deal of work throughout the quarter; from grammar exercises, summary reviews, and two challenging essays. Throughout the quarter I found myself improving in each category. As a writer, my skills and confidence have developed into more clarity and thought, something I have always wanted to be, as a result of a well constructed class that led to a superb educational experience.
I believe it is important for any student who wants to do their best in a class to take a moment to evaluate their own work to determine the rate their writing is progressing and how they can continue to advance their writing. When I looked through my own work I asked myself “what have I learned this semester?” and “what do I still need to learn in order to improve my writing?”. Answering both these questions will help me with my last step of my self-evaluation, developing a plan to learn new skills.
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class, I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work to see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded.