Reflecting on the synthesis essay

First of all, I completely psyched myself out about this paper. I kept putting it off and I finally reached a point where I just felt that it would be completely impossible to get done. And then I actually started working on it, almost instantly I realized that I was making it much harder for myself than it ever needed to be. Having never written a synthesis paper before, I looked at it as this impossible to complete task, where in all reality, it was actually quite easy to accomplish once I sat down at my laptop and began the work. Having the information and research given to us was beyond amazing, the packet that we were given was jam packed with extremely useful articles. This subject is not one I would have ever thought to research and I am really glad that it was chosen for us. As far as my purpose and design plan goes, I think I did a relatively good job of sticking to it because, after all, about 75% of my purpose and design plan was written after I had the majority of my paper done. I almost enjoyed writing a synthesis paper... I enjoy writing in general (it is in my blood after all) and I thought it was really interesting to learn a new writing style. To be taken out of your comfort zone is never SUPER fun, but in the end you always reap some awesome benefits. For example, I learned that I can totally write a decent synthesis paper without making an ass of myself. The only thing I really messed up on was not including Blinder. I have already uploaded my paper... but, i am going to go back and add a section in one of my paragraphs about him... shhhhh!

Change Truly Is The Only Constant

Purpose Statement & Design Plan for Synthesis

Purpose Statement
Purpose
Since this paper is supposed to be an argument regarding the changing of the working world of the 21st century, my purpose needs to revolve around using my sources in the best way possible and making sure my argument is as clear and concise as possible. After learning about it, I have realized how difficult a synthesis paper can be, but I have also learned that it can be extremely beneficial to the person writing it and anyone who reads it. So, by using the sources from our packet, mainly Sennett, Judy and D'Amico, Friedman, Peters, and Vitae, I hope to effectively argue that success in the working world of the future will include changes in: ability to adapt, the self, and skills and education.
Audience
I think that the information and conclusions I'm drawing from that information would interest someone who is my age or younger. Perhaps even much younger, like high school aged, who is already thinking about their future. To reach this target audience it is most necessary to appeal to logic, proceeded by emotion. Most people when they think about their future either stress out because they have absolutely no idea what to do, or they are completely at ease because they already have a clear picture in their head of what they want to do. I think this paper can appeal to either of these people if I execute it successfully. Most importantly I want to write this paper for someone like me, who has an idea of what they want in their future, but no idea of what to do or how to get there. After reading through this packet and starting to establish an argument, I've learned a lot about how it applies to me and above all I want to possibly help someone else see that there is extremely fruitful information in this packet about the working world of today.
Context
The context that this essay needs to be in is relatively clear, it is about looking to the future of the job world for any young adult who wishes to be a part of it. Anyone can view the paper at anytime since it is up on the blog, but my hope is that young adult hopefuls for the working world take the time to at least skim it because I think it could be helpful.

Design Plan
Strategies
Ethos: I showed credibility by effectively using our sources that were extremely helpful. Not only by picking and choosing solid quotes, but also by giving enough background on each of the individual authors to show how credible the sources that I chose to use were.
Pathos: I think this subject is easy to make young adults in my target audience care about, because it is so vital to their future if they want a successful career life until they retire. I know I don't want to work a minimum wage job forever and not make any kind of difference, but maybe by making changes and moving forward with what we think of the working world, finding a place to call your own in the work force is entirely possible if not unavoidable.
Logos: Since this is the first ever synthesis paper I have done, I think I did a very good job of incorporating logic into the subject. It is a rather easy subject to have a logical enforcement. If you want work, you need to be prepared for change.
Medium
The medium for this is a synthesis argument. It is an academic essay that needs to be between 6-8 pages. (I know if I go into more detail and emphasize certain things that surely I can make it longer, but for the time being I am just so happy that mine is 6 pages.) It is an academic synthesis that I tried very hard to use proper adult language and complex sentences for.
Arrangement
The arrangement for this argument was what I think I found most difficult. It was tough to decide what argument to put where, how much emphasis to put on different subjects and even just figuring out what quotes I wanted to use. I finally decided to go personal, education, and technology as my three main topics that I went into more detail about which related back to my thesis that people have to constantly be prepared for change and changes in the working world.

Writing question 2: My definition of work

Work is something that is hard to define. I work on my homework, I work by doing different tasks at my job, I work on my relationships with friends. Although work can't be defined by one simple action, there is a pattern I realized in all those statements: the work might not be something I want to do, but it is something I have to do in order to achieve certain goals I have set for myself. Whether the work I am doing is something I enjoy or hate, there is an outcome I am seeking to attain from the completion of whatever work I am doing. Work doesn't have to be something you have to force yourself to do, it can be something that you enjoy as much as leisurely activities, but there is something I am hopeful to accomplish by completion of work. Work wouldn't include something I am doing strictly for fun, I can have fun working on something, but watching Netflix isn't work. In my opinion even if I were to get paid to watch Netflix shows I already planned on watching that wouldn't be work. Now, if I were to be paid to watch something I didn't want to watch, maybe then that would be work, but I'm still iffy on that.
My definition of work is reinforces what Ciulla said because you can't simply call one thing working and call it a day, working has many different faces, from the monk meditating to the painter painting. I think I believe that work is something that involves necessity, it is something we have to do in order to accomplish a larger set of goals we have for ourselves. It can be for a job, but it can also just be something that you work on to express yourself or better yourself as a person.

Reflecting on my Rhetorical Analysis

As our first academic paper of the semester, I'm happy with what I've put forth. My confidence level is a little shakier than with the photo essay, but I'm still proud of the work that I have done. As far as sticking to my statement of purpose and design plan, I think I did my best. The design plan was more straight forward being that this was an academic paper with clear directions as to font, layout, and language. The hardest part concerning layout and the pictures was getting the ads to be where I wanted them to be, while having the text not become secondary. Originally I had hoped to make the pictures stretch across the page since 3 out of 4 are landscape, but that just wasn't possible seeing that once everything was typed out and in MLA format. I think that the pictures lose almost a bit of their impact by being on the smaller side, but I think that my analysis brings the parts of the photos that are too small to light. But, I still think I did a good job of writing in an academic way while still being able to reach my target audience. I think I stuck to my purpose as far as the subject matter I was analyzing. Since my focus is the environment and the wildlife that inhabit it, I really do like the ads I chose. I had finalized them after I wrote my statement of purpose and design plan, so I think they are very fitting for what my topic is. I think I tried my best to stress how important ads can be throughout our daily lives. We see them every day, but a lot of them are pretty much about unimportant things and the WWF ads are actually of import. My main goal was to make sure people took the time to consider those ads as much as any other ad that might be internalized by them. As always I think there is room for improvement, but all in all I'm proud of what I have done so far and I think that I have laid a good foundation for myself. If I improve upon I think I already know what I need to do. I think I can do a better job of bringing all four pictures together and following through thoroughly with my purpose. 

Visual Rhetorical analysis

Statement of Purpose and Design Plan for Rhetorical Analysis

Statement of Purpose

Purpose: My motivation for this rhetorical analysis is to continue with the groundwork I laid for myself in the photo essay. I want to stick to an emphasis on the environment which is why I chose to use WWF ads. After reading my paper I hope my audience will have a better understanding of what the ads that WWF is trying to portray and make people think about. Because that is their general purpose: make people think about the important issues concerning our environment. The main situation that makes me want to have this as my subject would just be the state of our planet as it is presently. The best possible outcome of this paper would be people taking more time to consider the impact they have personally and that they can indeed make a difference. Seeing ads like this is not uncommon, they are in magazines, they’re all over the internet on different websites, and there are a plethora of them if you take the time to do a simple Google search. The best thing that could happen with my analysis would be people actually being able to internalize the ads they see so very often. The worse possible outcome would be that people just completely ignore the subject and don’t give it any thought. I have faith that my essay will encourage people to give it thought though and don’t foresee a “worse” outcome. This paper could change the situation because it could make people become more introspective when they see something like a WWF and have a better understanding of what it means and what the purpose of it is.

Audience: As always on a small scale my audience is my peers in class and my professor. But, on a much larger scale I want my audience to be anyone who has had their interest piqued when they saw a WWF ad or an Ad Council ad about the environment. My audience could even be someone who has very little understanding of the environment and wants to learn more and try and comprehend the ads they see about the environment. The age range of the targeted audience would be high school to college and even a little older, the people who can make the most difference in our future society.              

Context: The context, since it is posted on my blog is a little up in the air. Because of the fact that anyone can view at any time of day, or night for that matter. So they context really all depends on when someone comes across my blog and finds it interesting. In the school context it would be reviewed during our class time which is at 2 in the afternoon.

Design Plan

Strategies: Going off of my statement of purpose I will need to make sure that I write in an academic language that still translate to my audience and make it easy for anyone to understand. Keeping the attention of my audience will be key and I think I can achieve that by choosing ads that that age group would find interesting. Formatting and the flow of the essay will be paramount because it’ll keep their attention and keep them focused on the subject at hand.  

Ethos: To effectively employ ethos I will need to show my credibility on the subject. I think that my photo essay was a good start and if I try and keep the same theme going that I’ll be in good standing. Obviously I will need to use more effective academic language and show that I am a credible source.

Pathos: I will have to make sure that I try my best to make the readers care about the subject of an analysis on WWF and Ad Council ads. I think the ads speak for themselves quite a bit so I already have a good foundation laid for where my text needs to take the readers.

Logos: I will have to be logical and have a solid structure as to where my argument goes and have it lead somewhere that the readers can follow. I have to give myself credibility so they can rely on what I’m saying.

Medium: With this being an academic essay, the medium used is pretty clear: Word. It will all be text and include between 4-7 photo ads that I will select with thought and consideration over where exactly I want my paper to take people’s minds.

Arrangement: The arrangement will take some more thought because I still need to set in stone what pictures I will be using for the ads that I am analyzing. The order to which I utilize the pictures is really important because it will determine the flow of the entire paper so that is what I need to focus on most. The actual text of the paper will flow properly if I choose wisely the order of the ads. Arrangement will be key to the effectiveness of my paper and it will also be key in keeping people’s attention and determining where the argument will go.