First, I’d like to say that I really enjoyed taking Rhetoric this semester. When I signed up for this class, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into, since rhetoric is such a broad subject. We hear the word ‘rhetoric’ a lot, but I don’t think that many people know exactly what it is, or how to identify it. That being said, I learned a lot about rhetoric (and how to utilize it) this semester. 

When we switched to the online format in the middle of the semester, I did not really know what to expect. Since our class was largely discussion based, I figured that a lot of that discussion would be eliminated, thus making the class as a whole less enriching. However, I have found that our zoom meetings have been incredibly productive and filled with a lot of great discussion! Despite not being able to see each other in person, I thought that we all worked together pretty well.

I signed up to take Rhetoric because I wanted to improve my writing skills. This class was my first experience with writing fellows (and as an English major, it certainly won’t be my last). The writing fellows were super helpful and gave me some very important advice on how better outline and organize my papers. Now, I have a lot of valuable information to use going forward. 

Another significant aspect to rhetoric is speaking, which we did a lot of in this class. Specifically, I think that the LDA project was a great assignment because it wasn’t about giving a pre-memorized speech in front of the class, it was about leading a class discussion. This project not only helped me build my speaking skills, it also taught me how to collaborate with a large group. 

Overall, this class taught me how significant rhetoric is to our lives. Now anytime I view or read literally anything, I automatically recognize and analyze the rhetoric of it. I think that the most important lesson I’ve learned in this class is how to utilize rhetoric to persuade an audience. That skill will certainly help me in law school, and in my future career.