RHETORICAL
ANALYSES
The writings from my English Composition II class during the spring semester of my sophomore year of college were by far the most enjoyable and self-reflective pieces I have written. The professor gave us the freedom to write about any topic we were passionate about, so easily, I chose to write about event planning, Taylor Swift, and the difficulties of being a female firefighter. Each of the three projects in this class consisted of two or three sub-projects, followed by a self-assessment of our work.
#PurpleHelmetsCampaign
For the campaign materials portion of the final class project, I created a theoretical Instagram account for the Purple Helmets Campaign. As a female in the fire service who has experienced unfair treatment and mockery from men in this industry, I felt compelled to bring attention to the discrimination against female firefighters and encourage others to stand up for this incessant rhetorical problem. I utilized Canva to carefully design the account and posts with - as a Swiftie, what I like to call - "easter eggs," which you can learn about in the next section!
TIP: HOVER OVER EACH POST TO READ MORE!
Public Awareness Campaign
Throughout the writing process for each campaign awareness assignment, I made it my goal to emphasize and reiterate the innumerable challenges female firefighters face daily with gender discrimination and inequality. I crafted a unique campaign that includes many of the objectives I learned throughout the semester and consists of everything I wanted to voice. My chosen topic is very personal and meaningful to not only myself but to all female first responders. Therefore, I prioritized creating detailed graphics and writing impactful campaign content, even if that meant sparing a few nights of good sleep. If you would like to read Project #3 in its entirety, click on the PDF icons below to download each part of my Public Awareness Campaign!
Project 3a:
Campaign Proposal
This essay defines why I chose to raise awareness of discrimination against female firefighters, my credibility in this rhetorical problem, and my research, supported by statistical evidence. My goal was to emphasize and introduce my experiences with this under-discussed problem I am passionate about addressing. I was initially on the fence about choosing this specific topic because, truthfully, it hits home. However, the female first responders in my life encouraged me to speak up about this issue for the final project of the class.
Project 3b:
Campaign Materials
If the Instagram posts in the section above are inaccessible, download the PDF version of my campaign here.
Project 3c:
Campaign Brief & Kit
The Campaign Brief & Kit spells out my goals and the rationale behind my campaign materials. The brief explains the decisions I made to effectively address the problem, reach my target audience, and convey my campaign's message. The kit describes the symbolism of each post and my design choices, as well as the logic behind the account layout.
Final Reflection
Looking back on this semester, I learned so much about rhetoric and myself. The most influential takeaways I have found helpful in my endeavors so far include my ability to analyze deceptively simple compositions and create artistic multimodal compositions. These skills have continued to benefit me throughout college and are ones that I will carry in my toolbox for life. As someone with a strong love for creativity, I appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed using a multimodal approach to design the projects; It gave me a new perspective on English class and showed me that writing encompasses much more than “just words on a piece of paper.”
​
Truthfully, I was scared of rhetoric before taking this class. I never quite understood how to even write a rhetorical analysis throughout high school or my first college English course. But as I reached the end of the semester, I found that I actually enjoyed composing rhetorical work; All it took was someone explaining rhetoric in a way that made sense to me and encouraging me to write about anything I was passionate about. Once I understood that rhetoric is not strictly limited to ethos, pathos, and logos, I was golden. Now, rhetoric, to me, encompasses every minor detail in a composition that holds a purpose for being there.
​
As my very last English class in life came to an end, I could not help but feel proud of myself for giving each project my best effort and commitment, especially after the many personal challenges I faced. For the first half of the semester, I wrote every paper using voice-to-text transcription and typing with my non-dominant hand while my left wrist recovered from surgery. I spent the second half driving back and forth between Huntsville and Auburn on the weekends for my wedding planner internship. I am grateful that this class deepened my knowledge of rhetoric and allowed me to write about the topics that matter most to me, such as gender discrimination against female firefighters. Thanks to this class, I learned to see things differently in life, as there is rhetoric everywhere and in everything.