Teachers don’t want you to say certain things, we want you to think in certain ways.
This seems like a good summarizing sentence for the exigence. Giles has noticed in her experience as both a student and a teacher, that writers often focus too much on pleasing a teacher, while writing is more successful when it is self-reflective. This exigence allows for a powerful rhetorical argument as many can relate to this experience and ideology.
Examples from Real Students
Evidence
ow It Works
So far, the author has been able to use varying styles and genres, including more expository how-to writing as well as anecdotal literacy-narrative-esque tales. By having a more diverse palette, the writer is able to make many more appeals to the reader. For example, the story of professor Bishop's class allows the author to build credibility as a trustworthy and experienced narrator, while appealing to similar emotions readers may have experienced in similar situations - the audience is students after all.
For each essay, we had to write what she called a “process note” in which we explained our processes of working on the essay, as well as our thought processes in developing the ideas. We also discussed what we might want to do with (or to) the essay in the future, beyond the class.
sounds familiar.
you may be asked to think about your writing processes in general or in relation to a particular essay, to think about your inten-tions regarding rhetorical elements such as audience and purpose, or to think about your choices regarding development strategies such as comparison-contrast, exemplification, or definition. You may be asked to describe your decisions regarding language features such as word choice, sentence rhythm, and so on. You may be asked to evaluate or assess your piece of writing or your development as a writer in general. Your instructor may also ask you to perform these kinds of activities at various points in your process of working on a project, or at the end of the semester.
The parallel structure of "you may be asked..." drives home the point that many tasks will be required in a writing class. It also helps to interpellate the reader and create many situations in which these reflective writing and revision strategies will be useful.
As composition scholars Kathleen Blake Yancey and Jane Bowman Smith explain
The author quickly uses outside sources to establish and appeal to reputation or character - ethos. Giles also seems to do this to acquire a base for her argument.
Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?
The title does an effective job of providing the reader with info on what the piece is about, while also creating a casual tone with the common phrase "What Were You Thinking?" that simultaneously gets the reader to formulate questions in their mind.
The idea is to carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing.
this reminds me of "How to Read Literature like a Professor"