English 219 Reflection Memo

During English 219 Professional and Technical writing I learned

various tools and resources that will continue to contribute to my
professional career. I am currently attending the University of New
Mexico with the goal of graduating an Electrical engineering.
Engineering is more math and science based a majority of the work is
also writing and transferring information. Without good technical skills
and organization the transfer of information could become tedious. The
class also promotes organization of not just information but time.
Encouraging the writer to think of the audience and the context of the
written work. The class consisted of four main projects including a
proposal, instruction set, presentation, and a final portfolio, which this
memo is included in. The class touches heavily on the five rhetorical
cannons that are made up of Invention, Arrangement, style, memory,
and delivery. Each cannon pertains to a different aspect of the
document much like an outline of a paper.
The first cannon is referred to as Invention; Invention is the
creation of or finding an Idea or topic. This can be activity such as
brainstorming, free writing, previous experience, and even research.
Many of my assignments start as rough outlines that have a topic,
thesis, and some sort of point/conclusion. This semester many of the
assignment started as a list of various topics that become narrowed
down. For example during MWA#3 the presentation we chose multiple
problems throughout our community then wrote on one. The one I
chose was mostly based on personal interest and recognition of the
towns problem.
Arrangement is another important cannon in creating the main
objective in any paper. Its the argument and the arrangement of
information in context to the paper. Arrangement can be many
activities such as outlines, mapping, deciding on a desired effect, and
using ethos and pathos to create a strong argument. Every project I did
this semester started as some sort of basic outline of the paper. Often
just including the main focus and a couple of strong points to support
my idea. For example I wrote about the company Uber in my proposal;
my main point ended up changing based on the research I found
during my outline. Instead of being pro-Uber I ended up changing my
initial perspective on the entire assignment. Arrangement also includes
the project requirements as the basis to arrange around.
The next cannon is known as Style, which is the style or format
the arrangement takes on based on three main objectives. Style should
keep in mind the audience, purpose, and context. Style is what decides
if the information is best suited for a pamphlet or better as some sort
of activity report. Style often controls the tone and language used in
the script. For example during MWA#2 the group assignment used
many commanding sentences. On the other hand the first assignment

was trying to convince the authority to some beneficial change using

fact and persuasion. This paper required a less bias and more
persuasive tone throughout the consistency of it.

Memory is another cannon with great use throughout any

assignment. Memory refers to the information previously known or
even personal information. This could be previous assignments or
research done. It can even just be something that caught your eye and
applicable to the assignment. Of course it still has to be supported by
citations or credible to the main point. In the group project, my group
and I chose to write about a College guide for incoming freshmen. The
main reason being was all of us were past our first semester and had
fresh first-hand experience to relate to the project. Previous
experiences and assignments may make some important connections
to other relevant research. Having a good memory is applicable and
nearly any situation and career.
The final rhetorical cannon is just as important as collecting the
information is the delivery. Depending on the situation and context of
the information the delivery method varies. If you have an argument
with nearly no facts to support it; the argument will rely heavily on
applying to pathos. If multiple credible resources support the argument
it would use ethos to sway people. A majority of papers often use a
combination of ethics and emotion in order to create an argument that
is hard to argue against. Delivery also includes things like presentation
and qualifications of the writer to have created such an argument. I
third assignment was presented to the entire class verbally using a
power point a guide. My assignment was on the homeless, vagrants,
and panhandlers of the New Mexico; which included pictures of
homeless along with charts and statistics in order to make my point
more credible.
Besides these cannons during the class we went over multiple
other useful business tools. One we experimented with was having a
class and school related activity journal. During the time I was in a bit
of a slump and putting my goals down on paper gave me more
ambition to accomplish the task. We also went over the correct and
professional way of creating and activity report. This is important
incase anything happens at work or I need to report something in a
professional and recorded style. We participated as a class in
numerous ethical discussions about written situations from the book.
Along with these we also discussed different examples of proposals
and instruction guides. This helped expand on what makes a good
guide apposed to a not very helpful one. I feel a majority of these skills

will be useful in both my education and professional field for years to

come.
In conclusion English 219 was a very wholesome class. Helping
me remove my bias from text and create a credible article, and
authority as a writer. The rhetorical cannons are much like an outline
and can be applied to many different forms of writing assignments.
Many of the assignments reflect what a person needs to create and
deliver the point. I learned a lot about myself as a writer and how I can
correct my shortcomings.