Visual Rhetorical Analysis
I selected my visual based on what appealed to me the most. I care about the environment and saving water is important to the environment. On top of that, the visual itself was thought-provoking and made you look at it twice. I am happy with my decision because I believed that the visual was effective, which made my essay easier to write. I decided what persuasive strategies to focus on by thinking of what caught my eye and attention. I am happy with my decision.
I organized my thoughts by looking at which order my transitions between paragraphs would best work, and formed my thesis in that order. I did not brainstorm before writing the assignment. The feedback I got from my peer review was thorough and specific. It was very helpful. I would suggest simply sending a copy of our draft to our assigned partner instead of spending time on it in class. I found the TRA more challenging because it required complete understanding of several pages of academic writing, while the VRA was just looking at an advertisement, which is much easier to understand because it is meant for the general public and is created to interest us.
If the essay is not extremely long, I usually do not create an outline and let my ideas come as I type. This is what I did for this essay. It helps me make my work flow together more easily if I create as I’m writing, instead of planning it all out. I have learned that I can work more creatively in this way, and will likely continue to use this method.
Visual Rhetorical Analysis Presentation
I wanted to point out what stood out to me at first glance, so I focused on those ideas first, and built my argument around that. I left out extra information that would bore the class and made sure the visual was on the screen when talking about it. Having the visual on the screen at all times made it easy for the audience to see what I was talking about as I was talking about it.
Based on my peer feedback, I interacted with the audience well and my examples were good. For instance, my example regarding the layout of the visual demonstrated the point I was trying to make effectively. I also did a good job focusing on the main point. I developed these strengths by trying to make sure that I was persuasive and actually convinced the class that the four elements I discussed were the most important parts of a visual.
Something I could have done better was speak with more confidence and maybe have an activity for the class to do. I got a little nervous at points and could have spoken louder and with more authority. Next time, my goals will be to keep up my confidence throughout the presentation and to be fully prepared.
Something I would do differently is practice for the presentation a few times instead of actually speaking what I prepared for the first time when I am actually giving the presentation. I would also start working on the presentation far ahead of time.