Researched Based Persuasive Essay Reflection

In class we had to write a researched based persuasive essay on whatever we feel passionate about. I chose to write about child beauty pageants. My claim was that these child pageants are bad and should be banned for young kids below the age of 18 years. 

I got a pretty good grade in my research based persuasive essay, but there are a couple components of my essay that stood out to me. Firstly, I did well in writing detailed and paragraphs containing with lots of evidence. These facts made my essay more persuasive and believable. But, I still kept a balance between the ethos, pathos, and logos, because without emotion my essay would just be boring. Not to mention, I also did a good job in constructing my paragraphs in different ways, not just the normal quote sandwich every time, like a robot. Usually you would right a paragraph containing a quote in the format- who, quote, warrant, interpretation. The ethos and logos would come in the "who and quote" and the pathos would come in the "interpretation". What I discovered is that you could start of with a warrant if you wanted or an interpretation, you just need to be creative and step outside of the box. Lastly, I also wrote a strong counterargument. My counterargument had an equal amount of evidence for both the pros and cons of child pageantry. After stating the pros of child pageantry I did a good job rejecting my counterargument using lots of evidence. 

During the period of time that I got to write my essay I learnt tons of new things in class. Moreover, I learnt what a warrant is. A warrant is basically a general rule. Warrants can be used before interpreting a quote or an place in the "quote sandwich". A warrant states a general rule that applies to the quote, this rule can put emphasis on the quote or have your audience to persuaded towards a certain direction. Secondly, I also learnt how to use effective and proper transitional words throughout my researched based persuasive essay. Before learning this I knew the normal transitional words like: firstly, secondly, thirdly, adding on to that, furthermore, moreover, etc. But I learnt new and more complex transitional words that make you sound smarter and more persuasive. Correspondingly, I learnt how to structure my writing differently and not to use the same format over and over again like a robot. Before learning this the majority of paragraphs in my essay followed this format: who said it, quote, warrant, and then interpretation. Every paragraph went like this and after a while it just got boring. That's when I learnt to sometimes put the warrant or interpretation first, or to end with the quote. Furthermore, I learnt that having evidence is very good but having too much evidence is bad. I tend to write A LOT usually and this time I had lots and lots of evidence and barely any pathos (emotion). So, I went back into my work and found the most important evidence that needed to be in my essay and deleted the evidence that was just taking up space. This made my piece more interesting and less boring.

I might've turned out with a wonderful essay that I'm very proud of, but there were bumps in the road. The main thing that I really messed up on with this essay was my timing. Towards the end of semester 1 I had lots of tests and projects due and I was up everyday of the last week till like midnight or later to try to finish everything. The night before my essay was due I science rock project was also due. I worked on my rock project for more than six hours straight. After working on my rock project I started to work on my editing my essay. By the time I finished everything it must've been 3 o'clock in the morning.