Dear future English 110 students,

Completing classes online is something I, as well as most students, am used to by now, however, with this being my first semester of college I can confidently say that it has challenged me in ways I did not expect. Between the late nights doing assignments and the early morning classes, I am proud of making it this far with such a big change in my learning.

Overall, my experience with English 110 has been pleasant and I have enjoyed the time spent with my professor and peers, as well as the many lessons taught to me over the course of this semester. I have gained a new understanding of rhetorical elements, stuff I had been learning since freshman year of high school but with this course have only now felt confident in my understanding and knowledge of, as well as proper writing and reading needed to help me succeed in both my college career and outside career.

Now onto the specifics, one of the main things focused on in this course is rhetorical elements, and as I mentioned before, you will certainly leave with a completely different mindset (In a positive way!!). A lot is focused on the elements, which are genre, purpose, audience, media, design, stance, and exigence. Now, without giving too much away I’d like to note that during the very first week, my entire perspective of these elements was changed. The assignments given caused me to have to dive a little deeper than I normally would, and think about things like If I’m writing this to this specific audience, how would my overall language change? How would I change the way I am presenting my argument? Truth is, I believe each rhetorical element is connected in some way, for example, if you’re changing the audience, the purpose will likely have to change as well.

Through all of this, my writing process has definitely changed. I like to think that I am now hyper-aware of every single thing that goes into my pieces, I cannot simply say “I’m writing to __” anymore and go on with it, now I have to take the time and truly think through WHY and what I am trying to get across, as I said it really all goes back to rhetorical elements and the stress put onto how important they are when writing.

If you made it this far reading, first thank you! Secondly, I wish you guys luck and am sending positive vibes to you, Future English 110 students!

Sincerely,

Marisa Montalvo