Mymona Tasnim

The City College of New York

Brenna Crowe

FIQWS 10111

Sep 28, 2022

Cover letter for Phase 1

When I started the course, I had mixed feelings about it. I was not sure whether I will be able to learn anything new from this subject. I already took an AP Language course in my high school. That’s the reason why I felt that I already knew everything about this subject but I was wrong. I got an amazing professor who is really versatile. After reaching the end of phase one, I finally feel that I made the right decision to take this course as my English and the ability to  think creatively has improved a lot. 

Before, I never used to think about the audience of my writings. I just used to write whatever came to my mind. Now, I think from my audience’s perspective too before writing something. I think about how my audiences are going to feel after reading my writings. For most of my discussions and essays from phase one, I considered my professor and my peers as my audience. Even though I knew what rhetorical choices are, I never really felt that is important to keep in mind while I write any essay. Now I always think about what rhetorical choices I am making to express my ideas in an essay effectively. I always try to add the logos, ethos and pathos while writing anything. I always think about the genre and tone of my writing. Before starting my writing, I always think about the purpose of my writing because that’s how I structure my essay. I always used to struggle with the introduction and conclusion of my writings but now I think understanding the rhetorical choices has helped me figure it out. I never knew what exigence meant before I started phase one but now learning this word has certainly helped me to be a better writer. 

Language and literacy are the two sides of the same coin. I never knew their correlation before I started the course. Now, I know why language is so important to be literate. I even did a little research about how language and literacy are connected to each other. That little research has certainly helped me to improve my writing. 

The assignments of phase one have helped me to achieve some of the learning outcomes of this course. One of the outcomes is, “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” I think that after completing phase one of the course, I can now analyze the texts much better. I can think more creatively about all the choices the author made in order to achieve his purpose. I have also achieved another outcome which is, “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” Before, it was really difficult for me to recognize all the rhetorical choices but now I can do it quite easily. Also, I used to find writing essays really annoying but now it seems really interesting to me. Thus, I can say that I have successfully achieved another outcome of the course which is, “Find joy or meaning in the act and practice of writing.”

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that phase one has improved both my reading and writing skills. I look forward to learning more and more in the upcoming phases.