Personal Reflection On Rhetorical Analysis

Author’s Note:

•I had prior experience with the rhetorical terminology used throughout this semester, but I hadn’t delved quite as deeply into their meanings and their uses. I don’t think that this writing project alone had a major effect on my understanding of rhetorical terminology; however, the works that we read as lead-up to and context for the assignment really helped me learn to recognize the use of different rhetorical strategies in text on a higher level than I did before. That being said, I feel that the writing project aided me in putting that understanding into words. I had minimal previous experience with doing intensive rhetorical analysis before this project, and now I feel that while I still may not comprehend the minutiae

Of course, previous experience taught me that the three main components of any writing were purpose, audience, and topic, but I didn’t have a name to put with the face, so to speak, until very recently. That is, I think I knew what a rhetorical situation was, and that practically every interaction ever could be considered a rhetorical situation, but I didn’t have the technical term or even the definition. I didn’t know there were constraints, but looking back I suppose it makes sense that the effectiveness of a work could be severely hindered by the beliefs and attitudes of the sphere in which it’s presented. I heard the phrase “rhetorical situation” being used the first week in this class and it confused me, because in my mind rhetoric could almost be equated with bombastic, and I had previously only ever heard the word rhetoric used meanly by teachers to describe a paper with no substance and a lot of pretty

recognizing his own flaws, using slang to relate to his audience, and hyperlinks), This nearly puts him on par with Elbow in the ethical game if what he lacks in experience is made up for in