For my research essay,  I structured the language of my essay to accommodate my audience, my peers and instructor. While I maintained a formal tone, I used simple and direct language that all my peers will be able to understand, instead of using complex language with scientific jargon. I included the rhetorical strategies that I learned from Phase 2 to appeal to my audience. I used definitions, statistics, and examples so that the readers can actually learn from my essay and educate themselves about issues with Body Image.

          As a STEM major, I will be writing a lot of research essays in the future and I have gained a lot of valuable insights writing this essay. The most meaningful insight I acquired during this phase was understanding the importance of maintaining my individual voice without getting swayed by the influences from the sources used in my essay. Even though my essay focuses on my argument, I understood the importance of acknowledging the opposing viewpoint in my essay to make it further credible.

          In class, our class instructor explained to us the different parts of a research essay and provided us with examples to help us write them. I really appreciated engaging in Peer Review. Having someone with a different perspective look into my essay helped me better my essay because I gained new insights on how to make my essay more appealing. It also helped me reduce my mistakes.

          One term that impacted my essay the most was argument. I had to pick a stance on my essay and persuade the audience about my argument. I learned the importance of being confident in my viewpoint and saying what I had to say. Another important term that played a big role in my essay was evidence. I had to provide evidence for all the claims I was making in my essay. I learned how to carefully compile the sources that will help build my argument.

          This assignment helped me achieve the “ compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation” Course Learning Outcome. Writing the rhetorical precis and synthesis prior to my draft helped me organize my ideas for the essay and gain an insight of how my essay can be structured. I learned how to properly give credit to the authors of the sources I used. I realized the difference in simply stating my claims with sources and performing deep analysis for my claims. Overall, this assignment led me to realize the importance of synthesis and rhetorics and I shall use this skill in my arguments in the future.