Reflection on My RA

I wrote my rhetorical analysis on James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, then Tell Me, What Is?” In my paper, I discussed how Baldwin uses the three rhetorical appeals in the text. I felt that he used ethos through personal experiences, logos by discussing aspects of American history, and pathos by questioning the definition of “language” and the idea that a language is the common ground for different people. Also, I discussed Baldwin as an author and why he is credible on the subject, who is the intended audience for the piece, and several purposes of the text. I used about one or two quotes from the text to support how Baldwin used the different rhetorical appeals.
Before coming to NAU, I never wrote a rhetorical analysis and I never once heard of the rhetorical appeals. I found it quite difficult to grasp the concept of each appeal and how to properly identify them within a text. But after the exercises we did in and out of class, I was able to fully grasp the idea about the whole thing. I felt that watching Roger & Me helped me the most to understand the whole idea of the rhetorical appeals and why authors use and do not use them. I think it was because the piece was more visual and not just another reading. Also writing the different blogs helped me to understand the concept even more. The blogs are so informal and there isn’t as much pressure writing a blog as there is when writing a paper.
I made a few mistakes in my paper. Some were little grammar and word choice errors, while others dealt with transitions and support of my main ideas. One aspect of my paper that needs to be improved is the use of transition sentences between paragraphs. I did have simple transition sentences at the end or beginning of each paragraph, but they were not strong enough. Because of the lack of good strong transitions, my paper did not flow very well. Another aspect of my paper that needs improvement is the explanations of quotations. In my paper, I included a quote but did not really explain its significance in great detail to the overall main idea. Due to the lack of explanation, my main idea of Baldwin using pathos was questioned.
There are several things I could do for my next paper to ensure that I do not make the same mistakes I did in my rhetorical analysis. To eliminate grammar and word choice errors, I could have another person proof read my paper before I turn it in. The proof reader is able to find errors with grammar and word choice that I would not find if I was to proof read it myself. Also having someone else proof read it could help me with my paragraph transitions and the flow of my paper. On the hand, I am not sure exactly what I can do to with the second mistake I made. It seems so simple that all I need to do is explain the quotes I use more. But it is not that simple. I have always struggled with putting my thoughts into words. There was so much more I wanted to say about Baldwin’s use of pathos, but it just would not come out and I’m not sure what I can do about it. Maybe I can try writing down all of my thoughts beforehand and then later classify them into their appropriate places. Or I could try using an outline to organize all of my thoughts. I am not the type of person to use an outline, but maybe it might help with my little "problem."
Over all I really enjoyed writing the rhetorical analysis. Maybe because I was able to relate to the ideas of Baldwin's essay. Also, because it was a change from the writing that I did before in high school.