I wrote my rhetorical analysis on the essay “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner. I actually enjoyed writing this because it was one that involved more critical thinking and had more depth than what I was used to writing in high school. Writing this paper really helped me hone in on my skills in analyzing pieces of writing and show me where I need to improve. Most importantly, it showed me what strategies of mine worked when writing a rhetorical analysis. I’ve always viewed a rough draft of a paper as a final draft with grammatical errors. As such, I always think the rough draft has to be perfect and I run into major writing blocks. But, in writing this essay, I discovered a strategy that has really helped me formulate my ideas better and smooth over the writing process. On this essay I wrote my analysis in chronological order of how it was written in the book. This made my ideas flow faster because it meant I didn’t have to scatter my attention to different parts of the book and organize my essay at the same time. After I finish getting all my ideas down I already know how I want to arrange my essay. I doubt that this is a new discovery, as teachers have probably been trying to get me to do this for years. It’s definitely better that I started using this strategy late instead of never.
I’ve always had difficulty writing effective conclusions because I always get stuck thinking that I’ve already said everything that I want to and don’t know how to finish the essay. Getting my paper back confirmed that I need to work on my conclusions. In the conclusion I just repeated some of my main points and in the future I’ll have to work on finding a way to put all my ideas together so that it gives the essay closure and progresses it a little bit further. I think that to get better at writing conclusions it will just take practice, in addition to reading and analyzing papers that have model conclusions.
The only other major problem I had in this essay was concerning syntax. Most of my favorite authors write in a stream-of-consciousness style, which I enjoy reading. This can tend to influence my writing without me knowing it. I believe this adds to my problem with grammar and punctuation. Sometimes I’ll write my thoughts instead of translating them to literary English and I have to go back and edit my phrasing until it’s clear.
Overall, this paper really helped me learn to express my ideas a lot better. It also showed me what I needed to work on and how I should manage my time during future papers.
1 comment:
Ben, I really liked you reflection of the rhetorical analysis. It is very genuine and honest. I too have problems with organization and use the same strategy you discovered. I find it helpful to write according to ideas or main points I want to make in the paper. In conclusions, I try and combine all of my ideas and offer my own advice to the world.
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