First Edition SA2Links to an external site.

Final Draft SA2Links to an external site.

     With Short Assignment 2, I was tasked with conducting a rhetorical analysis in order to examine how great writers utilize a variety of rhetorical appeals to develop their argument and perspective of the natural world. I believe that my work reflected the objectives in outcome 1 specifically, which is defined by creating a text that is able to be easily accessed and interpreted by a wide variety of groups, regardless of the audience or context. I was able to incorporate this outcome into my work by maintaining educational yet simple diction, while including specific emphasis on picking apart the thoughts of the author’s brain in the text that I analyzed. Through my analysis of this piece, I was able to articulate my rationale for why the author included a variety of rhetorical effects, and how they related to his overall claim. For example, I was able to pick apart the author’s true purpose by saying: “While some humans use their idleness to experiment with and prescribe labels to flora and fauna, Collins believes that humans should take the role of an observer and learn to appreciate the majestic and indescribably complex environment around us. While humans continually chase after their fruitless and endless desires, as seen in the thirst for knowledge and the endless search for the diamond in Wilke Collins’ The Moonstone, the author fruitfully conveyed his message of human greed and how our shallow inclinations for apprehension lead to the demolition of the Earth around us.”

     I believe that this outcome matters for effective composition because it is not only important to be able to analyze a specific text and pick apart the author’s use of rhetorical devices and claim, but it is also very important to be able to effectively communicate your findings to the audience in an accessible and academic fashion. In my first draft of this short assignment, I was mostly unable to effectively convey these points to my audience as I did not account for the fact that most of my audiences will have not read the pieces I am writing about, and therefore I must be able to not only focus on micro-analysis but to also give a broader picture of the work and its main themes as a whole. Through my multiple revisions, which is also a fulfillment of outcome 4, I developed a flexible mindset for my revisions throughout my composition process which (without the outcome) I would not have been able to accomplish. I was able to not only incorporate the feedback that I received from my professor, but also able to refine the delivery of my analysis by incorporating more rhetorical analysis with increased emphasis on why the author chose to do what he did, tying the rhetorical devices used throughout the piece with the overall environmental message and significance.

2. Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park, Kapaʻa, Hawaii, USA