Dawa Sonam 

This writing class for FIQWS was a great help since everything we learned and did during this class helped me become a better writer. Throughout the semester, Professor Von Uhl taught us many rhetorical terms which we were able to integrate in our writing. I was able to notice my growth as a writer through each assignment and especially through the major assignment, which were Summary and Response essay, Exploratory essay, and the Critical Response Analysis essay. Professor Von Uhl helped us understand the Beam Classification Method by Joseph Bizup to classify different types of sources. According to Bizup, BEAM stands for: Background, Exhibit, Argument, and Method. We then looked at many different sources presented by Hulst in “Grammar, Rhetoric, and Style” and had to identify the classification of the source Hulst mentioned. For example, according to Bizup, the “terms background and background source to refer to materials whose claims a writer accepts as fact, whether these “facts” are taken as general information or deployed as evidence to support the writer’s own assertions” (Bizup 75). In the source used by Hulst it states “Nuclear war. The very words conjure images of mushroom clouds, gas masks, and bewildered children ducking and covering under their school desks” (qtd. in Halst 92). This quote proves that this source used by Halst is a background source since it gives general information on the topic of “Nuclear war” which can also be seen as facts. The writer of the source ends the paragraph stating, “ Mankind may have witnessed the horror of the atomic bomb, but thankfully we’ve somehow succeeded in not blowing up the entire planet. At least, not yet” (qtd. in Halst 92). This quote further proves that this source is a background source since the writer uses the event of the “nuclear war” to assert that the use of nuclear bombs will eventually lead to the planet’s destruction. 

Our first major assignment, The Summary and Response essay focused on the theory of “hysterical dissociation” which Freud presented in Lecture II of “FIVE LECTURES ON PSYCHO-ANALYSIS” and connected the lecture with narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman. In this essay we had to write about Freud and Dr. Breur’s perspective on hysteria and how doctors misdiagnosed their patients with hysteria since they were unfamiliar in this field. We then had to support this claim by connecting the claim to the doctors in “The Yellow Wallpaper” which fit the description of the doctors Freud was criticizing in his lecture. Discussing the Freudian concepts in class helped me understand the concepts presented in his lectures. After I turned in my final draft I had to peer review my two of my  peer’s essays and they reviewed mine. Through this constructive feedback, I was able to fix my essay and while reading my peer’s essay I learned about my own weaknesses. Professor Von Uhl later pointed out a major problem in my essay which was the poor analysis and how I needed the correct MLA format. Overall, the peer reviews were very important and helped me grow as a writer the most since I was able to see my mistakes and since I also peer reviewed my peer’s works, I was able to see their mistakes which helped me avoid making those mistakes on my own paper. Along with the peer review, the feedback from Professor Von Uhl and Professor Alyssa was also very helpful.

The second major assignment for this course was the Exploratory essay. This assignment focused more on illustrating and exploring the Fredian concepts such as displacement, repression and resistance to portray the narrator’s psychological state in “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe. During class, Professor Von Uhl discussed how we need to cite our text properly in MLA format. With the help of rhetorical précis template provided by Professor Von Uhl,  we were able to properly structure our paragraphs. Rhetorical précis is a highly structured four-sentence paragraph which incorporates the author’s argument presented in the text. It involves the name of the author, the context or circumstance in which the document is portrayed, the main assertion, the support of the main concept, the specified intent of the text, and the relationship between the author(s) and the audience. 

Our third and final assignment was the Critical Research and Analysis Essay. Through this essay we had to illustrate the author’s criticism of the society and one thing different for this essay was that we had to use two outside sources in our essay. I picked to write about how Murakami criticizes the Japanese society through his short-story while keeping Freudian concepts of id, ego, and the super-ego into consideration. We learned how to look for outside sources to incorporate in our essay in the library session which was very helpful. Looking for the sources to use for my essay was difficult since I had a hard time finding articles in the CCNY Library Database that was relevant to my essay. 

After each essay, we had to write reflection essays. The reflection essay helped me understand and recognize rhetorical tactics within my own essay which I can further use on my future papers. The other assignments we did as a group, the 10 minute free write we did in class, and the discussion board also helped me become a better writer. The discussion board helped me with my thesis as my peers corrected my work and made me a better writer overall.