Week 10: The Art of Influence

In the introduction to "The Art of Influence," the author brought up several points that resonated with me. Before starting this final unit and before reading this piece, I never truly realized how writers deliberately add certain levels of persuasion to their essays (seen in the 'Introduction' under different section titles). I remember learning about arguments and fallacies when I was a freshman at OU, so it will be nice to revisit some ideas this unit.

After reading this passage, I have not only learned the methods behind an essayist's process (not all, of course), but also why they use these methods. For example, on page 18 of the PDF document, the author writes about how the personal essayist makes the movement from "individual to universal" and goes on to say that essayists much watch their use of pronouns. This made me think about how including the reader in the conversation (like using "we" and "us") might make the reader more reluctant to be persuaded by the essay.

I liked this paragraph because it reminds me of how personal essays can be so expansive, yet it takes a certain amount of determination to be able to create a focused and polished piece of writing. From personal experience, I've found it hard at times to find that focus, so I'll think of this paragraph and the subsequent paragraphs when writing essays for this course.