My Writing Essay Example

My name is E. S., I am a first-year student here at East Carolina University. Never would I have thought I would enjoy an English class as much as I did this year. I have never been very fond of writing papers, but as I have found in this class, if you have the right steps to doing so, things flow fine. In high school, I never took advanced English courses mostly because I was fearful of the writing assignments and having to write more than 600 words. I am immensely proud of how my writing has changed since then. With help from peer reviews and my professors' help, I see myself with an A in the course, which I never thought would be possible for me. Through the three projects we worked on we came to this last final exam project. For all three projects, we finished this within a week or two as well as completing a presentation and reading a phenomenal book by miss Dolly Chugh. I would call it a successful year.  

In my paper “the art of manipulation” I wrote on the struggles I faced with my own emotional health while trying to understand why a father decides to be absent in their child's life. My parents divorced when I was 3 and he was barely around up until I was 16. In my paper I spoke about how while I was young I allowed this stranger of a man to manipulate me into spending time with him every other weekend, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do, not only because I was so unfamiliar with who he was as a person but also because I had my mother telling me awful things about him behind closed doors, making a scared to stay over at his house in the first place. 

When I wrote my paper “The art of manipulation,” I was mostly writing to my parents, in hopes one day I could show them how they shaped me into who I am today. For project one we were asked to write a paper on a label we gave ourselves. I used the opportunity to express how my father's absence put me through. I learned in this class that I can further my audience or push it towards an even smaller group. I also learned that I can completely change the genre of a project. 

In the first revision I wanted to make something that was easily read but still had a strong message, so I made an infographic talking about absent parenting, “the importance of parental relationships.” Starting off strongly I went into the pros of when a parent is active in the relationship, like it allows the child to have better emotional health. Then we looked at how a parent could be available, like being there for important moments and family dinners. After that, I began to go deeper into the absent part of parenting. I know that if my mom had earned some of things when my dad was first around, it would have been so much easier for me growing up, as it was hard for me even without him completely out of my life. In the first section I added how a parent can help a child that will have to deal with an absent parent, helping the child understand this is not their fault, or for the parent to not speak poorly about the parent. After, I added some quick and easy links to websites that go more into depth on all these situations.  

All these things play together to having a healthy relationship with a child, I feel all parents should read up and take into considerations ways they can help a child from an early age going through something like this. As well as a parent should never be ashamed for not knowing much about the subject and asking for help. My main goal for my infographic was to make it easy and appealing for families, and I think it does just that. When something has photos of family, and bright colors it tends to catch the eye of those who would care to help a child in need.  

For my second revision, I decided to revise my project 3 paper. In this paper I went into detail on the 20/60/20 rule and how to deal with someone in something called the stuck 20. First off, the 20/60/20 rule is something I learned from Dolly Chugh. In her book “the person you mean to be” she goes into deal detail on how read people, and if they would be easy to talk to about certain subjects. We live in a very politically divided country, and it can be hard to have conversations with those who are completely close minded and closed off to change. The first 20, stands for 20% of people who are known as the “easy 20”. This group of people are incredibly open to change and it is extremely easy to sway them into anything. The 60, stands for 60% of people who could do anything, there is no way of knowing what they will stand behind, and they tend to follow social norms. Then you have the last 20, or the stuck 20. This group of people are not going anywhere, they believe something and no matter what there is no persuading. We see this a lot in elderly people, they grew up in a time where some things that are acceptable and celebrated now, were not celebrated back then and they do not want to change their mindset.  

I learned from Dolly that there is a framework that we can follow to find out what type of person we are approaching. Who, why, how, when, and where? This framework can help you from getting into a conversation with these people. Who are you talking to and what percentage do they fall into? Why are you talking to them? Is it to help yourself or to positively impact a situation? How are you approaching them, is it even worth your time? When and where is this an appropriate place to confront this person, could it be handled at a better time? All these things furthermore help you to stay away from an unnecessary conversation with stuck 20 people.  

In my first paper, I decided I wanted my target audience to be those who deal with people in the stuck 20. By writing on the subject, it could help others understand that there is nothing you can do to change this person's way of thinking. For my revision, I decided to write more to those who are a part of the stuck 20. I created a slideshow and a script for a voiceover. In the voiceover, I explain what the stuck 20 is, and how someone can identify if they are a part of the last 20%. I also spoke on how it affects yourself and others. I feel when someone is away that they could be hurting someone they care about, this could be leverage for change. BY putting this into my project it might persuade them to do the next part, “New things to try” In this section I shared some things that a stuck 20 person could do to try and get that open mindset. Like, watching a news broadcast that is biased in another way than you. By opening your mind to others, you can learn where they come from and get a sense of understanding. In the end of the slideshow, I just did a quick regroup of the whole presentation. I feel if someone were to listen to the voiceover and genuinely try it, they could learn to be more accepting of the world around us, even if they do not agree with it.  

With both of my revisions done, I can see a similarity between the two, I have used a persuasive method and the art of pathos to grab the attention of parents, or those who judge too harshly. In this class I have learned to further grasp emotions. I have seen a huge improvement in my writing throughout this semester, and I am glad to end it off this this letter.