When I heard we were being assigned a rhetorical analysis paper for our first essay, I took a sigh of relief, partly, because I had previously written a rhetorical analysis paper and believed to have a good understanding of the rhetorical triangle. This sigh of relief quickly vanished when I found that there was not only one approach to analyze sources, but two. Through this assignment, although I didn’t choose this analysis method, I was introduced to the Toulmin Analysis. In the early stages of drafting this paper, I experimented with the Toulmin analysis model, but realized I could create a stronger analysis using the rhetorical triangle. Prior to completing this assignment I hadn’t heard of the Toulmin analysis, but it is a tool that could be of use in future writing assignments.
Throughout my paper, Professor Mary recognized my ability to construct a good analysis, but I was missing the most important thing. Ironically, when analyzing my sources, I rarely tied my arguments back to the rhetorical triangle. Being that this assignment was a rhetorical analysis, I can see how this impacted not only my grade, but the overall analysis of my sources. With that being said, that was the focus of my revision process. I read through my paper and included the terms of the rhetorical triangle in each of my analysis to strengthen my argument. In doing so, I realized that it is better to explicitly address the rhetorical elements, than to “beat around the bush”. This can strengthen your argument, but also contribute to conciseness.
There were also minor grammatical errors and citation mistakes that I fixed by simply proofreading. I also decided to slightly change the title of my paper from, “Who’s Responsible for America’s Tension?” to “Who’s Responsible or America’s Tension ? A Battle between Fake and Real News”, in order to give insight to the reader that this is an analysis of news sources. In this revision process, I also added a source and paragraph that explained the importance in not only paying attention to the information we receive, but also where we receive it from. I thought that this article, pertaining to a study conducted by Stanford University, explained a new perspective on fake news and its influence on Americans.