Camille Dawson

December 9, 2016
Look back effect reflection
For my semester topic, I chose something Im very passionate about, dogs. Now a lot of
people might assume that I love dogs and that, that might be the reason I chose to write all
semester about them. The reason however, is much different. When I was about 9 years old, I
was attacked by a dog. It was very traumatic for me, and still affects me today in ways you might
not even imagine. Because of this, I wanted to somehow make more people aware of these type
of attacks and hopefully cause some changes to be made.
For my first 3 projects, I feel like I focused most on bringing awareness to the problem.
Specifically in my infographic, I focused just on presenting the fact that there are many more dog
attacks and even dog caused fatalities than one might reason. I touched on the main questions
like who are being attacked, why are they being attacked, where are the attacks happening, and
how theyre happening. I relayed a lot of that same information and statistics in my persuasive
paper. I then went on to talk about how there are a lot of good that dogs do in the world, such as
therapy dogs, police dogs, bomb sniffers, emotional support dogs, etc. Now after relaying this
information, I lead the reader to the point that these dogs doing the attacking can change if
properly understood and controlled. I discussed some methods to help make this happen such as
dog training, fences, and teaching your children how to act around dogs.
For my look back effect project, I decided to combine both my infographic and my
persuasion paper into one project. I decided to make this into a packet that someone might
receive when then decide to adopt a dog from a shelter or humane society. I decided to do this

for a couple different reasons. One of the main reasons is because it's addressing some of the
main issues that cause attacks right off the bat. It's going to be a lot easier for a dog owner to
create these situations and changes to the premises before they have a dog, rather than long time
dog owners, because they might not think there's a problem that needs fixing. Another reason I
decided to change into this medium to get my point across is because is a more readily available
source of information. My infographic and persuasive essay relayed a lot of the same
information, however, it wouldnt be presented to the right audience as frequently as this packet
Ive created. The idea that all newly adopting families would this information could totally
change the cycle of attacks happening in the US. I believe my look back effect project also
contained an element of that my other 2 pieces lacked. I would describe this as acceptance. I feel
as though in my infographic and my persuasive essay, I gave off sort of a negative feeling
towards dogs. I really focused however on leaving that vibe out of my last project. In doing this,
I believe the audience will not only be more accepting of my work, but definitely relate to it
more. I executed this plan by leaving out most of the statistics about the attacks, and focusing
more on the element of understanding the dogs, as well as keeping loved ones safe.
All three of my projects lead up to my final look back effect. The rhetorical appeals I
used in my final project, i believe were the most successful in getting my message across while
promoting a change to better the society we live in.