The focus is on rhetorical decision-making, but in the context of decision-making within the course (as opposed to context that widens to include future disciplines or job settings). An additional focus on student “growth” or “impact on skills learned” is possible.
Final exam assignment
This semester, we structured our class around the “rhetorical situation,” examining the following concepts: rhetor, purpose / exigence / need, audience (intended and actual), contexts and constraints, medium and genre, and rhetorical stance.
As you go back over all the writing you did in this class (and possibly in other classes), reflect on the kinds of decisions you made and on how you made them. Develop a 3-4 page explanation of how writing decisions are made, using the concepts listed above, illustrating this decision-making with your experiences of writing in this class and/or other classes. Your essay should have a thesis, an engaging introduction, an argument that leads to a conclusion, and documentation from the papers you have completed this semester (meaning, you need to quote yourself). Use the standard MLA format for formal papers.