Monday, December 8, 2008

Reflective essay Draft

This quarter in Writ 101 has been great in every way possible. The class has helped me develop as a more confident writer. This year I learned:

• That I can consistently think on a college level basis, and translate these thoughts onto paper
• How to organize a essay so its more effective, and use transitions better for clarity
• How to make an emphatic thesis
• How to create an outline that’s organized and effective
• That I need to improve my research skills to have clearer and stronger content
• How to apply strong topic sentences at the beginning of every paragraph for clarity
• That I can write a essay with a specific deadline, even if the directions aren’t as clearly laid out as they were in high school
• That I have personal voice when I write

My second essay was where I struggled the most this year. Every part of the essay was repulsive to me, I hated the time frame we had, and the creative writing mixed with the analytical writing. I also found the research to be extremely difficult, especially compared to essay number one. I found it one of the most difficult pieces of writing I have ever attempted. But I can’t deny I did learn from the experience. I learned I don’t work well when writes genres are mixed, but I can still manage to get it done in time. My grade on it pleasantly surprised me, and next time I will make sure I have only one genre to work with.

However, my first essay was something that I am very proud of. In the beginning, I was extremely worried because this was my first real assignment as a college student. This seemed like the first big obstacle. Not to mention he storied that I had heard stories about Craig’s grading that did nothing to soothe my nerves. But, for the first time, I let my fear motivate me and worked consistently on it for the entire three weeks. When I got my score back I was thrilled. As much as I wanted an A, I think a B was both fair and exciting.

Another thing I am proud of was when Craig said I was one of the best people for peer review. I had spent a considerable of time helping other people with their essay as much as I could, and it was great to be recognized for the time I put in.
Form my shaky start, I think PSEC and especially this writing class has helped me immeasurably. The thing I learned in this quarter I will be using for the rest of my academic career. Along with academic skills like being able to introduce “They say” into my writing, I received something I thought I wouldn’t from any scholarly setting: self confidence and pride in what I write. Everything I work on feels like a challenge, and everything I complete is testimony to how hard I worked.

4 comments:

Zachary Silverton said...

"This seemed like the first big obstacle. Not to mention" you can put a comma there. No one will notice I promise.

Other than things like that it seems fine. You might want to work on your transitions, but so does half the class =D

HannahSinger2014 said...

- This review of your work was very thorough.
- I see that you understand what your faults are but what I think you should add is how you can continue to fix them.
- I'm not sue I like the fact that you bulleted your strengths, but if it works for you then GREAT!
- It was all good things. I did not see the things you need to work on or the things you learned.

Kendra Nelson said...

I really liked this. I can tell you took a long time to reflect on yourself.

The only things I noticed were that you didn't put a "T" in this sentences...
-"Not to mention he storied that"

...and you didn't put "amount" in this one.
-"a considerable of time helping"


Other than that, I really liked it.

-Kendra

Nick Mennenga said...

-Try not to do a bulleted list
-"organize an essay so it's more effective" not "organize a essay so its more effective"
-the entire bulleted list starts with capitals, but are sentence fragments.
-You need quotes.
-There are some errors where you started saying one thing but then rephrased it.
-Fairly good overall.