Effectuality of John Pekins

In the article, A Community College Professor Reflects on First-Year Composition, John Pekins productively reflects on the devastating problems of first-year composition and the lack of understanding of the course’s main idea. He continuously calls attention to his primary audience about the lack of intelligence of college composition. John Pekins states that incoming freshman in college are not prepared for the high expectations that professors have in the field of writing. His article is effective because he uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative evidence and he makes conclusions from the data that is used. In addition to effectiveness, Pekins’s article provides a successful structural and organization to help the flow of his article. In this rhetorical analysis, I will be discussing how these three factors strongly develop the effectiveness of Pekins’s article.

As was previously stated, Pekins uses data and evidence to manufacture his main argument about the first-year composition. As he mentions multiple problems that come with the first-year composition, he approaches to different methods of evidence in order to establish confirmation to his audience. Furthermore, He uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative evidence to provide support to his thesis. Early on in Pekins’s article, he states that there has been a major decline in reading before penetrating college. Pekins uses qualitative evidence by questioning “[his] classes to learn how much and how regularly students read prior to entering college” (Pekins). His results of students “reading just one or two [books] during their high school years, with the rest falling somewhere on the spectrum from many to none” (Pekins) shows non-statistical evidence that helps him reinforce his claim. Because Pekins uses the method of surveying towards his students, he effectively provides assurance that there has been a lack of interest in reading. Secondly, he also uses qualitative evidence to support his claim about students only wanting to attend college because it’s a way for them to reach their financial goals. With that being said, “many students indicate—even in their paper—that they have no interest in the traditional values of college education” (Pekins). Pekins uses his student’s essays to demonstrate that people do not understand the ultimate morals of college. By connecting the evidence that’s shown above, Pekins approaches quantitative evidence when showing his class averages for a forty-question test. While Pekins states that the averages for his three sections “are 56 percent, 60 percent, and 61 percent,” the evidence can be demonstrated as an example of quantitative research by the usage of percentages. This evidence can also be subcategorized into a method that uses an analyzing tool called test-taking. Pekins uses this strategy to show disappointing test averages that prove students are not highly intelligent when it comes to college composition. Pekins’s data comes from the English Department requirements and his own research that he conducted within his own three sections of English composition. These sources are reliable because they come from legitimate documentation and they accurately support Pekins’s main argument that is introduced. As a matter of fact, the purpose of these sources is to pursue the audience towards Pekins’s claim, and because the evidence that Pekins uses is related directly to the topic, it makes the article even more effective. Overall, Pekins achieves his goal of scoping his article around the exploiting evidence that is provided.

As a result of Pekins’s data, he effectively makes conclusions about the evidence to recap on what is being said in his main topic. With the use of Pekins’s survey that was mentioned above, he concludes that “reading is not an integral part of many entering students’ communications experience” (Pekins). Pekins discovers that students come into college with little knowledge of literature between their years of education while developing. Consequently, affecting their ability to learn efficiently in a college class and stunting the comprehension needed to succeed in the course. With the lack of drive to actually learn the material, students have been taught the bare minimum of English composition. Because, More English high-school teachers have accepted the fact that there has been a decline in reading, they do not assign many reading practices to their students. Since these students do not possess the information professors already expect them to know, it results in the course being more difficult for both the student and the instructor. As Pekins reads his students’ five-paragraph essays, he makes a conclusion that “these essays often read as if even this minimum exercise is a disturbingly unfamiliar experience for these students now embarking on a long journey through college-level, scholarly discourse” (Pekins). With that being said, Pekins believes that students are not intellectually prepared to write a college-level essay in their first year of college. In example, students that come into college often read and write equivalent to a sophomore-level high school student. While not being prepared for this level of difficulty, the scholars miss the importance of the course and statistically make the bear minimum grade in order to just pass. Concluding the evidence that Pekins utilizes, the audience is able to comprehend why that specific data is being used to prove a point. Based on his data, the closures are reasonable because they are associated with the overall collected findings of his research. They fully provide a reinstatement that connects to the entire effectiveness of the data that he uses. Pekins never fails at drawing an elaborate conclusion from his data or mislead the information that he provides. He profitably concludes by correlating the difference and affects the few students that do comprehend and the ones who do not possess the essential information. Pekins’s research shows significance in the effect in grades and cognizance that is showcased in the composition received.

Lastly, Pekins article is effective because he uses a logical organization to his article and he builds an appropriate cohesive. In his article, he structures his text by pointing out a problem that needs to be solved and then proposing a solution to those problems. As mentioned, some problems that Pekins states is the lack of reading and the knowledge about college-level writing. After he expresses the issues in college composition, he then gives the audience a solution. Moreover, Pekins proposes that professionals can “begin the process of establishing national rang finders of passing and nonpassing college-level writing in a variety of typical first-year composition formats” by using a technique called assessment. Pekins affirms this solution so that professors will agree on a certain criterion that explains the rank of the first-year composition and to demonstrate examples that best define college writing. He believes that this simple project can bring a great amount of clarity to the field that they teach. Pekins also refers to a solution to integrate reading and writing to address stronger and more complex essays in students. He expresses that “students should be reading and writing about what they read, as that is the sort of work they are asked to provide in the bulk of their college courses.” Professors who assign their students to write about their personal experiences and observations is not suitable for first-year composition essays. Instead, they should focus on assigning students to conduct an essay about what they are reading or have read in the past. Pekins also organizes his article into major sections that include his topic sentences, evidence, and conclusions about his data. These three important factors combine together to give Pekins a valid structure to his article. In addition, he arranges these factors to provide a pattern that follows a specific outline. This pattern is effective because it helps the flow of the article and it gives Pekins an assured thesis. In order for Pekins to move from one claim to another, he uses consistent transition words or phrases to distinguish a relationship between ideas. For example, Pekins uses the word “indeed” to comment and attach another idea to the claim he made in the previous sentence. In Pekins’s article, he stays on topic throughout the text and is able to backtrack to his ideas that he states earlier on in the article.

In conclusion, Pekins’s article is effective according to his evidence, conclusions, and structure that he presents. His article has a logical flow of ideas and is cohesive. As a result, because Pekins strongly presents his argument, his audience will be able to understand and believe the main points that are being evaluated. His article includes links between his sentences and paragraphs to help readers transition from one topic to another. Bringing clear attention to key aspects in his research that really relate the struggling college scholars’ since of literation and coherence of the material.