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Rhetorical Situation
While planning and writing my argument on environmental issues, I took into consideration five elements that would constitute the rhetorical situation of my work. The five elements I chose would enable my audience to place itself within the rhetorical situation as they read my work to understand my general argument better. The five elements I considered while creating a rhetorical situation included the text itself, my audience, constraints, exigency and me as the author (Nancy).
Text: the text in my assignment was an argumentive research on environmental issues. The special qualities of this genre are that it the argument is acceptable either way if there is substantial evidence concerning the topic. The text is about sourcing information concerning environmental issues and developing substantial argument on the topic.
Audience: the target audience for my assignment was my instructor, my classmates and me. The nature of my audience varied. Firstly, I worked on the assignment and was subject among the other members f the target audience. My argument on environmental issues created the base for discussion in class. On the other hand, the role of my instructor was to analyze my assignment and provide appropriate feedback concerning the same. Lastly, the role of my classmates as target audience was to criticize my arguments both negatively and positively.
Constraints: constraints in my assignment included different circumstances that influenced my audience and me to respond differently to my argument. These constraining circumstances encompassed my arguments, the habits, attitudes and beliefs of my audience.
Exigency: the issue in my argument was new yet recurring. That is; environmental issues are continual problems in the world today. As such, I chose it as a topic because of its extensiveness and impact on the world.
Development of Research Question
In developing my research question, I employed Kathryn Kinmond’s concepts of coming up with a research question. Firstly, I identified the specific area of research (Kinmond 16). That is the environment. In choosing a research area, I had to identify the specific area of environment that I was most interested in and outlined various reasons for the interest. Moreover, I identified whether qualitative research was relevant to that area.
Once I identified the research area, I identified a topic with that area of interest. I was careful not to make my choices frivolously. Consequently, my topic sprang from some piece of information I studied during my course. However, I did not intensively read about it then, so I decided to develop my research around that topic. Before reaching on the idea for argument, I listed possible topics on environment that I would like to investigate. I evaluated the list by considering how I arrived at the list and finally chose environmental issues because of my background on it and my daily experiences with the environment.
How My Essay fulfilled the Purpose
The purpose of my essay was to investigate environmental issues. My essay has fulfilled this purpose by firstly defining environmental issues as the harmful effects of human activities in the biophysical environment. Additionally, my article generalized environmental issues by discussing the major issues of the global environment and the problems of the global environment. Some of the major global issues I discussed in my essay include shifts in consumption patterns, variant natural hazards such as floods and cyclones (Anand 14). Other issues I discussed in my essay include rapid growth of population, poor agricultural practices, resource mal-distribution, infrastructural development and industrialization among others.
My essay also identifies the problems caused by environmental issues. Some of these problems include loss of biodiversity, ozone layer depletion, deforestation and desertification among others. Lastly, my essay fulfills its purpose by discussing different measures of global environmental change. These measures include variant conceptions on climate change, policy and control, management approaches, concepts f resilience and vulnerability, and impacts and drivers of cumulative and systemic perceptions on climate change.
Strengths of my Paper
I think the strengths of my paper include the structural organization of the paper and the discussion of arguments (Abraham). Under the structure of the paper, I clearly steps of my argument from the definition to remedies of environmental issues. For the details, I explained each point critically with substantial evidence from various sources.
Problems I faced when identifying the research question, finding resources and writing the paper
In identifying the research question, I faced various problems. Firstly, I had difficulties when deciding the area to investigate because in had a wide scope of issues that I had an interest. Additionally, it was difficult to think of a topic or an area of topic sufficiently interesting to focus my investigation on. Thirdly, after identifying the area of topic, it was difficult to settle on a specific topic because of the extensive topics on the same area. Lastly, even after finding the topic, I still had problems articulating the research question.
In finding the sources, it was time consuming to find the correct sources for the project. That is because I had to compare the primary and secondary sources to determine which ones would be suitable for my assignment basing on their suitability ("Chapter 4: Finding and Evaluating Research Sources | Methods of Discovery: A Guide to Research Writing"). Lastly, in writing my assignment, I had difficulties in deciding which information to include and which one to exclude in my assignment.
Solutions to the Problems
For the problems in identifying the research question, I composed myself, made up my mind and was decisive in what in chose as the topic. I acknowledged that I could not write about all the topics on environment, so I decided to pick a more general topic. For the problems in finding sources, I spent minimum time possible in going through the primary and secondary sources by using more of online sources. Lastly, for the problems in writing, I highlighted the main points under the topic and further highlighted sub-topics. As such, it was easier to develop arguments from the sub-topics.
Lessons from this Assignment
I have learned quite a lot of significant lessons from this assignment. These lessons are not only in the environmental issues as a topic but also in my education life as well. Firstly, I have learned the importance of reflective learning in education. That is; this reflective assignment gives me the opportunity to evaluate myself. From this assignment, I can give myself the provisional feedback on what I learned during the course. Therefore, it fosters my understanding of the topic even more by enabling me to highlight my strengths in the paper.
This assignment also enables me to refresh my knowledge concerning my topic of discussion. It acts as a reminder to what I worked on. Thus, it rekindles my knowledge of the topic.
Works Cited
Abraham, Linda. "How to Demonstrate Strengths in Your Application Essays | Admissions Consulting | Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog." Admissions, personal statements, and application essays advice and insights. N.p., 6 Sept. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.
Anand, Vijay S. "Global Environmental Issues." Open Access Scientific Reports2.2 (2013): n. pag. Web. <10.4172/scientificreports.632>.
"Chapter 4: Finding and Evaluating Research Sources | Methods of Discovery: A Guide to Research Writing." Methods of Discovery: A Guide to Research Writing | Pavel Zemliansky, Ph.D. N.p., 1 May 2008. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.
Kinmond, Kathryn. "COMING UP WITH A RESEARCH QUESTION." (2012):http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/47619_Sullivan.pdf. Web.
Nancy, Wood V. "The Rhetorical Situation (TRACE)." Instructional Web Server - courses.durhamtech.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.
