Reflection Journals

Read and reflect on various topics in these reflection journals. Gain insights and perspectives on language, politics, writing, social media, and more.

Reflection Journals 1
REFLECTIVE JOURNALS
By (Student’s Name)
Professor’s Name
College
Course
Date

Reflection Journals 2
REFLECTIVE JOURNALS
Week 1
Reading “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell has made me realize that
language is more of an instrument for expression rather than thought prevention and
concealment. Orwell has argued about the utilization of vague language in political speeches o
brainwash and even confuse people to gain their trust. Orwell has not considered literary use of
language but has showcased how language is an instrument to express and not to conceal or
prevent thought. Orwell holds that the current political chaos remains connected to language
decay, and we can probably bring specific improvement by beginning our communication.
Anarchists and Conservatives use political language to make lies appear truthful. They also use
language to make the murder appear respectable and also to give the appearance of solidity to
pure wind. From Orwell view, I have learned that we cannot change all these improvements in a
moment. However, I can at least, change my habit to avoid vague language. I can also send
specific worn-out and useless phrases into the dustbin where they belong. An example where
language has been used to conceal or prevent thought when we use euphemism through inflated
style. This is using Latin words to blur outline and cover up all particulars by being insincere.
Politicians prevent or conceal thought by speaking to use using clichéd and lifeless sludge.

Reflection Journals 3
Week 2
Reflecting on question one after reading Miller (1992) and the sample essay by Karen
Rivedal for a University newspaper in the US at pages 7 to 11, I believe that the revised essay
following Miller’s criticism is more persuasive. This is because Karen seems to have considered
the comments of Miller in her edited essay. For instance, she has made the revised essay in
inclusive in terms of audience inclusion, including the initially excluded professor. Also, the
revised uses persuasive writing style achieved through rhetorical devices, which serves to appeal
to ethics, logic, and emotions and in the process, convinces the target audience.
Reflecting on question 2, upon reading “The Writing Process,” I believe that the author
comments on creativity remain well-reasoned. I agree with the observation that everyone stays
creative to a greater or lesser extent since each one of us holds a place on the scale of creativity,
between 7 Spielberg and a tree stump. Indeed, I like how the author treats the question about
creativity by saying that it should be viewed not as to whether I am creative or not but in what
ways is one creative. This is effective since it drives us to think about how to boost our creativity
and how much creativity can be employed to present public relation messages. I also agree with
the comments that people who say that one can either have creativity or not is wrong. This is
because it is indeed real creativity is never an in-borne capability, a gift, nor a knack. We nurture
our imaginations and learn innovative abilities.
Based on reading 3, I have identified specific valuable points regarding understanding
and engaging audiences taken from the article. It is time I bring such points to my tutorial and
discussion. The first relevant point is that as a PR professional, I have to account for the expected
“pulse” of the audience before the launch of any social media campaign. The next point is that I
must understand the capabilities of engaged social media audience because when I underestimate

Reflection Journals 4
them, I will only be exacerbating crises scenario. The last point is that it is not always useful to
use social media in PR practices.

Reflection Journals 5
Week 3
Reading Mustafa (2017) and Pollak (2017) about the US President announcing to
acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, I can reflect on my thought about how the issue is
framed. These news articles have some similarities and differences, and I have considered the
values being invoked or made salient. I can also reflect on how logos, pathos, and ethos have
been used in these two news article. Both the two news articles have presented the issue of
recognizing Jerusalem as an issue necessary for the peace process and the right thing to do. They
have both recognized the need to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I think the issue
has been presented more persuasively. There has been reasons or justification for the decision to
recognize Jerusalem in both news article. The similarity is that they are both talking about one
issue. Another similarity is that both news articles use rhetorical devices to persuade people to
believe that it is their best interest if Jerusalem is recognized. The difference in the two news
article is that

Reflection Journals 6
Week 4
After reading Neale & Ely (2007) and Smith (2017) articles, I have understood how to
approach my speechwriting task. I now acknowledge that speech has specific elements which
make it useful. I am more or less confident about some of these elements in planning and writing
processes. I am confident in using transitions in writing a speech. I have known several
transitioning words and phrases that can help me move from one point to the next. I am also
confident in making the speech simple, direct, and short sentences which are easily understood
by the audiences. Moreover, I am confident in using rhetorical devices, including repetition,
cadence, variation, and balance. I believe that these are essential rhetorical devices that I would
wish to incorporate in my speech. I think they are useful since they will help me emphasize my
points. For instance, I will integrate repetition to stress on my points to the audience. However, I
still face a challenge when it comes to the analysis of audiences for my speech based on gender,
age, profession, audience size, culture, occasions, and purpose of my speech. I have also not
been able to restrict my speeches below twenty minutes. The most insights from this week’s
readings and course content appeal to me for my speechwriting tasks have accepted the style of
contemporary American public address that must be natural, direct, low key, casual as well as
conversational. This is important since it will help me put the listeners at great ease and further
promotes a sense of community between myself as the speaker and audience. Another insight is
the use of imagery. I have realized that no speech can sound fresh and vivid when it is never
animated by imaginative imagery and metaphor.

Reflection Journals 7
Week 5
The most important person to me is my mother. She is presently fifty-years-old.
However, she stays much younger, and no one can realize she is fifty. Everyone in the family
likes her. She has taught everyone in the family to be a role model for others. She always sits the
family members down, including the father to discuss an issue affecting the family so that
solutions can be reached in an informed manner. It is true that mum is an incomparable person
ever on earth.
Mammy always knows when any of the family members has a problem. She is inquisitive
and can easily ask questions that help her detect when one is emotionally or psychologically
stressed. When it comes to cooking, she has always been the number one chef.
She cooks a variety of delicious foods for the family members. Eating these meals trigger
appetite and urge to even crave for more. Anyone in the family appreciates mammy for
everything she does to her family. Indeed, it would be hectic living away from her as everyone
has grown fond of her because of the caring and loving attitude she has always shown towards
everyone.
I love my mother with all my heart. I have always grown fond of her. I would appreciate
her every moment of my life. My mother has been a person I can tell secrete and my most
worrying moment, with a surety that I will get an amicable solution. In my view, I believe that
my mum is the most caring person I have ever met. I have a lot of confidence in my mother, and
I would ever hesitate to share with her any problem.
I remember a day when I was at my lowest having failed to achieve the best grades. I
shared my problem with my mum, and I was surprised to get relieved in a matter of minutes. I

Reflection Journals 8
got helped, and I was re-assured of reliable support. I felt so happy since my mum encouraged
me to put more efforts into my studies rather than quarrel me and tag me as a failure.
It is quite challenging to restrict myself in purely either the styles. I had to write and
delete from time to time since I realized I was mixing up. However, I believe that I tried my best
to stay with one style at a time.

Reflection Journals 9
Week 6
Reading article Allagui & Breslow (2006), I can reflect on the critical points regarding
the effective use of social media, which I take away from the readings. These key points are
useful for me in my public relations practice and reflect on a social media campaign I have
encountered, which has utilized the same approach to the case studies from the reading. The
main point is that efficacious social site strategies characteristically meet one principle of PARC
for accomplishment, including authentic, participatory, credible and resourceful. Another critical
point is the new resourcefulness definition which addresses social media. This new definition of
resourcefulness is useful in my public relations practice since I will not use this new definition to
design a social site campaign which is never only determined by whether campaign has given
target audience valuable info. Thus, I will ensure that I design a social media campaign which
engages its audience as well as builds a conversation. I have encountered a social media
campaign that uses case study 1 (The Scarecrow). In my encounter, it involved a company that
needed to enhance its reputation as well as reinforce its competitive edge of not using a non-
renewable source of energy. The Company launched a campaign which vulgarized the adverse
environmental effects of using non-renewable sources of energy while positioning itself as the
best alternative for the rivals that were using non-renewable sources. The Company used an
innovative fashion since it created an app for mobile gaming, which was a Scarecrow movie
companion piece. They followed this with a link allowing a target audience to download the
game as it remained entrenched at Scarecrow movie end. This campaign in social media was
given in various social site platforms, thus driving the audience to scarecrowgame.com that
directed a person to download game using Apple’s app store.

Reflection Journals 10
Week 7
Forget Me Not
PO Box 245
Corinda Queensland
Australia 4075
Charity Number CH1521
ACN 610 061 679
ABN 55 469 493 449
May 30, 2019
The CEO,
Children’s Hunger Alliance,
1105 Schrock Road
Ste. 505
Columbus, Ohio 43229
[phone]
Dear sir/madam
RE: REQUEST FOR SPONSORSHIP
Forget Me Not is a not-for-profit organization that honors rights of each kid and. We
work to guarantee that kids are flourishing, vivacious, and associated to community, family, and

Reflection Journals 11
opportunities. The organization exists to deter kids and fledgling individuals around globe from
being displaced via investment in inventive initiatives which keep kids within their respective
communities alongside families. Forget Me Not grows its influence via local partnership
leveraging on ground in-country, increasing community awareness, and advocating for desired
changes while learning. Our success is reliant completely upon product and financial support of
private sponsors and corporations. Our organization has been lucky in the previous years to
receive funding from outside entities like yours and Government of Australia receiving funds via
an Australian Aid: Friendship Grants. We remain hopeful that this year shall be no exemption.
Our organization wants to request that you consider being amongst our Corporate
Sponsors for 2019. Your organization, as a sponsor, shall receive significant positive media
attention by associating with Forget Me Not. For instance, we were lately awarded by Australian
Government as amongst Top Ten best organization. Moreover, your organization will assist
introduce a different generation of children to outdoors. We believe our perfect partner for the
kids and us.
Enclosed is our sponsorship fact-sheet along with a comprehensive proposal for your
consideration and review. If you have interest in sponsoring Forget Me Not, kindly never
vacillate to contact our organization. I will be following up through the phone within 2 weeks to
confirm if you have concerns that I will respond to regarding our proposal or organization.
Thanks very much in advance for taking time to review our proposal package.
Sincerely,
John Smith
Forget Me Not

Reflection Journals 12
Week 8
Reading (Durham 2017) has allowed me to understand how black women in the US use
social media to contest the mainstream narratives in the US and to try to bring about social
change. The women use hip hop to oppose the underrepresentation and de-representation of
women or home-girl. They cultivate distinguished literacies alongside interpretive communities
utilizing a race-gender “double-consciousness,” which could not be feminist or womanist
explicitly; however, it remains female-focused. For example, female rappers extend blues
woman tradition via the public address of sexual politics utilizing vulgar, profane, and aggressive
language that defies traditional femininity codes or middle-class respectability. Whereas hip hop
is as being a masculine defined space, it is an area where home-girls stage the public redress.
Women and girls use media to give voice and even speak back to patriarchy from a given
scenario. They use the media to oppose the surged black women’s objectification in rap music
videos as hip hop gets increasingly profitable for youth culture industries. The women use media
to enhance advocacy, which focuses on accountability. They advocate for the new knowledge
obtained from hip hop culture alongside generated via classroom collaboration to be shared
publicly with communities. They also use collaborative performance strategy to advocate for
social change through the exploration of the evocative and emotive power of language, which
makes performance to force people to act and react at the visceral degree. Hip hop is utilized as a
societal metaphor.
Reading the blog by Greenpeace Pacific Australia. (13 April 2018), I can explain the
writing style used in the blog and show what stands out as well as whether I think many
individuals would find the blog persuasive. I believe that the writing style is persuasive. This is

Reflection Journals 13
because the author has written in a persuasive style and tried to convince the audience or readers
of the belief of position. This writing also encompasses the biases and opinions of the author and
justifications besides reasons provided as evidence of position correctness. Specifically, the
authors seek to persuade the audience on how Turnbull is attempting to make it difficult for
individuals and organizations like Greenpeace to speak out for things they all care about
including Great Barrier Reef, Oceans by imposing stringent laws regarding how not-for-profits
operate. What stands out is that the author is persuasive as he presents evidence to back the
position take to reject the laws attacking the people’s democracy. The author shows the effect of
these laws by mentioning that 58,000 organizations would be affected as the laws stress on
increasing taxes, regulations, and bringing in restrictions on funding. I believe many people
would find this blog persuasive as it has used ethos, logos, and even pathos to appeal to ethics,
logic, and emotions.

Reflection Journals 14
Week 9
Reading Mersham, Skinner & Rensburg, R. (2011), Western strategic communicators can
learn from Ubuntu. The philosophy of Ubuntu” states that “I am because we are” which is
value-oriented old-style philosophy of African humanism. It deeply runs throughout African
action alongside thought. They should apply this concept since it stresses community and
collectivity. Thus, Western strategic communicators should move their communication strategies
beyond a focus on individual together with their rights, and put stress on sharing as well as own
participation in collective life. Thus, they should define personhood through community context
as opposed to Eurocentric philosophies that emphasize an individual. The Western
communicators should move from their individualistic democracy that insists on self-freedom by
intrusion by other people, and embrace ubuntuism idea that freedom of an individual depends for
its exercise as well as the fulfillment of personal relationship with other people. Thus, they
should learn from ubuntuism and place a high premium on inclusiveness, negotiation, tolerance,
and transparency. They should connect their communication by underlying humanism/Ubuntu
and communalism and reciprocate respect. This will help them create harmonious world
relations with other people and express opinion based on its implied consistency with patterns
and norms in a cohort.
Reading Brinkmann, Weerdenburg & Palgrave (2014), I feel that I can become more
culturally competent in my strategic communication practice in my ways. I think that
continuously improving the four competencies will help me become skilled enough in my vital
communication practice. This is because this book has presented me with information on how to
ensure intercultural awareness. I will use the four competencies to know how to work across

Reflection Journals 15
cultures, and I believe this will give me a solid understanding of what makes individuals
successful in an intercultural world. The book has also addressed the common myths about the
development of intercultural competencies and working overseas.

Reflection Journals 16
Week 10
Reflecting in Option 2; I believe this public health promotion campaign is effective. This
is because it gives statistics about the magnitude of violence against women and uses rhetorical
language to raise emotions. This campaign raises a point about gender bias since it paints women
as the most people who are vulnerable to gender violence. It shows that men are the main
perpetrators of gender violence. Rhetorical language is used in this campaign. For example,
ethos, pathos, and logos have been used. For instance, the ethos has been used to appeal to ethics
to convince an audience through authority where it is indicated that we refer to experts. Pathos
has been used to appeal to emotions. For example, it has meant that ex-boyfriend kills a woman
who is intended to raise emotional feeling to show the graveness of this gender violence against
women to convince the audience through an impassioned plea. Logos has been used to appeal to
logic through convincing the audience with reason premised on facts alongside figures. For
example, it has said that 80% of cases go unreported and that 1 in 3 women are abused beginning
15 years. There is gender bias since it has only painted women as victims and men as the
perpetrators.

Reflection Journals 17
Week 11
Reading Dahlstrom (2014) articles informs this reflection on a time when I was
influenced by a narrative as I hear a story regarding science or technology. I remember when one
day, a friend of mine was telling a story about how to use artificial intelligence in marketing.
Initially, I did not understand what AI meant. However, as the story unfolded, I became more
interested to understand what was being discussed. While I have been hesitant to embrace AI, I
realized that day that it has more pros than cons, and this made me be persuaded. I think that
storytelling element persuaded me. The element of storytelling that influenced me is that it
describes a specific experience instead of general truth. Another persuasive aspect is that it
connects its events to cause and effect association, which concludes appear unavoidable. Some
of the challenges of storytelling and persuasion relate to ethical challenges since it does not focus
on accuracy justification for the claims made.
Reading the comic explainer, I have observed how it portrays lone actor terrorism, and I
believe it has adequately explained the issue in all its complexities. Raffaello Panticci has
explained the theory behind lone-actor terrorism and showcased what it is presently known
regarding lone actor’s effectiveness, behaviors, and motives which might assist us in better
understanding and disrupt future attacks. This was achieved by creating own working definition
of lone actor terrorism. They defined it as the threat or use of violence by one perpetrator or
small cell who does not act out of purely personal material reason, with purpose of influencing a
broader audience and who is acting without any straightforward support in planning, preparing,
and executing attack, and whose decision for acting is never directed by any cohort or other

Reflection Journals 18
people though likely inspired by other persons. I believe this definition captures it all, and it has
made me understand the issue rather than a present already existing meaning.
Week 12
Week 12 readings and Prof Mark Pearson’s interview on interpersonal communication
have informed my evaluation of how I effectively I feel I applied my interpersonal
communication skills in Public Writing course this trimester especially in my group work. I have
specifically been able to appreciate the value of attitude in my interpersonal communication. As
read in this week’s reading, I come to know that I never performed well since I failed to consider
attitude during the group work. While I managed to follow the script or steps effectively, I have
realized that I missed the whole attitude, yet it was central to effective interpersonal
communication. I will thus always consider my attitude by doing all that it takes to make people
I talk to have a positive overall experience. My realization informs this that mentality has been
stressed as an essential element in improving my interpersonal communication skills.

Reflection Journals 19
Week 13
The semester has been productive in terms of my personal and professional development
as a public relation student and future professional. This course has made me appreciate the
value of reflective practice or writing (Sanderson et al. 2016)). I have greatly benefited from the
reflective writing throughout the course. This is because I have been able to revisit what we
have learned across the 12 weeks, which has been a reminder of some of the points that we
learned in class about public writing.
I have learned about public writing from writing letters to speeches. I have learned of the
elements that make each piece of writing effectively. In terms of speechwriting, for example, I
have realized that it should always be made simple (Mersham, Skinner and Rensburg 2011). This
is a step towards being a professional speechwriter since I have been able to appreciate the need
for analysis of my audience when writing a speech. I have also been able to learn about the
creative writing process (Sanderson et al. 2016). Unlike before, I held the view that creativity is
an in-borne capability, and one either has it or lack. However, through this course, I have
realized that we can nurture our imagination and learn innovative abilities.
I have also learned about rhetorical devices and their importance in public relations
writing. This is because, through this reflective practice, I have been able to read various sources
touching on how to make a piece of writing persuasive (Sanderson et al. 2016). I have
subsequently been able to use these rhetorical devices to come up with persuasive writing. I
believe this is an essential step in my future career since PR is all about the ability to express
myself in a manner that can make one be convinced after listening or reading a piece of my
writing (Forsyth 2013).

Reflection Journals 20
I have also come to appreciate the need to understand the limits of social media
campaigns. Specifically, I have realized that underestimating the capabilities of my social media
campaign audience would be disastrous (Goodman 2011). More importantly, I have been able to
appreciate that it is not always effective to use social media campaigns. This realization is
significant in my practice since it will always remind me of the need to first understand my
audience before launching any social media campaign (Sanderson et al. 2016).
This course has supplied me with what it needs, or it takes to be an effective PR
professional. It is now upon myself as a student of PR course to continue with this reflective
practice so that I can continuously stay updated on what I have learned and how I can best apply
them in my practice (Allagui and Breslow 2016). This is because I have realized that every bit of
issues or topics covered in this course has a practical aspect since I will have to apply them in the
real-life in my future employment or even just in everyday PR encounters. I would seek to apply
persuasive writing in my future career as a public relation expert to persuade people I work with
or those I come across in arguments and discussions to convey my messages effectively
(Dahlstrom 2014).

Reflection Journals 21
References
Allagui, I. and Breslow, H., 2016. Social media for public relations: Lessons from four effective
cases. Public Relations Review, 42(1), 20-30.
Brinkmann, U., Weerdenburg, O. v. and Palgrave, M., 2014. Intercultural readiness: four
competences for working across cultures. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Chapter 3)
Caulley, D. N., 2008. Making Qualitative Research Reports Less Boring: The Techniques of
Writing Creative Nonfiction. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(3), 424-449.
Dahlstrom, M. F., 2014. Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with
nonexpert audiences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(Supplement 4),
13614-13620.
Durham, A., 2017. Analog girl in a digital world: Hip hop feminism and media activism. In V.
Pickard & G. Yang (Eds.), Media Activism in the Digital Age (pp. 205-215). Abingdon, Oxon:
Routledge.
Forsyth, P., 2013. How to write reports and proposals (Revis third; 3rd; ed. Vol. 37).
Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Limited. (Chapter 2: 'Creating a good report')
Goodman, D., 2011. Promoting diversity and social justice: educating people from privileged
groups (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge (Chapter 2)
Greenpeace Pacific Australia., 13 April 2018. What’s going on with our democracy?: Unpacking
the democracy attack law. Greenpeace, 12(3), 1-4. https://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/whats-
going-on-with-our-democracy/
Hutchins, A. L., & Tindall, N. T., 2017. New media, new media relations: Building relationships
with bloggers, citizen journalists and engaged publics. In A. L. Hutchins & N. T. Tindall (Eds.),

Reflection Journals 22
Public relations and participatory culture: Fandom, social media and community engagement.
London: Routledge.
Mersham, G., Skinner, C. and Rensburg, R., 2011. Approaches to African communication
management and public relations: a case for theory-building on the continent: African
communication management. Journal of Public Affairs, 11(4), 195-207.
Mustafa), I. A., 7 Dec 2017. Donald Trump recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in reversal of
decades of policy. ABC News, 1-4. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-07/donald-trump-
recognises-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/9234228
Neale, T. H. and Ely, D., 2007. CRS Report for Congress: Speechwriting in Perspective: A Brief
Guide to Effective and Persuasive Communication.
Nelson, T. D., 2011. Ageism: The strange case of prejudice against the older you. In R. Wiener
& S. Willborn (Eds.), Disability and aging discrimination: Perspectives in law and psychology:
Springer.
Newsom, D. and Haynes, J., 2014. Public Relations Writing: Form and Style. Wadsworth, US:
Cengage Learning. (pp. 238-241, Chapter 11: 'Proposals and reports')
Pollak, J. B., 2017, Dec 6 . Trump: ‘I Have Determined That It Is Time to Officially Recognize
Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel’. BREIBART, 12(3), 1-4. https://www.breitbart.com/middle-
east/2017/12/06/jerusalem-israel-capital-embassy-trump-white-house/
Sanderson, J., Barnes, K., Williamson, C. and Kian, E.T., 2016. ‘How could anyone have
predicted that# AskJameis would go horribly wrong?’public relations, social media, and hashtag
hijacking. Public relations review, 42(1), pp.31-37.
Smith, R. D., 2017. Becoming a public relations writer:Strategic writing for emerging and
established media (5th ed.). New York: Routledge.

Reflection Journals 23
Smith, R., 2017. Becoming a public relations writer (Chapter 18, 'Speechwriting) pp. 372-387.