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Philip Salice

U-Write 1102
Mary Muesing
Op-Ed's specific reflection.
My goal in the Op-Ed assignment was to present a Wall Street centered topic and contrast this
with a written response from the opposing view of the idea. When I began the project I had a very futile
amount of knowledge on the subject. I wrote about the esoteric, luxurious, profitable business that is
synonymous with Wall Street's news. In my first paper, I chose research based off of personal beliefs.
Through my efforts, I was able to expand on topics I already knew as well as gain valuable insight on
information previously not attained. I relayed this new accumulation of research to the audience with
the desired purpose to educate my audience on the hard facts of Wall Street.
Hoping to lure readers in, I began my work with a hook, something which could spike the same
interest in my audience as I feel towards the subject. As I learned from creating Luxury Ventures, profit
and money are a central part of basic human anthropology, as they play a key role in the cycle of the
world. As a writer, I hope to focus my content on purposeful subjects, which I can personally feel
passion towards. To trigger this innate appeal, I brought my audiences in by writing about a single
transaction between millionaire investors. I wrote down three of them, which gives the illusion of
commonality to the occurrence. Writing down factual information, while simultaneous giving off a
false reality, showed me first-hand the power of writing. Through writing, perceptions can be shifted;
therefore, the writer has the power to selectively chose the most advantageous material. For example, in
my writing, after you read the first paragraph, you get a sense making money is easy. This however is
false, considering million dollar deals statistically don't happen.
My first assignment was composed of justifiable facts which I analyzed. For example, I talked
about an hourly wage of a successful business man on Wall Street. From here I correlated his or her
hourly wage into the risky yet impressive financial mobility one can gain from a job in this field. This

created a clear linear pattern in my writing as I wrote to make my ideas flow evenly from one matter to
another. Such actions allowed for an improved overall product, which I think is a universal application
as structure is a key element to producing any great writing.
The second part of the Op-Ed assignment was to respond, from the contradicting view of my
first paper. This proved to be an obstacle as I didn't believe the research I was finding and could not
personally side with the view I was writing about. This inner conflict which appeared in my work
taught me the lesson that sometimes writing does not revolve around your personally inquiries. One
must be able to be subjective in presenting the contracting view, especially if trying to add credibility to
his or her work. As a writer, I could say this is a weakness; however, it has grown stronger from the
Op-Ed assignment.
My strength to this assignment was maintaining the attention of my audience due to my
fascinating research. I used the most startling data I could find to ignite emotions in the reader which
would play to increase their interest. After writing both my Op-Ed and its response, my perception of
Wall Street became much more cautious. If I were to change one of my papers, I would alter the tone of
my first paper from being so optimistic to a bit more realistic by incorporating some of my findings in
my response paper.
I still am very intrigued by Wall Street, but after writing my Op-Ed response I do understand the
realism of losing on Wall Street which presents drastic pitfalls. These writings encapsulated both sides
of Wall Street, and ultimately assimilated caution into my perception of a career on Wall Street.

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