This is a post peer review reflection about the c2g assignment that I was asked to perform.

Before today, I was not sure what direction creatively I wanted to take this assignment. I know believe that I will be doing a call to action and protest propaganda in the form of a flyer or poster. My topic is based on a social issue that has been occurring for as long as sports has been nationally televised and needs to be addressed.  My intended audience for this project is sports media and I want to convey to them that female athletes are just as important to sports as men are and deserve to be treated as such. This includes equal pay, fair recognition for their athletic achievements and abilities, and their respective sports need just as much exposure. Before this video session, I did not know where to start or what resources I could use to help me, but today we went over many tools. We went over many websites that are at our disposal and can be very useful when it comes to the creative aspect of our genres. For me, Canva.com will be such an important tool when it comes to the propaganda portion of my project. It will allow me to create flyers and posters that help my point and interest the person that is looking at them. I still am not sure on what website I will use for my call to action, but I will continue to do research and find the best fit for my call to action genre. This call to action is important because it can grab the attention of those it is being targeted at and can spark change in viewpoints and actions. I still need assistance on ways to give my genres a more creative look and component, but I now have a better understanding of the assignment and feel much more comfortable about what is being asked of me.

A reflection I wrote for the composition in two genres assignment.

When being assigned the Composition in Two Genres assignment, I was definitely excited to start such a creative and new type of assignment for a composition class since I had never done anything like this before. My reason for picking this topic is because it is a problem that I myself have thought about. The treatment of female athletes in today’s society is an issue that needs to be talked about and dealt with accordingly. Bias against female athletes is a relevant topic when it pertains to social justice because these women are not given an equal opportunity to succeed in sports. The media depicts men as superior through the use of offensive phrases like: “throw like a girl” and “girl push ups” to tear down the image of female athletes and make them seem inferior. That being said my audience had to be activists fighting for equality among men in women, however, not just in sports, this is just a step in the right direction if major changes were to occur. My thinking process for my genres were, what would reach and appeal to an activist? Propaganda would be great, in this case being a poster that one might see at rally’s, or protests. Also, I believe if someone wanted to become an activist for equality, they would need to be motivated and informed. I utilized a brochure which is an effective way of delivering information, with a call to action inside so the audience can understand what they are fighting for, and see why they need to band together and fight for equality. These two genres put together overall reinforce my overall stance on this topic which is, women have consistently proved they are just as physically and mentally gifted and tough as the men can be, so they deserve to get exactly what they put into their careers back.

Another reflection towards incoming CCNY freshman that talks about my inquiry essay.

Writing to incoming freshman will impact my letter because it will cause me to explain my drafting process in a way that another freshman can model. My tone and language will be helpful and encouraging in that I want them to do well when they reach college. The genre will be impacted by the audience because as the author, I would have to shift the focus of my writing and language to fit my audience and get their attention.

Dear Incoming Freshman,

Last week I finished my inquiry based essay and it was definitely the most challenging essay I have had to write in college thus far. In this essay I was asked to create my own inquiry question in relation to the other essays we did earlier in the semester. Once I had an approved inquiry and thesis I then had to conduct research which involved navigating not just google, but the CCNY database as well to find credible sources. I had to base the structure of my essay off of a model essay that I located online. Using my sources, I pulled quotes and analyzed them, and included a brief analysis of one or two rhetorical terms such as purpose and stance. On top of that, I had to conduct an interview with someone from a non profit organization to help my thesis. While this was a good amount of work, it got done and it challenged me. When it came to the interview aspect, the organizations I reached out to were not responding. This made it difficult but eventually I got through to the Boys and Girls Club of America, as I knew a person connected to them. The research part of my paper was something that took a long time because I had to get my inquiry and thesis just right, but once I got through that it was smooth sailing. Overall, the essay was a good challenge for my writing skills as I learned a lot about writing this semester. The biggest being the rhetorical terms since coming into CCNY I was not familiar with them and I can say they have helped me to analyze readings better. Also mla citations were something that I had to get used to once I got to college because every professor requires it.

Inquiry Reflection

My research question for the inquiry based essay is: How does patriarchal language affect the way female athletes are viewed in society? This question is addressing a problem that I myself have thought about. The treatment of female athletes in today’s society is an issue that needs to be talked about and dealt with accordingly. Bias against female athletes is a relevant topic topic when it pertains to social justice because these women are not given an equal opportunity to succeed in sports. The media depicts men as superior through the use of language. They do this by associating men with words and phrases such as; dominance, winning, etc. They then use words and phrases such as; throw like a girl and girl push ups to tear down the image of female athletes and make them seem inferior. Sports outlets like ESPN, Fox Sports, and CBS Sports, among others, give female athletes considerably less media coverage and attention. With these companies being managed and owned by men, it is easy to see why such blatant disregard for the female athlete occurs. Some female athletes however, have broken through because of their overwhelming talent and persistence in their respective sport. Because of these women and their followings, female athletes now have a huge platform to show why they deserve just as much attention and pay as the men receive. My essay will inform everyone about the truth of sports and sports media. It will inform the people about the ways female athletes are treated, how they are taking a stand to combat this problem, and how changes can be made. Between today and November 1st, I would like to have my sources picked out by the next reflection deadline, but if I do not have them all completely sorted then I would like to have them by October 13th. This gives me four days to completely get my thoughts onto paper by the first draft deadline on October 17th. The interview portion of my essay is something I will take the longest to do. I want to take my time in finding the proper organization to interview for this essay and I still need more clarification and guidance on this specific part of the essay. My model essay is titled, “International Handbook of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education”, and the publisher is the American Library Association. The essay has many smaller paragraphs, in contrast to the traditional few number of paragraphs with lots of content. I want to use this feature myself because I believe this will allow me to get my points across in a faster, more efficient manner. The model essay lacks quotes. I want to incorporate many quotes into my essay to make my point more accurate. This will allow the reader to read quotes from reliable sources and they will trust them. I will use the model essay as a format to perfect my research paper and make all my points stronger.