Reflective Essay
Consider everything we've worked so hard on this semester: developing an interesting introduction, formulating a thesis, providing an appropriate amount of detail and explanation, learning the basics of summarizing/paraphrasing/quoting, understanding the importance of (counter)argument and logic, organizing our paper and paragraphs, using sources to enhance our own voice and build credibility, learning how to use the basics of APA, and improving English grammar and vocabulary. Develop a reflection, using your own papers as a foundation for this. Feel free to use screen shots of drafts as visuals to help me and other readers understand what you've learned over the semester.
Consider these and similar questions which you might respond to in formulating your self-reflection:
- Have you changed any of your writing practices as a result of this assigned paper/course? Why?
- How did you respond to constructive criticism in the form of instructor comments, peer reviewer comments, or Writing Center tutor comments?
- How did your writing process help you discover new ideas in this assigned paper/course?
- How exactly have your writing skills improved while writing a paper or during the course?
- How has your newly improved writing process influenced writing assignments that you completed outside of your WRIT course?
- Review the syllabus's learning outcomes and explain how one or two were achieved during the course or while writing a paper.
- Describe your writing process for one major paper and evaluate the relationship between the stages of the writing process (i.e., pre-writing, first draft, revision, editing, and proofreading) and the quality of the paper.
Format: APA
Length: 4 paragraphs
Topics that we wrote about during the semester
#1 HAPPINESS
#2 THE FUTURE
#3 JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE
#4 Researched Essay
Example:
I am glad that I took the writing class with Professor Matthew Bridgewater because I got the chance to learn everything about writing. My writing skills got improved, and I was able to use more transition words in my essay. The professor helped me write a clear essay in order to help the reader understand my main points. Moreover, the APA template that was on Moodle helped me know the difference between APA format and MLA. Moreover, I have learned how to make an interesting introduction, providing an appropriate amount of explanation and detail, and my writing skills improved during the course.
Making an interesting introduction captures reader's attention; the reader gets motivated to learn more about your essay. An interesting introduction means starting the essay with quote, interesting story, question, etc. I have learned to provide the best interesting introduction and to connect my quotes with my main points to provide a clear explanation.
I was able to learn how to provide a good amount of explanation and detail. The TED Talks helped me provide good explanation about the topic that I was writing. The sources that we had in the class were more than enough for me to express my opinion in details. The reading sources were relevant to the topic in each unit. I learned how to write argumentative essay providing a counter argument.
My writing skills improved during the course because every week we had an assignment due. Our first week's assignment was very essay and gradually got harder this is how my writing improved. I also went to tutoring to get some feedback about my writing. Furthermore, the rough draft helped me know how to submit an excellent paper. The feedback that I got from my professor helped me learn a lot to develop a good essay. I also learned to proof read my essay many times before I submit it.
In conclusion, in English 102 I got the perfect education that I will never forget. I learned how to writing an interesting introduction by presenting an interesting story, quote, or question about my topic. I have also learned to provide good amount of explanation about my topic. TED Talk helped me get some information about my topic and to put it together. Additionally, my writing skills improved over the course because of the great feedback that I was getting from my professor for each essay. Those feedbacks helped me to make correction on my essay and to proof read it many times to get a better grade. Finally, I am glad that I took this class with a professor who knows how to help the students to improve their writing skills.