Chapter 1 Response- Taylor Wilhelmy

Chapter 1 is a very uneventful chapter. This chapter serves as the introduction to what is to come later on in the book. The chapter describes important concepts that should be kept in mind when writing compositions. These concepts include genre, rhetoric, purpose, audience, rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos and logos), modes and media, elements of genre which include, in most instances, who, what, where, when and why, style, design, and sources. It is important to keep these concepts in mind because these concepts will strengthen your writing in order to make your argument more credible and believable. Of the concepts, the ones that I feel are the most important include purpose, audience, rhetorical appeals and sources. I feel as though these concepts are the most important because these concepts are vital for enhancing your argument. When I look at these concepts, it brings back memories of being in sophomore year in my AP Language class and these words always came up when my teacher was trying to teach us about arguments and how to further develop them. She always used to say "Remember who your audience is" and "Make sure you in-text cite because it's plagiarism if you don't." Even to this day, I still say these two statements every time I write because I feel as though these are two vital things to remember when you write. By explaining what these concepts are in the beginning of the books, readers are able to see just how vital these concepts are to include in their writings. Without knowing these concepts, the arguments of writers that have not read this chapter may not be as strong because the authors would not be able to further deepen their arguments to a level that would really hit the thoughts and feelings that readers need to experience.