So far, the readings and class discussions about analyzing the rhetorical situation of a text have been extremely helpful to the writing process. It makes me think about if my purpose/message is clear while I’m writing. It helps me better the way I revise my work and others work as well. I’d like to work more on smoothly integrating the purpose I’m trying to portray it into my writing. If I don’t receive clarification for this, consistent practice and reading the work of others will help me gain knowledge on this.

 My learning analysis essay was written to express different strategies I’ve recognized work best for me to retain information. I’d categorize it as a personal narrative with the intent for my readers to be my professors, my friends, and my family. I wrote this essay at the very beginning of my college journey. Having done 12 years of education and lived 18 years of life, I’m constantly wanting to learn new things. I find it important to know exactly which techniques help me learn best, especially during my entry into college, because retaining and applying information can only happen if I truly attempt to learn it. This assignment succeeded in helping me not only learn more about myself but how to reflect on my past experiences to help me grow as a person. 

An article I annotated for my research was one about the Tuskegee Experiment. Some of the information I wrote was about the number of people that took part in it, how those participants were affected, and how they got there. The annotations were helpful. I was able to return to the annotations for my essay and when I was looking for information to use in my essay, I could browse through the annotations I made instead of rereading the article. 

I developed better strategies for revising through peer reviewing my learn analysis outline. Through proofreading, I used to only skim over my work for grammar mistakes and to make sure I get my point across but after this assignment, I began to see if I answered the question correctly, if I over or under explained concepts, and meet the criteria. 

Reading “Systemic racism: individuals and interactions, institutions and society” helped me broaden my overall understanding of interpersonal and institutional racism. It gave me a foundation to racism in the United States and what to look for during my research. I don’t need clarification on anything, this reading helped me figure out what key words to look out for during research.  

I’m using videos, PowerPoints, textbooks, and articles. Using different types of media makes it not only easier for me to understand but easier for me to express the information as well. 

The intended rhetorical situation of my research essay is for an academic audience. Its purpose is to inform people in the relationship between systemic racism and health care. It is a research article.  

My argument evolved to be more than just simply about healthcare but the relation that other aspects of systemic racism have to the health of minorities. Things like the environment and the criminal justice system are deeply affected by systemic racism. Being negatively impacted by these institutions causes a decrease in health and people of color are disproportionately affected by these institutions, causing them to suffer with bad health at more frequent rates than white people.  

Both my research essay and my MMT were created with the purpose to inform people on the relationship between systemic racism and healthcare. My MMT, however, was made to reach a wider audience. People who don’t have the time or patience to read an 8-page essay can instead listen to an 8-minute segment that is an overview of the topic. 

Learning how to properly do an outline and improving annotation skills has been extremely useful in my composition process. Allowing myself to make mistakes and then fixing them in my edits instead of trying to perfect it the first time has helped me a lot as well.