Ethan Melvin

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Acc. Comp.

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Course Reflections For Final Portfolio

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Rhetorical Situation and Genre

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Over the course of this semester i learned how to combine an array of experiences and

views and put them into one central idea. In my memoir i talked about how Instagram helped me
to receive recognition for my photography and make connections. In the first writing assignment
i believe i might have been a better writer and addressed the rhetorical situation better than i did i
my other two writing assignments. I like the genre of the first writing assignment because it
allowed me to write freely and use my own experiences to address the prompt.

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In the second writing assignment I covered Chris Petrucios video of WekFest. I really
enjoyed the rhetorical situation of this because its similar to what i want to pursue as a career
(judge people lol). I utilized my knowledge of persuasion to compose a well developed analysis
of his video, encouraging people to join the discourse community of stance. As far as genre goes,
im not quite sure what the specific genre was but it was definitely in the ball park of non
fiction persuasive (duh).

The third major writing assignment really kicked my butt. Not necessarily the rhetorical
part but the whole mode of composition was like hieroglyphs to me. I didn't get to interview my
targeted person of really write on the specific topic i had wanted to, but with that being said this
particular assignment helped me to bring everything i had been writing about over the smelter
and combine it into one broad topic. Stance culture is hard to break down so this assignment
helped me better my knowledge of elaborating on subjects and prepared me to use this genre in
the future (the genre of elaborative non-fiction, if thats even a thing).

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Writing As A Social Act

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Throughout every journal and writing assignment i liked to think of myself as a
hypothetical role model for writing about the genre of stance because i have never seen
anyone dive so deep into the truth behind the culture and the driving factors which make the
society of stance function. In my second major writing assignment i especially felt this way
because i really believed my audience was present and listening (in my head). That right there
helped motivate me to compose the document and believe i was engaged and present in
something important within the community. I wanted to expose the grimy, explicit nature of
culture of stance. Many people fail to look beyond the cars, girls and attention behind the
movement, i want my audience to understand that its not all sunshine and flowers in the scene of
stance.

I have personally never read, watched or observed in any form a document that elaborates
so extensively (trying to say in the humble way possible). I like to think that people think of me
as member of the stance discourse community, as based off of my photography, the group of
people i associate myself and my writing in particular. I liked to think my audience was the head
marketers at stancenation.com, canibeat.com, or any other large automotive website that
frequently involves itself in the culture of stance. That also helped motivate me to address all
people and attributes of stance.

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The peak of my social involvement over the course of this semester was in rhetorical
analysis in major writing assignment two. I believe this because this assignment was a
hypothetical turning point for my writing career. this was a project i was truly proud of and one
i believe could be shared with people of high ranking in the stance community.

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Writing As A Process

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Im the type of person that questions EVERYTHING. When it comes to doing to research
and hearing other peoples views and what they believe to be true i am quick to doubt. With
that being said, i like to engage in observational learning and being very hands on when it comes
to understanding things and receiving new information. Most of, if not all, information that was
used in my writing assignments was generated within my own mind, whether that was through

attending car meets, watching car videos or interacting with people involved in the scene of
stance.

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Ok, so obviously everything i know about stance wasn't just planted in brain when i was
born (although id like to think so). Every piece of information i used was influence by outside
factors other than myself (excuse my selfish nature haha). However, in my first writing
assignment i did base most of my information off of personal experience with very little outside
cited information. As i progressed through the semester i did use more and more modes of
research.

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My tendency to rely mostly on ideas and theories that i have developed can be dangerous
at some points because obviously the reliability of these assumptions is highly biased by none
other than myself. As i grow up, and as i have grown this past semester, i have reminded my self
that it is extremely important to have faith in other peoples information, even if i do not agree
wight the particular information. I can definitely see the progression of my reliance on outside
information throughout my three amor wringing assignments.

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Grammar And Usage

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STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH SUCKS! Hopefully that catches your attention,
however i abide by SOME rules of standard American english. I am a firm believer in writing in

way that raw, edgy and unedited. I suppose you could call this style of writing grimy if you
will. Its my voice, my writing, my opinion and therefore i believe i have a right to ignore the
norms of standard American english and express my honest and inner self through my writing.

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With that being said, i do believe however, that my writing (or anyones writing for that
matter) should be understandable. If you can only take bits and pieces of a document and try and
mush it all together to conclude what an author is trying to get to, thats still ok. Writing is an art
form and art should never abide by any guidelines.

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I believe our society is headed from the standard American way of writing and headed
towards a more creative and artsy way of writing. Of course there will always be instances
where it is necessary to obey the rules of standard American english but until i encounter that I'm
going to be a rebel writer. I hope this has been evident in my writing over the course of the
semester, if not, i didn't do a good enough job.

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Reflection

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First things first, i absolutely loved this class and i think it helped me grow so much as a
writer. Thanks a lot Mrs. Turfler! Beginning with the very first journal i did in this class, my eyes
were opened to the fact that i could write however i wanted without worrying what anybody else
thought of it. That may come across as vague but i truly think i reached a point where as long as

what i was writing was semi-understandable, i was satisfied with my work. I realized that i
genuinely enjoy writing. I believe this is due to the fact that i look at it as an art form and not
something thats boring and time consuming.

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Over the progression of this semester my styles remained fairly consistent even while my
knowledge of writing styles expanded and i started to figure out my pathos and ethos as a writer.
Relating back to the grammar and usage outcome, in my writing assignment over this semester i
made the most important aspect of my writing to be informative, regardless of the validity of
grammar or whatever.

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My interest in marketing grew as well over this semester, the different modes of
composing assignments greatly befitted me in gaining knowledge about promotion and
marketing. Its all about getting people to want or agree with what your writing about (rhetoric).
This was a huge motivator behind all my assignments and really drove me to create the best
rhetoric i could.

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Research

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The research process needed for these assignments has been taking place for years. One
of the reasons i chose the topic of stance and addressed StanceNation.com as my primary

audience and company, is because ive been involved with the culture for so long. The facts,
view and opinions i used of the course of this semester where all things that i had developed
myself with the influence or separate encounters over the past couple years.

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In many instances research is quite necessary to execute a well composed and valid
document, however i never felt like research was important in any of assignments this semester.
Sure, there may have been a time or two where i needed to refresh my memory on a date or name
of someone but other than that i preferred to keep my writing as close to things i already knew as
possible.