My Freshman Composition Analysis

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Thriving or Surviving What is the primal instinct of every living thing? The first and most important instinct of every living organism is to survive. As a freshman in college, not only do I want to simply survive, but I want to thrive as well. This idea represented my semester in WRC 1023-064 and my other collegiate level classes. I knew going in that I did not want to simply pass my Freshman Composition II class, but I wanted to pass with an A. To do this, I used my past writing experiences and other tools to succeed, especially the skills I obtained in Freshman Composition I. In Freshman Composition II, I thrived by meeting most of the criteria listed in the syllabus. Some of the goals that I met include quantitative analysis skills, …show more content…
Throughout my essays, I tried to evenly use the three main rhetoric devices mentioned above. However, in essay 1 I use more pathos than ethos or logos. In essay two, I lean more towards the ethos side and in essay 3 I use a great deal of logos to persuade my audience. Essay 1 is about if America should focus more on foreign aid or the poor in our own country first. In essay one, I state that “we need to help the forty-three point one million people living in poverty in America” (Chen, “Who do we help?” Final Draft 2). I use statements such as these to invoke an emotional response, which is what pathos is. By incorporating more and more pathos, it usually becomes easier to get the idea through to the audience. Another example involving emotional appeal is where I state that “compared to other Western industrialized nations, we have one of the highest poverty rates and spend the least on social programs to help the poor” (Chen, “Who do we help?” Final Draft 2). Again, these examples aid to show my knowledge and proper use of pathos in my essays. Ethos, appeal to ethics, on the other hand, is more prominent in essay two than in any of the other essays. As a persuader, in order to convince the target audience of my character and credibility, I use strong sources and investigate the opposition intensively. For example, I state that one of my supporting statements was “proven in a study done by the American Marketing Association” (Chen, “Music.” Final Draft 1). I also use other use source variety such as studies from the “Journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience”, a scholarly article done by “Dr. Lesiuk” from the “Psychology of Music”, and the “Applied Cognitive Studies Journal” (Chen, “Music.” Final Draft 1). These are strong credible sources that help prove to the audience that I am not just saying random things without sources backing it up. I also venture deep into the oppositions argument making sure not to leave anything