Recently, under the guidance and recommendation of ZJUI Adjunct Faculty Professor Ryan Flanagan and Professor Mary Lucille Hays, Mr.CHU Xiaoyang (‘25, Civil Engineering) and Ms.WU Tianle (‘25, Electrical Engineering), participated in the Spring 2021 undergraduate Essay Contest of UIUC and eventually both of them were selected as winners of the contest with their rigorous logical argumentation and excellent essay organization. Among them, CHU Xiaoyang have won this awards twice both in the Fall 2020 and the Spring 2021. Their essays may be published in I Write: A Writing Guide for the Undergraduate Rhetoric Program at the University of Illinois. It is reported that UIUC Undergraduate Essay Contest is based on its general writing course for the whole students who participate in the Rhetoric Program (RHET), and there are only 10~20 winners which are selected by experts of each semester.
▲ Professor Hays’s RHET Class
CHU Xiaoyang recalled his experience of taking the rhetoric class and participating in competitions, “It was not until later that I realized RHET is not a language course, nor is this competition an English contest. The language contest examines the use of the language, grammar, and vocabulary. The focus of the RHET is above language itself: it is about to analyze, to argue, to refute, to make emotion flow through the texts, and to understand how different viewpoints are supported, so as to identify with the readers and thus to persuade them.”
Professor Hays commented that Xiaoyang was one of her best students who has always been helpful in class last year, “I don't know if any student has ever won the UIUC RHET Essay contest for both semesters, but I'm not surprised that it is Xiaoyang Chu who has achieved this.”
Coincidentally, Professor Flanagan, the instructor of another winner, Ms.Wu Tianle, also spoke highly of the student. He said, “Tianle was a very hard worker; she saw me frequently during office hours and maintained her focus throughout the semester on gradually and systematically improving each draft. I am not surprised that she was a winner in this contest. I am looking forward to hearing about the great things she accomplishes in the future!”
“This award is inseparable from Professor Flanagan. The advice he gave me was insightful and exigent, so I did appreciate it and learned a lot from it. Inspired by his diligence, I tried my best to think deeply and revise my assignments patiently.” Beamed Tianle.
▲ Professor Flanagan’s RHET Class
“Rhetoric is not a class about English language--it's about the construction of ideas within argumentative essays. Use of the English language is not a big factor.” As Professor Flanagan said, the two English writing courses offered by ZJUI (“RHET 101-Principle of Writing” and “RHET 102-Principle of Research”), introduce the basic process of writing, explain how to organize the structure of the whole text and paragraph, how to present arguments, how to make convincing arguments and other writing methods, which provide students with a lot of clear guidance in writing English essay, and also lay a solid foundation for students to learn and develop in the international environment.
（Article：Stephanie）