The journals that were completed throughout the year gave me the opportunity to analyze works that utilized certain appeals to influence others. The journal on Terministic Screens allowed me the opportunity to see how words are used to elicit a certain connotation or feeling when they are spoken and how they have been handed down from generation to generation. The journal on “Civil Disobedience” was my favorite of the journals because I enjoyed analyzing the rhetoric used by Henry David Thoreau when trying to influence the populous to rise against the government. The journal on “Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle” gave an interesting look on the different appeals that Adolf Hitler used when trying to influence the German people to rise together against a common enemy. One of the things that were easier to analyze were the different appeals like ethos, pathos, and logos chiefly because there was a blue print that I could follow to analyze them. However the most difficult aspect that I faced was the idea of terministic screens because at first it appeared to be a very subjective process that could be under a certain interpretation. But, I was able to work through that challenge through taking the time to look to the passage as a whole and analyze the underlying meaning of the words. After the journals, I began to read other works with a more critical eye to the different appeals that were being used; especially when ethos, pathos, and logos were being used. Having this critical eye and mind when reading works that use these appeals allows me the opportunity to not be swayed one way or another which allows me to generate my own thoughts and views around each work.

Journal on “Civil Disobedience”

Journal on Terministic Screens

Journal on “Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle”