Cover Letter
Going over my work in this piece I am able to identify my strengths and weaknesses that continue to dawn on me ever since my middle school days. For most of my research papers I tend to rely heavily on quotes directly from the article and not explain or describe the importance of this outside information to the audience but rather let the quotations carry my writing piece and not be forced to use my own thoughts and opinions on the writing since it’s not an argumentative paper but rather a research paper that in my opinion requires informations from credible and reliable information that has been proven and researched by professionals in the field I choose to touch on in the paper. I was able to link up the articles I chose and connect them back to my thesis decently but I need to add more solid research that can actually prove some of my idealistic thinking that I can’t personally prove without years of study and research that I cannot do.
Santiago Garcia
ENG 11000
Prof Matias
Research Essay Paper
What is the cause to people being so different from each other, their experience in life, their family/friends, their culture, the situation they were brought into upon birth, or something as simple and trivial as their view/mindset on reality. The reality is that the beautiful and perfect world we all desire and hope for is a simple cover up to the cruel reality this world has to offer to us. After reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” it starts to dawn on me that the experience’s she shares with the audience are ordinary things that happen on a daily basis to those kids faced with discrimination and racism for simply being born of a different race/ethnicity. The question I will be touching upon in this essay is what are the effects of exposure to racism and discrimination has on the mind/life of a child.
In her online article “The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health” (2019), a graduate of Yale University, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health, she completed her Pediatric Residency Training at Children’s National Medical Center and Adolescent Medicine Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Maria Trent, asserts that the continued negative impact of racism on health and well-being through implicit and explicit biases, institutional structures, and interpersonal relationships is clear by addressing racism, the impact on adolescent live’s, and how acknowledging this issue will improve their lives. By supplying the reader with information about how racism is a social detriment of health and how pediatrics is supposed to identify, manage, mitigate, or prevent risks and harms, Trent builds her claims about the negative effects that racism has on a child’s mind/health. Maria Trent wishes to convey to the readers the importance of the role of racism in child and adolescent development and health outcomes in order to bring awareness on the health issues racism has on this country’s adolescents. The author’s audience likely consists of those interested in the field of pediatrics and racism as is evident through her references to racism and pediatric studies; she addresses readers with a tone that is professional and sincere. Throughout reading this article researching this topic I have gone into deep thoughts many times trying to implement these teachings to my own adolescence and see if these studies can be attributed to my own personal life. They seem to be right on the spot, as many of the findings that are brought up in this article are relatable to my own experiences with racism at a young age here in the states as a child of immigrant parents who had to suffer these discriminations and acts of disgrace simply for being slightly different.
These discriminations were not only impacting my mental and emotional health but also the way my education was taken into consideration by the people of this country. A policy director and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California her areas of expertise are K–12 education and immigration, Laura Hill, in her expository text, “English Proficiency of Immigrants”, published in march 2011on PPIC organization website, addresses the topic english proficiency in immigrants, and argues that immigrants of second generation or further have a high proficiency for the english language. She supports this claim by stating statistical facts about latino americans in california, then gives more statistic on the percentage of amount of immigrants who can actually speak english past 2000, and finally gives us the stats of the amount of immigrant children with college degrees have a strong hold on the english language. Hill’s purpose is to prove immigrants’ proficiency for the english language, in order to disprove the outdated stereotype that immigrants can’t speak english at all. These types of stereotypes are the things that can keep immigrant children from proceeding to a higher education and staying comfortable at the lower ends of society. These type of stereotypes are well and truly alive since many immigrant parents put mountains of pressure on their children to become better than them and prove these stereotypes wrong but in the end make their children crumble under pressure of not only their personal hopes and dreams but the hopes and dreams on all other immigrants to set an example to show to others that it can be done. She adopts a professional tone for her audience, the readers of The Public Policy Institute of California, and others interested in the topic of immigrants’ proficiency for english. These stereotypes not only cause discrimination and hate between races it incites unhealthy ideas about society and life onto the minds of youths coming from an immigrant household.
In the textbook, Reaching Teens June 29, 2020, author Kenneth R. Ginsburg, Dr. Ken Ginsburg practices Adolescent Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, asserts that the experience of racism and discrimination is quite severe on the growing minds of teens,and suggests the pervasive negative effects of racism on youth development, as well as on their health and well-being, and the toll it exacts on families and communities who have been racially marginalized. He backs up this claim up by doing the following: first he share anecdotes of the personal stories/experiences that was shared with him while interviewing teens for this book; next he shows us the stats that he has on the impact children have when experiencing racism and discrimination first hand on a psychological and emotional level; and finally he shares his own personal experiences with racism and how that has impacted in life/childhood when compared to those who didn’t face discrimination. Ginsburg appears to write in hopes of putting attention on this serious issue, in order to spread his new found information on how to deal with thies, the effects of racism on a child, and to garner attention for this issue to be taken more seriously. Because of the author’s emotional tone, it seems he writes for an emotional and growing audience.
All things considered the effects that racism or social discrimination has on a child will vary from case to case with the literal impacts on the child’s life being more erratic and irregular to similar situations. One may grow up with resentment and hate towards a specific group of people for racism, while others may/probably will grow up with several different mental health issues that stem from racism and discrimination while being looked down upon due to their race and facing systestemical racism. Racism is an ugly side of society that should be long dead but in reality is alive and thriving being passed down through the generations continuing this never ending cycle of hate and violence for simply being different.
Santiago Garcia
ENG 11000
Prof Matias
May 4, 2021
Looking Back
After going over all the three cover letters that were assigned to me, I was able to see the growth I’ve taken in writing and understanding the difficult topics surrounding writing a little bit better compared to now and the first day of class. All of the three cover letters are me identifying what I was able to accomplish in that specific writing piece and if I was able to complete the tasks that I was supposed to accomplish throughout the paper.
The very first cover letter was on the WLLN piece where I talked about anime and how it changed my perspective on writing/literature and the world as a whole. I was able to go on a little rant about what is to be expected out of a specific type of writing piece and what type of devices, tone, attitude, and language used to be able to make your paper that much better compared to other pieces. This cover letter was able to let me further understand what I should be trying to get out of this class and the basic understanding of what I should be doing in each of my papers in this class and for all my other future college essays. This paper I specifically stated that “ It was very important to include the different cultures and languages that have impacted my view on the world/life and my personal literature that I end up using in writing, conversation with friends, family, and in certain situations. It may come out of me when surrounded by a certain group of people, or being put in a certain situation my tone, attitude, mannerism, and language may switch up. There also needs to be a good understanding of the different genres of writing that I will/have encountered and the rhetorical devices that are often found alongside the different types of writing. Personal narratives that are meant to tell a story or message may have imagery, flashbacks, or dialogue. This type of genre won’t have the same rhetorical devices that an article might have, or an argument, or a speech. Every genre requires the use of different rhetorical devices depending on the topic they are discussing in that writing piece.” This one part of my first cover letter sets up my basic understanding of the first three Course Learning Objectives within the first phase we went through throughout the semester.
In my second cover on Rhetorical Analysis I was able to go into depth on my understanding and the way I personally use rhetorical devices that are commonly used in various writing pieces. I was mainly focusing on accomplishing CLO #4 in this writing piece as it revolves around the identification and breakdown of the use of rhetorical devices in our chosen article and explaining why the author used that specific rhetorical device at that time of the paper. The article I chose to write about “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, touched upon the social aspects of racism that children of immigrant households go through and the question of what determines good to broken english in our society. This I can see as completing CLO #5 since it talks about the social aspects of writing processes that the author goes through when writing about a personal subject that has a lot of personal feelings and opinions on the matter when the author cannot be fully biased with the information they use in their writing piece. # 6 CLO is mainly touched upon in our class as we have not really used that concept much in class or in any of our assignments. Rather we should already know what the advantages and disadvantages that print and technologies have on the range of the audience you can reach out to or target.
Finally for my third cover letter on my research paper I discussed what I was able to improve on for my research paper compared to previous papers I’ve written in the past. I was finally able to stay on topic and not add much of my personal opinions/feelings in my paper but rather stay neutral in my paper and only use research from reliable and and credible sources for my paper that have research and the backing of experts in their respective field to support this data rather than the thoughts of someone not as qualified to voice an opinion in the research topic I looked into for this paper. I was able to complete CLO# 7 since finding and citing credible sources was vital for any research paper. For CLO #8 I was able to incorporate all of these aspects as I didn’t allow direct citations from the article themselves to carry my piece but rather went off of the information provided by these sources to relay my stance and connect ideas together that supported my answer to the question I was tackling. For CLO# 9 I have practiced practical use of citations for all of my papers since plagiarism is a strict no-no in any college class and would immediately put me in serious danger of failing if I used citation wrong for any writing I submit under my name.
Cover Letter
Throughout this phase of this class I was able to learn a lot of what is expected of me and my work now in college and for future writing pieces. All of the concepts and terms were similar to things I already learned throughout high school and now understand how to better incorporate these specific aspects of writing into my own writing for the next assignments. I learned that I need to be conscious of what is being asked of me to write what and what exactly I should be writing rather than going on a rant about an unrelated topic that doesn’t tie into what we are discussing. I need to work on a few things that can have a major impact on my writing and grasp on all forms of literature such as rhetorical devices, exigence, and genre. These are the things I know I need to improve on in order to leave this semester with new tools at my disposal to improve my writing. It was very important to include the different cultures and languages that have impacted my view on the world/life and my personal literature that I end up using in writing, conversation with friends, family, and in certain situations. It may come out of me when surrounded by a certain group of people, or being put in a certain situation my tone, attitude, mannerism, and language may switch up. There also needs to be a good understanding of the different genres of writing that I will/have encountered and the rhetorical devices that are often found alongside the different types of writing. Personal narratives that are meant to tell a story or message may have imagery, flashbacks, or dialogue. This type of genre won’t have the same rhetorical devices that an article might have, or an argument, or a speech. Every genre requires the use of different rhetorical devices depending on the topic they are discussing in that writing piece. The only strategy I have for editing, drafting, or callobarting is to use my classmates or friends who are better at writing than me for constructive criticism. I already took a similar class like this one back in High school so I should be able to incorporate these rhetorical devices we practice in class into my next writing piece. I already have two peer reviews and was able to get good criticism and give out good advice. I understand that print articles will only reach those who are given those printed handouts at a specific time and specific area but technology allows you to get a wide ranged audience from everywhere around the world all with different opinions on your topic. Reliable research sources would be the cuny library and google scholar that gives good articles from scholars or reliable research organizations.
Santiago Garcia
ENG 11000
Prof. Matias
Turning Point
The important moment that I decided to talk about was the first time I watched anime. This had a major impact on my understanding on literature as a whole including different languages besides english. Me watching this one anime made me better understand the world as a whole and see/experience life from different perspectives of people who had completely different upbringings, morales, culture, and beliefs from myself. These characters I relate to and even idolize may be fictional but their impact on my life, dreams, and aspirations are far too great to be ignored/shrugged off.
I can remember the exact day as if it were yesterday, I was in 5th grade coming back from school wondering what I should watch today. I just kept clicking through the channels for hours it seemed when I came across a weird looking show that caught my attention. I decided to give it a try since it was on a cartoon network and one of my favorite shows was coming on soon after, so I sat and watched this show about ninjas using chakra to create powerful jutsu’s to attack and defend themselves. I was completely lost about the story line since it wasn’t the first episode and I was trying to do homework at the same time. I just remember very vividly of a certain moment in the show where one of the older ninja sensei protected the protagonist Naruto from an enemy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufi-EJE4kkw this one scene gave me goosebumps and made me addicted to the show. Instead of watching my regular cartoons I decided to look for the rest of the show which was Naruto, an anime which is a japanese cartoon. It is one of the most popular anime in history and is considered by all a classic and a masterpiece that touches on so much and can make everyone addicted. I ended up watching the whole show and the next part of the show when the main character Naruto is grown up in Naruto Shippuden. For Shippuden I decided to watch it with english subtitles and the audio as Japanese since in my opinion it is the best way to watch anime for english speakers. This addiction made me start to tae literature seriously in order to better understand the anime and the author’s writing which for some animes can be very complex and hard to keep up with when you don’t speak or understand Japanese.
I to this day continue to watch anime and still consider my first anime naruto as my favorite. I never really cared for the fact that this was a japanese cartoon and it’s seen as childish to watch it at an old age and to even idolize some characters, but I don’t care. I didn’t care that my classmates saw me as weird, my parents saw it as an unhealthy obsession, or that my cousins and other family members thought that I should be using my time to work or play sports like my other cousins. I didn’t care for whatever they may say or think about me since none of them made me happy or forget about reality like my anime does. I remember very clearly all my cousins calling me “chinito” because I started to say japanese phrases around them and they saw all asian’s as chinese. That made me realize that my hobby needs to be kept secret from my racist family and friends who don’t understand why I watch anime. As I grew in age I started to care less and less about what they said and started to watch it more openly and start to get more involved with the anime/weeb community that allowed me to understand the anime and the characters better. Now that I’m older I start to better understand the character’s of the show, mainly the villains in the anime such as the main antagonist for most of the anime Madara Uchiha. The first time I started to understand and sympathize with this man was his infamous speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-KXciUzJXM . This speech made me think about life and question my past thoughts about every anime villain I know. As I go through my memories I start to realize that most villains are simply seen as villains for the fact that they are misunderstood, broken, and desperate for reasons that are unknown up until their last moments on the show. I can go on and on about the different speeches and quotes that this show has to offer that can honestly be used as inspiration to get out of bed and to continue going forward. That doesn’t even include all the other hundreds of anime that are must watch.
Speeches that I recommend, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p83e1SebY4 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMgGOo0QA2Q , etc.
Cover Page
After going over my rhetorical analysis paper I have come to realize that I have come far in the overall understanding and uses that rhetorical devices have in writing and more importantly my writing. I am able to identify and understand when a writer uses a specific rhetorical device at a specific part of their story or paper. Back at the beginning of the semester I had little to bare understanding and grasp of rhetorical devices and didn’t see their importance until this paper. I should probably be more specific in the future about what exact rhetorical devices were being used according to their category Ethos, Pathos, and Logos but atleast I am better now then when I was for the entirety of my school years since middle school. I still need to get better at using them in my own writing pieces rather than just being able to distinguish them and identify them when being used in other readings. I need to get into the habit of using rhetorical devices to better my own writing for the future writing pieces I am bound to write in my future college years. I was able to identify and describe the rhetorical devices being used in the texts I chose for this paper and explain their importance to the audience rather than simply summarize the article that most of the readers (professor and classmates) have already read but rather elaborate and describe the message being sent through the use of these rhetorical devices.
Santiago Garcia
Prof. Matias
ENG 11000
March 16, 2021
Rhetorical Analysis
Not all people whose English as a second language speak it in the same way. This argument was made by Amy Tan throughout the story “Mother Tongue”. In the essay, she successfully expresses all three of rhetorical styles such as logos, ethos, and pathos. Tan also balances each part of the rhetorical triangle with a very effective and thoughtful essay.
First, the author uses logos and reasoning in her essay. An example is when she explains how her mom would have her call to ask for information, and people in banks, restaurants, and department stores would not take her mother seriously. The essay might well be aimed at people who got to take care of their parents as if they are exchanging roles with parents. At a young age, Amy Tan had to handle situations. She was the middle person between her mom and other people who had no idea what her mom said. Because Tan’s mother expressed words in an imperfect way, Amy Tan stated that her thoughts were also imperfect either. As a person who lives in dual language, Tan argued that a person’s limitation on language does not reflect their perspective on society or events of the world.
Secondly, the author uses ethos to present the idea that social expectations should not negatively influence one’s perception. She thinks the standardized tests are not able to accurately determine a person’s intelligence. It is unfair because there are many different types of intelligence people and people have different ways of thinking. As Tan was growing up, her speech and what she was taught from her family affected her life. In the story, she describes the relationship between her and mother, who speaks “broken” English. Furthermore, the family environment affected her results at school. Many other Asians in the U.S are also having suffered the similar problem, and have teachers ‘who are steering them away from writing and into math and science’. Overall, Amy Tan wants to say that just because someone cannot speak English perfectly, it does not mean in anyways else would make them less intelligent than other people who are born in this country, who understand and speak English fluently. It is like a quote ‘We are like a snowflake, all different in our own beautiful way.’ We all have similarities but our differences help define us. However, the author’s mother was judged by her language. She also saw her mother was disrespected because of her incorrect grammar and wrong use of words. Through the ‘Mother Tongue’, the author wants to send a powerful message of how we ought to view people by their beautiful side and not by their shortcomings. There is a quote “We are like a snowflake, all different in our own beautiful way. Everyone has a message to say, it may be different from yours, and it might be grammatically incorrect but it does not make the message wrong.
Finally, Tan uses pathos to appeal to readers’ emotions. An example is when she notifies readers about her mother’s tumor. The hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CT scan. They also did not seem to have any sympathy when she was anxious to know the exact diagnosis. Because of the neglect and little care the hospital had for Tan’s mom, and if she hadn’t had anyone to call and speak for her, the sickness would potentially progress and no one would know about it.
In conclusion, through the different rhetorical strategies, Amy Tan successfully explains the language barrier in the U.S has limited success and prosperity levels for non-English speakers. Proper communication skills are vital for thoughts, emotions, and ideas otherwise one might be perceived wrongfully. Another example of her using pathos is how she uses anecdotes with descriptive language about her and her mother’s experiences with discrimination. She proves her point to the literary experts by establishing credibility (ethos), invoking emotional appeals (pathos), and stating logical facts (logos).
Santiago Garcia
ENG 11000
Prof. Matias
March 18, 2021
Rhetorical Analysis
In Learning to Read, Malcolm X effectively conveys his points and opinions on education with the use of logos, pathos, and ethos. These three rhetorical strategies that Malcolm X employs allow him to successfully present his argument and persuade his readers to support his case. The point that Malcolm X is trying to present to his readers is that although formal education is great, you do not need formal schooling to sound smart and educated. He believes that the only thing teenagers have to do to educate themselves is read more. He notes that rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking, reading, and writing, is the absolute most necessary thing to advance your role in society and status in life. In order to learn how to read and write, Malcolm X asked the prison library for a dictionary, pencil, and paper. He then began copying down every single line of the dictionary and on the second day of owning the dictionary, he realized that he had retained some of the information that he had copied down. Realizing this, Malcolm did the same thing every single day until he had copied the entire dictionary. Malcolm tells us that before receiving the dictionary, he could read books, but would have no clue what ninety- five percent of the words even meant. Recalling the first time he copied down words, Malcolm X said, “I woke up the next morning, thinking about those words-immensely proud to realize that not only had I written so much at one time, but I’d written words that I never knew were in the world. Moreover, with a little effort, I also could remember what many of these words meant” (Malcolm 355). Malcolm uses the logos of his argument to explain his improvement to his readers by saying, “I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying” (Malcolm 355). Malcolm X uses the pathos of his argument to reflect on how reading benefited his life by saying, “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life. As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive” (Malcolm 360). By saying that, Malcolm X created an emotional connection with his audience. At the beginning of the section, he was an eighth grade dropout, was involved in organized crime, and sentenced to eight to ten years in prison at the age of twenty, and has now completely changed his life around with the help of motivation, dedication, and the desire to learn and better himself. Malcolm X establishes credibility for his argument by mentioning a time when an English journalist called him in London and asked him a few questions on his personal experiences. The journalist asked Malcolm X what his alma mater was and Malcolm X responded by saying, “Books, a good library” (Malcolm 360). For those who do not know, by asking Malcolm X what his alma mater was, the journalist was asking which school or college did he graduate from. The significance of the interview was that an English journalist had heard Malcolm X speak and wanted to know what college he had attended because of how well he spoke. But in reality, Malcolm X did not attend college; his education and rhetoric skills were acquired through his “prison studies,” as he would say.
In Learning to Read, Malcolm X has a second argument. He argues that the white man is the world’s biggest hypocrite, Christians in particular. Malcolm X argues that Christians do not act like how they are supposed to act. He states, “I read, I saw, how the white man never has gone among the non-white peoples bearing the Cross in the true manner and spirit of Christ’s teachings- meek, humble, and Christ-like,” but instead wages war and commits acts of violence in greed(Malcolm 358). Malcolm X uses emotional appeal by saying, “Four hundred years of black blood and sweat invested here in America, and the white man still has the black man begging for what every immigrant fresh off the ship can take for granted the minute he walks down the gangplank” (Malcolm 360). Malcolm X establishes his credibility by stating key points of multiple different books and by doing so, offers his audience the chance to go read them themselves. For example, he states, “I read H. G. Wells’ Outline of History: Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois gave me a glimpse into the black people’s history before they came into this country” (Malcolm 357). Once Malcolm could read, he started reading all the time and was essentially obsessed with reading. Eventually, Malcolm X began extremely interested into the history of Africans, slavery, oppression, civil rights, etc. Malcolm X said, “I never will forget how shocked I was when I began reading about slavery’s total horror. It made such an impact upon me that it later became one of my favorite subjects when I became a minister of Mr. Muhammad’s [in the Nation of Islam]” (Malcolm 357).
In Learning to Read, Malcolm X persuades his audience to support his ideas and beliefs through the use of rhetorical strategies. He effectively presents his two main arguments through logic, emotional appeal, and establishing credentials. Malcolm X argued that the studying that he did in prison was more beneficial than any college degree that he could have gotten if he had stayed in school. Malcolm X’s two arguments both join the educational, social, cultural, legal, and economic conversations. The subject of civil rights angered Malcolm X so much that he founded an organization for African American civil rights. He used the rhetoric skills that he learned in his “prison studies” to become one of the most renowned civil rights activists in the history of the world. Malcolm X used his autobiography and its rhetorical style as an opportunity to express his thoughts and beliefs concerning education and civil rights to the world at the time when social unrest over the civil rights movement was at its peak.
