Rodriguez 1
Vincent Rodiguez
Professor Julie Baker
English 1301
02 May 2024
My Comprehensive Reflective Essay
Throughout the last semester I have come to learn many things from this English 1301 class. From
various forms of rhetorical analysis like genre analysis, the deeper Analysis of images and their contents and
meaning, as well as the analysis of the rhetorical devices used in peer reviewed research articles at an
academic level. However, that is far from all that I took from this class. I also learned to properly budget
time and put my efforts into creating early, advanced, and final drafts of essays to ensure quality and
cohesiveness in my writing. With this I was able to substantially better myself as a writer and a student
leaving this class with not only writing, Reading, and research skills, but with a better understanding of the
requirements of college level writing assignments and any other assignment required of me at this higher
level of education.
In the first module of the semester, I put my focus towards dissecting the details of genre through an
analysis of the City of Laredo's Instagram post, an unconventional yet effective medium for broadcasting
information about the impending freezing temperatures that Laredo was so ill prepared for in the previous
year. As I delved into the motive behind their approach and the strategic choice of Instagram as a platform, I
wrestled with structural and grammatical nuances in crafting my initial and final drafts, a journey marked by
self-correction and refinement.
Despite joining the semester late and being unable to participate in the peer review
portion of the assignment I still managed to complete and learn from making preliminary drafts
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of my essay. In revising my essay from the first draft to the final, I focused on refining the clarity
and organization of my ideas. I realized that some paragraphs lacked clarity, making it
challenging for readers to follow the progression of my argument. To address this, I restructured
the essay, ensuring that each paragraph flowed into the next. Additionally, I paid closer attention
to grammar and punctuation, aiming to eliminate errors that could detract from the readability of
the essay. By making these revisions, I strived to create a more polished and organized essay that
effectively conveyed the events in Laredo and the subsequent response by city officials.
Upon reviewing the second draft, I recognized the need to deepen my analysis and
provide more insight into the motives behind the city officials' actions. I expanded on the reasons
for using Instagram as a platform, acknowledging the potential impact of these decisions on
community engagement and public safety awareness. Furthermore, I strengthened the connection
between the city's past failures in its communication of risks and its efforts to rectify them in the
present, highlighting the importance of the cities now proactive measures in informing its
citizens. Furthermore, I edited my essay to remove the use of the first person perspective to
better convey an academic point of view on my analysis. This lead to me to choose Essay
number one as the essay that I would revise for my reflective portfolio. I further refined any
grammatical and structural issues that I may have had as well as removing my final paragraphs in
the first person reflective perspective. Opting instead to replace it with a analysis of the use of
Instagram by the City of Laredo to reach younger audiences that may better spread their
warnings. To conclude my revisions of Essay number one for my reflective portfolio I ensured
that my essay was properly presented in the proper MLA format that I had overlooked in my
original submission.
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Transitioning to Module 2, we were asked to refine our skills in visual analysis by
choosing an image to conduct an in-depth visual analysis on in order to answer questions like
who? What? And Why? The visual subject I chose for my analysis was a dire warning sign
placed deep withing an underwater diving cave in an effort to warn thrill seeking divers of the
dangers posed ahead of them. I analyzed the placement of the sign withing the cave and its
purpose, the imagery of death and despair displayed upon the sign to elicit terror in onlookers,
and the aesthetic choices present in the sign color and text format choice. In this module unlike
the first I was able to participate fully in the drafting and peer review process of the essay writing
assignment. Fully completing and submitting a first, advanced, and final draft complete with peer
review participation. However, due to my own oversight I did not participate in the ACE writing
center portion of the module.
Looking back on the revisions made between each version of the essay, I can see the
evolution of my thoughts and the refinement of my argument. Between the first and second
drafts of my essay, I focused on improving the clarity and structure of the essay. I realized the
importance of providing a strong introduction that hooks the reader and clearly states the main
thesis that I had been lacking in my initial draft. Therefore, I made sure to start the second draft
of my essay with a compelling opening that sets the stage for discussing the warning sign for
deep sea cave diving.
Moreover, I paid closer attention to the organization of my ideas within paragraphs and
between them. I wanted to ensure that each paragraph flowed logical into the next, creating a
smooth progression of thought. As a result, I revised the structure of the essay to enhance
coherence and make it easier for the reader to follow my analysis. This involved reordering some
paragraphs and refining the transitions to maintain a clean and concise flow of information.
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In the transition from the second draft to the final version, I focused on bolstering the
conclusion of the essay. I came to the conclusion that i needed to provide a stronger summary of
the main points discussed in the essay in order to leave a strong impression on the reader.
Therefore, I added more detail to the conclusion, re-stating the key aspects of my analysis of the
warning sign and emphasizing its importance in preventing accidents and even death during cave
diving. Additionally, I polished the language and tone throughout the essay to ensure consistency
and maintain a formal academic style. I paid close attention to the clarity of expression and made
sure to eliminate any grammatical errors or awkward phrasing to the best of my ability. By
carefully reviewing and polishing the language, I aimed to enhance the overall readability and
effectiveness of the essay.
Module 3 involved deeper exploration of rhetorical strategies within academic arguments in peer
review articles. In this module we learned to properly use the tools provided to us by TAMIU in the form of
library research tools. We were assigned an activity in which we practiced our ability to use the proper key
words and exemptions in our search prompts through the TAMIU library database in order to more
accurately and reliably find the information that we were searching for to choose a viable peer review
research article. While this tool served to find articles for rhetorical analysis in this case it can also serve to
assist any almost every aspect of any assignment that we receive from any class going forward. Allowing us
to find any information we need to support any arguments or research we will be making. As for the subject
of my rhetorical analysis for this module I chose to cover a subject that holds great interest to me. That being
a peer reviewed article co-authored by three esteemed individuals in the field of artificial intelligence. These
authors go on to share their view in this article about how artificial intelligence serves to improve and assist
work in the sphere of internet usage and web development in the present as well as to speculate on ways
that they will be used in the future to expand our ability to complete tasks with increased ease using artificial
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intelligence. In my third essay I conduct rhetorical analysis on the authors use of rhetorical strategies to
support their arguments. They use strategies such as giving examples of proven examples of artificial
intelligence already existing implementation along with statistics on the improvement that they have made.
They even make sure to relate to a broad range of readers by presenting their arguments in a format that any
can understand.
I would have to say that essay three goes down as my best essay of the semester as I
made sure to involve myself in every aspect of the essay writing process from the initial draft to
the advanced draft. As well as the peer review portion interacting with my fellow students. In
this essay I even made sure to fulfill my obligation to set up and follow through with a tutoring
session with the TAMIU Ace writing center to help me ensure that my essay was up to par.
As I revisited the initial draft of the essay, I recognized the need for refinement in several
areas to enhance the delivery of my ideas. In my first draft of the essay, while my introduction
effectively introduced the topic and my thesis statement outlined the main points of analysis, I
felt that it could be strengthened overall to better set up my essay for any readers. Therefore, in
the second draft, I made revisions to the introduction, providing a more clear cut summary of the
article's main arguments and rephrasing the thesis statement for increasedclarity. Additionally, I
focused on ensuring that each body paragraph began with a clear topic sentence to introduce the
rhetorical strategy being discussed, and to provide a better flow to my paragraphs ensuring that
they each tie into my thesis statement.
As I progressed to the final draft, I set up a meeting with the ACE writing center to assist
me in finalizing my essay. There they pointed out many aspects of my essay that I had
completely overlooked and that went on to ensure an acceptable final product. I continued to
refine the language and tone of the essay to maintain a formal and academic style. making sure to
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pay attention to keeping my vocabulary consistent while properly varied, ensuring that the
authors' names were presented in a consistent manner throughout the essay. Additionally, I
rewrote body paragraphs including a discussion of the future implication of the future of ai
technology presented by the authors. This allowed for a more comprehensive examination of the
broader impact of the authors' research on the field of network engineering and internet
technology.
I had a rocky start to my semester in this class and even rockier first feew attempts ad
taking this class as this is my third time taking this class but .in conclusion the past semester in
the English 1301 class has been a both informative and transformative experience for me.
Throughout which I learned to bring myself through the proper processes required to write at the
university level. Implementing tools for writing like writing an initial draft to get the creative
juices flowing and set proper direction for your writing and eventual final product, and then
following through into you advanced draft refining and catching any errors and simple mistakes
you may have made in your first draft while being distracted with the flow of your ideas rather
than the actual act of properly writing, and finally having all of that work and experience
culminate in a full fledged college level essay that can ensure that you deliver unto your
professors a final product that will get you a grade that you strive for and that you can say that
your writing is worthy off. To top it all off learning of the tools available to me through TAMIU
like the Library research tools and activities that showed my aspects of my university that I
didn’t know existed and the fact that TAMIU offers free tutoring through the ACE writing center
that any student can sign up for and partake in as many times as necessary to reach a proper final
product.
