First blog

It's pretty much a given that everyone speaking the English language has written a persuasive essay at least once in his or her life. Of course it was on the topic of changing school policies, permission to use cellphones on campus, or the typical school uniform battle. Every single time I had to write one of these essays, I struggled because the art of persuasion wasn't exactly my forte. Analyzing and reading examples of other essays were crucial - I had to pay attention to what the purpose of the essay was, who I was writing to, whether or not I should write it formally, and a lot of other key points in writing the perfect essay. Evaluating other essays and analyzing rhetorical moves of the author helped me realize what I should be paying attention to a lot more when I write. Writing persuasive essays isn't as difficult for me as it was when I was in 6th grade, but keeping up with all the strategies is something that I still have to keep in the back of my mind. I've always analyzed rhetorial moves of authors or speakers and even actors/actresses but it's not the number one item on my list of priorities every second of every day. It's just really helpful for me to keep all the rhetorical strategies in my mind especially when I'm reading papers and articles, mainly because it helps me write.