Traditional Writing Samples

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This extensive rhetorical analysis was written during the Spring of 2019. It is a traditional writing sample in terms of formatting and readability, but is on a much grander scale.

By writting a rhetorical analysis of a controversial topic, I was able to assess major players roles in a matter and remove my opinion. My findings were based on a combination of hours of research, observation, and rhetoric skills learned throughout that semester.

This research paper was written during the Spring of 2019. This assignment required me to choose one aspect of of Charlote Brontë's Jane Eyre to research and write extensively about.

By completing this writing assignment, I not only honed my research abilities, but also have a better understanding of my own levels of critical thinking. I specifically chose to focus on the last few pages of the novel because the happy ending seemed so jarring to me. Asking big questions like, "Why do people like happy endings after a tragic story?," helped answer questions about this novel and many others.

This paper was written during the Spring of 2019. This is a short, traditional writing sample that expresses my knowledge of rhetoric. It also shows my ability to reflect and find connections to my own life.

Having an understanding of rhetoric and how to utilize it properly is a very powerful tool. It can be applied to articles, instructions, social media, and any documentation that can persuade an audience, which is a great skill to have in the work place.

This anaphora was written during the Spring of 2020. An anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. By using this format, a writer can add emphasis to a certain aspect of their pieces.

In addition to creating an anaphora, the goal of this piece was also to focus on imagery. Constructing images that channeled all five senses to draw the reader into my piece and feel like a small town, Pennsylvania, high school student navigating life was what I was aiming for.

This flash fiction piece was written during the Spring of 2020. Flash fiction is a genre of prose that has a maximum word count of 1,500 and encompasses things such as quick paced character development and major plot twists. Each sentence is crucial to revealing something about the story and progressing it forward because it is so short.

Another major focus when writing this piece was creating tension. Throughout my Creating Writing course, we learned that the formula for tension is desire + danger = tension. The goal was to implement it in a way that kept the reader interested and didn't come across as cheesy.

This list was written during the Spring of 2020. This is writing chunks of text, usually prose, in a specific order to create a specific effect. In theory, a list seems easy, but it can't be mindless like a grocery list. It requires immense planning to ensure that each segment has purpose, is in the proper place, and is adding value to the pie as a whole.

In addition to creating a successful and cohesive list, my goal was to provide my readers with insight about human nature through my piece. This is not really an aspect of writing you can add or more less of, but rather can add or not add. It comes from digging deeper and looking closely at certain topics to reveal their true nature. To ensure that I included insight, I decided to write a more personal piece based on my experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was a nontraditional essay assignment completed during the Spring of 2019. The goal of essay was to reveal what rhetorical appeals I rely on in my daily life and as a writer.

This was by far the most interesting paper I have ever done, simply because it was done on Google Maps. Navigating an unfamiliar software, combining elements like pictures and pins, and overcoming obstacles like putting together an essay that wasn't going to be read in a specific order was an eye opening experience as a writer. It showed me that there is a plethora of mediums in which you can connect with an audience and grab their attention. Not everything needs to be done conventionally on paper.

My blog has been active over the course of two classes, one in the spring of 2019 and one in the fall of 2019. Every three weeks I was required to make a blog post, a minimum of 650 words, that was somehow related to class. Writing on this platform allowed me to gain experience writing and communicating with a public audience.

Through this experience I've learned that blogging is a great way to connect with an audience. It allows you as an author to write with a specific voice, but then have the benefit of the comments to interact with the audience to further conversations.

These these articles were written during the Spring of 2020. This was a collaborative project where we were given the over arching topic of personal security on the Internet. From there each group member came up with two specific topics that fell under that umbrella. They would research and write an article for each topic and post the articles on a shared blog based on a predetermined schedule.

The topics I focused on were the Dark Web and the Dangers of Catfishing. Completing this assignment helped me understand how to work together with others with the end goal in mind. We wanted to teach our viewers and readers about Internet and had to do that despite writing all of our pieces on our own topics and in our own formats.