Recently, under the guidance and recommendation of ZJUI Adjunct Faculty Professor Ryan Flanagan and Professor Mary Lucille Hays, Mr. SHEN Zhuoyang (‘27, Civil and Environmental Engineering) and Mr. YU Ziheng, (‘27, Computer Engineering), participated in the UIUC Rhetoric Student Essay Contest with native speakers and were selected as winners of the contest with their unique essay topics, rigorous logical argumentation, and compact essay structure.
Experts who judge the UIUC Rhetoric Student Essay Contest, which is based on the general writing course for all students who participated in the Rhetoric Program, select only 10-20 winners each semester. Essays of the winners may be published in the UIUC textbook I Write: A Writing Guide for the Undergraduate Rhetoric Program at the University of Illinois.
"The award of the UIUC Rhetoric Student Essay Contest was actually a surprise to me, and I think it was mainly due to Prof. Hays's writing class," Mr. SHEN Zhuoyang shared with us. "I feel like Prof. Hays's classroom is like a happy family. She not only taught us many writing principles and skills, but also told us the importance of academic integrity and copyright awareness, making our writing standardized." His instructor, Prof. Mary Lucille Hays praised SHEN Zhuoyang as one of the most talented and dedicated students in RHET 101. Therefore, when she heard the good news, she expressed great pleasure, but was not surprised. "SHEN Zhuoyang chose the traditional Chinese culture carnival as the topic. His description is exquisite and vivid, making every scene of traditional culture performances vivid. What impressed me most was the Chinese drum performances. From between his lines, I felt the tremendous energy unleashed by each stroke of the drumstick and drum surface, and saw the enthusiastic, youthful and sunny drummers struggling to beat the drum."
▲ Previous Traditional Chinese Culture Carnival Activities
Similarly, another award-winning student, Mr. YU Ziheng, also expressed his sincere gratitude to the valuable experience gained from the writing course. "I am grateful for the rhetoric course for teaching me so many writing methods and techniques, but I think this course goes beyond that. It also teaches us many practical skills, such as finding authentic images and papers, and quoting and reporting them in the correct format to prevent plagiarism or infringement. In addition, it has also improved our thinking logic with shortcomings in writing being made up." Mr. YU Ziheng's tutor, Dr Ryan Flanagan also expressed his joy at his award. "Ziheng's article discusses how to save our valuable and limited power resources by carefully observing excessive lighting in campus buildings. This is very original and urgent, and I hope to see our campus consider his proposals and take corresponding actions."
▲ Screenshot of YU Ziheng's Proposals
SHEN Zhuoyang
‘27, Civil and Environmental Engineering
My award-winning essay, entitled "Romantic Dream in Garden", The Wonderful Experience at the 2022 Traditional Chinese Culture Carnival, draws on the creativity of the excellent traditional Chinese drama "Peony Pavilion" and aims to create a romantic artistic atmosphere. I chose the traditional Chinese culture carnival as the topic because the activities organized for the carnival are rich in content with profound cultural heritage. I thought that foreign professors and students should be very interested in our traditional culture in China, so I decided to submit this essay for the contest.
As a travel article, I try my best to restore the scene of the event and use language to make the scene vivid. At the end of the article, starting with some people’s indifference to traditional Chinese culture and the loss of some intangible cultural heritage, I deeply analyzed the special significance and necessity of the carnival, and made a call for the inheritance and dissemination of traditional Chinese culture. I think this is very practical. However, I feel that the refinement of the text and the rigor of the language in the article are not enough. English writing is a process that continues to reach new levels, and I still have a long way to go.
YU Ziheng
‘27, Computer Engineering
Initially, when Dr. Ryan Flanagan released the registration notice for the contest, the second writing task of our writing class, P2P, was in progress. I was very confident about my P2P article and submitted it for a try. However, after submitting, I did not pay special attention to the progress of the contest, so when I received the award-winning email, I was very surprised.
My award-winning "essay" is a video converted from slides. I investigated and analyzed the use and waste of lighting on campus, discussed how to save our precious power resources, and made suggestions to the staff in charge, such as adjusting the lighting brightness in the building based on indoor population and natural light intensity. During the creating process, although I have made a lot of optimizations in investigation and video design, there are still issues with insufficient evidence or one-sided understanding of some of the most important content. Therefore, I am quite lucky to win the award.
Regarding the rhetoric course, I believe it not only enhances us writing skills, but also teaches us a lot of practical skills in writing and design knowledge. I am very grateful to Dr. Ryan Flanagan and the rhetoric course. Dr. Ryan Flanagan has always been rigorous and patient in providing targeted guidance to our articles. It is during the process of revision and improvement that my writing ability has been gradually improved, which has made me lucky to win awards in the contest.
In Rhetoric course, a featured course that combines language learning and cultivation of logical thinking, independent thinking, and thesis writing skills, students improve their argumentation, persuasion, and writing skills through writing repeatedly, laying a solid foundation for future global competency enhancement in an international perspective.
