I took this course to help fulfill my major requirements, specifically, my concentration requirements. This course was great for Communication Studies students, especially those with a concentration in Public Relations. Understanding persuasion is very important for Public Relations students. Honestly, I think it’s important for all students to understand, but especially those who want to work in the Public Relations field.
This course was very writing intensive. I wrote a total of seven papers in this course along with one speech. Throughout this course, I studied persuasion while examining a text of my choice. I chose to study Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech. I then learned about the persuasive elements of this speech by examining the appeals to logic (logos), character (ethos) and emotion (pathos). I also examined this speech by exploring the issue, audience and the reputation of the speaker. Lastly, I used all of my knowledge from these areas to create an evaluation paper at the end of the semester.
This course was challenging because it was all online and so writing heavy. I felt like I was constantly working on a paper for this course. It was also shortened by a few weeks. However, through it all I learned more about persuasion and how to write persuasively. I learned that people really resonate with examples and it makes any argument stronger. Also, I learned more about Sojourner Truth and her accomplishments as a speaker and an anti-slavery advocate.
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Open in new tab The document above is the evaluation paper I mentioned earlier. The purpose of this paper was to combine all of the relevant information from my previous papers in this course to come to my final conclusions about Sojourner Truth’s speech. I was tasked with answering whether the persuasive text used the best means of persuasion in the rhetorical situation. While this was challenging to write, I believe I used the best information I could to answer this question.
Overall, this course was challenging but very useful. I improved on my writing skills and gained a better understanding of persuasion. I would recommend any student to take this course because understanding persuasion could benefit someone in any field.