Breathe in, Breathe out

Looking back on the first day of class I can remember I was very nervous. I was going into my Junior year and beginning my first core class for my major. I was very intimidated the first few classes because we started off with rhetoric. I had never even heard of rhetoric before. When we began with this topic I thought this six week class was going to be a disaster. Now, that we are entering week five, I can say this is one of the most fun classes I have taken at FSU. I really enjoy going to class everyday, and mark my word on this, I dont say this often. All of the mini assignments and main projects are activities that will help we out in the real world. Ive gathered and retained so much information to guide me along in other classes that I will take in the near future. Here are some keywords that stuck out to me. I wanted to ellaborate on them a little.

The Rhetorical Situation: The first few weeks of class we read a piece by Lloyd Bitzer called the Rhetorical Situation. From what I gathered a rhetorical situation is any communication used to modify the perspective of others. Bitzer explained that there are three parts that make up any rhetorical situation. They are exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence is a "pressing problem". There are many types of exigence but, a rhetorical one is one that can exist when discourse can positively modify it. The second part is audience. Bitzer states that, "audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and beings mediators of change." The third is a set of constraints. Bitzer also says in his peice that a set of constraints is, "made up of persons, events, objects and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain a decision and action needed to modify the exigence."

When I first learned these I was kind of confused but then it all came together for me once i put it in "easier terms" For example, if a school board member fires a well liked principal, a parent might then take the microphone at a meeting and try and stop it and/or write a letter to the editor.

Reflection: When I think of reflection the first thing i think of is the Disney movie, Mulan. But we all know in our case this isnt what we are reffering to. Reflection is the process of looking back over your work and noticing how you have grown as a writer. The reflection part of this class was my favorite. I liked the whole concept of it. When we reflect back on our writing we often find things that we might not have found. The reflection process for me usually comes twice. I reflect before I begin to think about what I want to write about. I sprawl out my thoughts and put them on paper. I then reflect again after I am finished writing. I look back over my work and revise it. I make sure I have all the research and all my ideas correct. To me, reflection will help me become the best writer I can be.

Editing: Editing is everywhere wether we simply know it or not. Not only do you edit your papers and revise them but you also can edit your facebook status or twitter. Anything I write I want to try and tailor it to make others engage in it. When I compose I go over my work several times before I have the final product. I find myself doing this with my facebook as well. Whenever I write on someones wall or make a status I go over it to make sure everything is spelled correctly and is acceptable. Editing is an important process. We read a peice a couple of nights ago that was went over editing. What i gathered from this was the best way to edit is edit the actaul "work" and let the writer write themselves. Dont try and change "the track that they are traveling on." I personally like helpful critisism. I feel it helps me become a better writer. But, i also dont like when I have so much editing on my paper that I am so confused on what to edit and what not to edit. Editing plays a vital role in writing and composing and with all of us being EWM majors we need to learn all the correct ways to edit and be edited.