Jessica Vigos

Welcome to my most prized page in my e-portfolio. I make this statement because it is in this class that I have been able to truly be the person I am. In my service learning portion of this class I was able to continue my work with Salt Lake County Animal Services. My writing for this class has been truly filled with passion, hard work and learning. I was able to incorporate my love for animals, volunteering and being a force of change in my pieces for this page. These pieces tell a story of who I am and how I came to be so passionate in my work with animals. I feel these pieces introduce you to the plight of animals, educate you and call you to action to make changes, learn more and get involved.

The first piece is my position paper; I believe this piece is a great introduction to what my work stands for. In my revision I included information about what happens if we do not make changes. I chose a newsletter format rather than the original report based word document to grab attention and a format that pulls people in. I chose to add not just my graph showing the reduction these programs have made but some pictures of the animals I speak for. I touched on each piece of the feedback I was given to revise to what you see now. I believe that this piece creates pathos in the opening statement. My piece is well supported, logical and organized creating logos. The works cited provides ethos. The rhetoric that I use both states the argument and the reason it is invalid, therefore creating a strong ethos.

The second piece is my report. It is a great piece to follow because it goes more deeply into the prevention of euthanizing animals and how we can move forward with programs to eliminate the old ways and bring in the new. This piece was full of research I thoroughly enjoyed doing. I really did not have many revisions here except on my citations. I feel this was over all the best piece I have written in research. I believe that taking the emotion out of this piece for me made it stronger. It is extremely strong in ethos and logos. I feel that research papers are often lacking in pathos however I believe that in providing research that is accurate, valid you create kairos in your piece simply by having a well-rounded documented piece.  It is the effective medium for a research paper.

The third choice is our group argument. I enjoyed greatly doing this piece and working with my group. It was exciting to see them get involved and develop passion for this topic as well. The medium we chose was perfect. It fits tightly into the criteria, creating an exceptional package of ethos, logos and pathos. This article contained verifiable, trustworthy sources. The opening paragraph is a profound example of pathos. Logos and kairos are created throughout the paper but the final paragraphs tell you exactly how to put action into the emotions brought forward to the information we provide. What we were most proud of was our piece being posted on Animal Aid USA. I simply included the link for this piece here so that you too can see it on a public forum. I learned in doing this piece if I reach out to others have a well-organized genre piece that other will support my work as well.

The fourth piece is my proposal. I spent a great deal of time on this piece deciding on the proper format. I felt for a government agency that the proper rhetorical piece would include both a visual presentation and traditional business proposal. The feedback I received was to include more in the “where the money comes from” section. I did include a stronger support in this section. I included a visual piece that created pathos. The business proposal format is to back my visual aid and together these pieces establish a strong ethos & pathos. I believe this creates a solid genre piece.

In this class I learned to be specific and direct in my writing. In order to have professional pieces of rhetoric you must focus on all aspects of your writing. You must be the critic and the lover of your work. The more passion you hold the stronger your work will be. I learned how to properly site information and this was my biggest struggle in my work. I feel this was an amazing class and I am proud of this portfolio.