TOW #28: Reflection

  As I re-read three of my TOWs, I noticed a significant change as this school year progressed. For example, my Hillary Clinton TOW from the first marking period doesn't really analyze the rhetorics used in the article; instead, it mainly talks about the issue and presents the author's point of view. However, second and third marking period, I noticed that I was focused more on the strategies used. In my New York Times review TOW, I focused more on the argument the author was presenting and how effective the format/message was to the audience. Another interesting change is the strategies I picked. In the beginning of the school year, my TOWs focused mostly on pathos, ethos, and logos and how the article would appeal to those three rhetorics. Towards the end, I began to analyze a variety of strategies such as tone, colors (for visual TOWs), perspectives, persuasive diction, synthesis of sources, etc. So far, I believe I have mastered how to properly analyze a visual/article type text. In most of my TOWs, I was able to create a cohesive thesis type statement that properly identified the author's main point. Even though my choice in strategies or how I chose to explain the author's point was sometimes lacking, I do believe I grasped the understanding of the visual/article texts picked. To continue to improve my TOWs, I would say that I need to put a little more "think time" into how I present a specific text. I need to concentrate on not getting caught in explaining the details of the topic and instead on explaining/analyzing the author's thesis. In all honesty, I do believe my writing has benefited from these assignments. It helped with building my skills of how to break down texts and throughly explain them, and this weekly practice especially helped when it came to writing papers on texts much longer. The TOW activities acted as mini papers that assisted in writing much more dense papers down the road. Overall, my writing progression so far has been something I feel proud to share, and the TOWs were definitely an aid in helping me get in extra practice.