I found this essay quite challenging, but I was pleased with the overall outcome of my essay. I feel that I worked really hard on my rhetorical analysis and I put a lot of effort into the finished project. My strengths in this essay were the amount of background information I was able to find on smoking and Star Wars to incorporate into my PSA. I also felt that I was able to understand the choices the writer was making when creating this PSA. The one thing that I feel that I could have done better on was the organization of my body paragraphs. I think each paragraph had a strong point, but I had a hard time making them flow into one concise essay.

Revision means taking a piece of writing that you have possibly turned in for a grade and fixing any errors or adding any extra points. Revision is all about making your piece of writing even stronger. I usually revise my piece of writing as I go along, rather than a big revision process at the end. I revise in order to make my piece of writing better and also to bring up my grade if my teacher allows revisions. Not everyone does revise, but it is very beneficial.

I didn’t really receive a whole lot of peer feedback that is going to help me revise my essay. Most of the comments that my peer gave me were positive. The things that I am going to work on today in class are: my transitions from paragraph to paragraph, work on adding more examples from my PSA to my paper, and making sure that I am citeing everything that I need to cite.

I guess I am not really sure how I am supposed to write my rhetorical analysis. I am having trouble bringing all of the elements that I want to talk about together to make a coherent essay. I am also struggling with the balance of bringing background information into this analysis along with specific examples from the PSA. I think I have a lot of good research information, and good separate body paragraphs, but I am having trouble making them into a single, smooth flowing essay.

“Star Wars Smoking PSA.” 6 March 2007. You Tube. Video. 20 March 2009 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWQgktBR6-w>.

For our PSA we should have a well-developed introduction that tells some background about the PSA, the source of the PSA, and our thesis statement. We should keep our audience in mind while writing this rhetorical analysis. We should analyze the PSA by looking at the audience, the use of rhetorical appeals, and the credibility of the author. We need to have a works cited page that references our PSA.

I thought that this PSA would be good to analyze because of the characters from Star Wars that are trying to promote that smoking is bad for you. I think they are credible authors, especially for the kids who would watch this PSA, since I think that is the audience it is geared towards. I also picked this PSA because of the humor that is involved. Even though the message they are presenting is a serious one, they found more of a fun way to go about presenting it to the public.

One of the techniques that the writer uses to introduce their rhhetorical analysis, specifically in “Rhetorical Analysis of ‘My Culture at the Crossroads,'” is he states directly what the original author’s purpose was. In this case the original’s author’s purpose is the issue of whether the most creative artisits can gain control of the music and take it in a positive direction. He gives us the name of the piece he read and where and when it appeared in print. He gives the reader a little bit of background on the article, so we know what we can expect from the rest of the essay.

I think that the introduction for my rhetorical analysis should include the PSA that I am going to be evaluating. The source of where I found it, and maybe some background information on whatever the subject is.

I didn’t go anywhere exciting for Spring Break. All I did was go home and rest, and also work. I got to help out with the Big Read project that is going on in Erie County. What that is, is all the area libraries are trying to get everyone in Erie County to read the same book. This year the book is To Kill A Mockingbird. We had to go around town and put up posters to advertise the kick-off event which was held at our mall last Saturday. To draw people to the kick-off they advertised that they were going to give away free copies of the book. We took 288 copies, and ran out of them in the first hour. We had an overwhelming response, with about 500 people showing up. It was really neat to see how excited people were about reading.

I took English 112 at the Firelands campus and we weren’t required to make a portfolio. I have actually never had any type of experience with a portfolio. I know it has to do with a collection of student work. It could be something like writing five papers throughout the semester and than turning them in together for a second evaluation at the end of the year. Without having any experience with portfolios I am not really sure I understand their purpose.