Inquiry Based Essay (Research Topic Reflection)
My inspiration to further inquiry on this topic is my research on my past essay about microaggressions and the subtle language used for it. I talked about the stance of the author in one of my resources, but I couldn’t give my stance or point of view about the situation. I want my inquiry essay to inform and argue about toxic masculinity and the language used. I want to inform how toxic masculinity affects not only women, but also men, especially young adults and teens. My question “What is the language of toxic masculinity?” I came up with my question based on my last topic. As stated before, I talked about the subtle language that carries a microaggression. For this topic, I want to talk about both, the subtle and explicit language toxic masculinity has. This topic is important because of the effects it has on other people. Toxic masculinity mainly affects women, young men, kids, and teens. It can make someone feel uncomfortable like catcalling or affect a young man’s mental health by making them feel unconfident because they don’t meet the gender stereotypes set my society. For example, crying, confronting sexual harassment by a woman or not being able to talk about how they are the victim in an abusive relationship, etc. I plan to explore this question by doing deep research on interviews, journals of people telling their stories, health facts, charts and percentages on my topic of research, and finding a model essay or journal I can find that meets almost all my ideas on it so I can guide myself with it.
Inquiry Based Essay (Research Proposal)
Inquiry Based Essay (Report on Research in Progress)
Inquiry Based Essay (Post Essay Reflection)
On my most recent essay (an inquiry based essay) I decided to explore, inform, and argue about the dangerous language of “Toxic Masculinity” This essay’s main audience is everyone who has a distorted version of what masculinity is. I intended to explain how this distorted idea of what masculinity is, is wrong and how it is necessary to end it. I try to be very persuasive in this essay so my intended audience tries to understand the point I am trying to transmit. The type of language I use and tone are a little similar on how I would talk to someone I am having a conversation with. It is like putting my own style and voice for little parts of it. However from this essay, I learned how to use a more “third person” kind of voice on my essay. This is a little harder because it is not the same to state your points without saying “I think” or putting a lot of personal opinions/biased arguments on an essay. I learned how to use factual evidence, quotes from other sources that share thoughts or ideas I want to elaborate on my essay and expand my point from there. Through peer review, I got to share ideas or see in what direction I can take those ideas and how to formulate them in my paper. Out of my research, as I mentioned before, I was able to take ideas I shared with the authors of those sources and expand from them. I also used a model essay to guide the structure of my paper. My paper is divided in each paragraph by a specific keyword or subtopic just as my model essay. From the drafting until the final result, I changed a lot of ideas and subtopics I had. I was going to add culture and feminism in my paper and they were part of my drafts, but I ended up deleting them because I could not find a way to expand on them “language wise” Even though those were subtopics very close to my topic, they did not make it to the final draft. I was missing a few points I wish I had added on my essay, like certain keywords, or expand a little more on some subtopics like makeup in men, style of clothing, affection in a non-sexaul way between friends, and all the kind of things that are completely normal but have been backlash due to toxic masculinity. Also, I missed the interview portion of the paper. I was not able to share ideas or learn from someone else’s ideas because I never got to interview anyone. However, I got to share a little with peers when we did peer reviews. This essay means a lot to me, because I get to share my views in a non biased (sorta) way on how I see some aspects of the world and personal experience. I am glad I chose a topic I was passionate about because it turned easier to work with it.
Composition in Two Genres (Reflection on Composition)
From the beginning of my Research Essay, passing through my Inquiry Essay, and ending on my Two Genres, I have run a long way. I began deciding what “language” related topic was the best fitting for me, the difficulty in research, giving my point of view and voice on the topic, the keywords for research, how to reach my targeted audience (which is a large variety), and so more. One of the biggest barriers to overcome in order to communicate my message to my audience is how to use my voice in a not first person way. Another thing is taking my research and inquiry into a poem and a political cartoon. Finding which two genres are the best fitting for my audience and that I feel more comfortable with, was a big choice. My topic evolved from microaggressions, to toxic masculinity and the language of it. I ended up with a poem dedicated to victims of domestic violence, and a compilation of political cartoons that could be considered controversial and open to discussion. I feel like someone who is interested in a topic, no matter how you deliver a message, the person will still be interested, so I chose genres that I am more comfortable with in order to reach my audience. The differences between research and composition are wide. On my research essay, the word is very self explanatory, I do a lot of research from other sources to use in my essay and develop from them. On the other hand, for my composition I take everything I have researched on, fuse it with my stance on the topic, and portray it in my two chosen genres. For my research, I take parts of other essays that match my stance and I develop from there. On my composition, I can take inspiration from others’ work, but it all comes from my ideas. Those ideas are what I presented in my poem and my political cartoons. How I came up with the ideas and the meaning behind it are explained in the following part, which is my rationale.
Composition in Two Genre (Rationale)
For my Composition in Two Genre, the audience is very specific for the poem I wrote, however, the audience for my political cartoons is large and can vary. This project’s main audience is everyone who has a distorted version of what masculinity is. I try to be very persuasive in the political cartoon so my intended audience tries to understand the point I am trying to transmit. On my poem, I used tone, stanzas, theme to develop my poem as rhetorical practices. The tone lets the audience know the feeling, the poem is trying to transmit. The stanzas are separated in ways to express the thoughts that are incoming to the “person” that is narrating the poem. Different thoughts come and go as the poem develops and the person opens more and more with the questions this person has about the relationship, which is also the theme. Domestic violence from the point of view of a manipulated, abused victim. The victim is trying to see through the manipulation and what they believe is right or wrong. Now, for my political cartoons, I was inspired by the artists SaintHoax. One of her campaigns “Making America Misogynistic Again” she takes old 50s misogynistic advertisements and changed the titles for sexists quotes former President of the United States, Donald Trump, has said throughout his public career. I took inspiration from that idea, but with many other politicians talking about rape, abortion or misogynistic comments they have said. I put them side to side as comparison, the original vs the edited version to demonstrate my stance on how toxic masculinity still a big issue in today’s world. It shows how society today has a lot to advance into becoming more open-minded and less misogynistic.
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