Rhetorical Situations

           Before I even started writing my essay, I made sure that I read McCall's article, "TV's Negative Influence on Children," repeatedly, so that I could get a good concept on what he was discussing. When I wrote my Diagnostic Essay on this article, I immediately noticed it was an argumentative essay. With any argumentative essay, I knew I had to pick a side whether I agreed or disagreed, but without being too opinionated. One of the rhetorical situations in the assignment was to write an essay that identifies with the audience, and to have them comprehend each other's perspectives, rather than just trying to use persuasion. McCall had a lot of research and proven facts included in his essay as well, which made it more difficult for me to argue against him. I think the most difficult part of writing this Diagnostic Essay for me was trying not to summarize McCall's article too much, and to instead include more of my own opinion's and whether or not I agreed or disagreed with his statements. The rhetorical elements definately made me realize a lot more about writing, and how they will make me become a better writer in the future.
           While I was writing my essay, I knew that Ms. Jarmer was not only going to be my audience, but she was also going to be the one determining if my essay met the standards for me to continue on into Rhetoric 101. I took a lot of time
that night to see if I had met all the criteria in my essay. After receiving my recommedation results, I was suprised on how well I ended up doing, even though I believe that I could of done better. If I could rewrite my essay, the only thing's I would change would be my thesis statement, and how I could communicate to the audience from not only my perspective, but from another individual as well. I feel that my thesis statement was not necessarily strong enough to grab the reader's attention, and needed more interpretation as to whether or not I agreed or disagreed with McCall's essay. Trying to communicate to a reader from someone else's perspective is another rhetorical situation that I should of expressed in my Diagnostic Essay. Other than those little changes, I think my prompt was well written, organized, and grammatically correct. I understood McCall's perspective on the issue, and properly agreed with most of his statements in my essay.


Emily Shouse
(412 words)