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Carlos Benavides
English 113A
Professor Hymes
12/1/15
Reflection of English 113 A
English 113A is a class that sparks a foundation for intellectual advancement fit for
university students. The class as a whole was review to my days of High School English.
Nevertheless, I did excel from my careless grade school writing to a diligent university station of
writing. Professor Jackie Hymes demonstrated many scenarios and common errors of writing
that aided to my success. Overall, English 113A excelled my humble station of comprehension
and writing skills to the university level by fixing mechanical errors.
My work ethic in the past, more specifically the days in high school, has always been to
be reserved as possible. Prior to the days of university, my habits to improve my writing typically
only relied on the instructor's comments. It became apparent that instructors comments wasnt
enough to pass AP English. I've always shied away from having a peer outlook on my written
assignments. The reason for shying away was because the potential embarrassment, if my essays
were terrible. In this class, professor Hymes prides herself with the mandatory review from my
peers and herself. With that I learned that outside opinions helps my writing be as clear as
possible, or in essence make sense. My peers point out mechanical mistakes that I may have
overlooked, or structure mistakes that do not make sense to them. Outside opinions and selfcritiquing and editing lead the way to a successful essay.
The essay I enjoyed and progressed the most is the argumentative essay. The essay
focused on the concept of sounding credible; which required credible research. In my most

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recent assignment, Integrity of eSports, it is a Sport I advocated video game competition is

coherent enough to be acknowledged as a real sport worldwide. I attempted to convince the
reader than my side of the argument is better; my side being that eSports is a sport. I persuaded
this by displaying insight from virtual professionals themselves and illustrating the cons of such
sport, then countering each con. For example, a common misconception is that sports requires
physical activity to be considered a sport. In the case of eSports it ...Thrives on mental strength
and importance...akin to chess.(Benavides, Integrity of eSports, it is a Sport) Next, one major
concept my professor taught me is to restrain myself from the appeal to pity. An argument essay
is meant to illustrate why ones side is better, not to sympathizing the reader. In essence, not beg
the reader to join ones side. With this concept, my argumentative essay was not emotional, it
was straight to the point by conveying why my side is better, using my research to aid my
position and attack the opposing view.
I believe the major personal improvement was excelling my writing capability by fixing
mechanical errors. In hindsight, all of my drafts in this class were reaching bare minimum to turn
in. One haunting paper of mine is Mentos are Great an essay based on visual rhetoric. In this
draft I failed to illustrate the picture itself, which was required, creating confusion to my peers. A
major mishap was the order of the essay, I had too many ideas and created chaos. For example, I
repeated many of my points of Albert Einstein being a genius, thus creating a sense that Mentos
is a treat for everyone. What I should have done is left that idea into one paragraph. Therefore, I
excelled my revision ability to create structured essays and find repetitive errors.
I couldnt have excelled without the help of my Instructor Hymes and SI leader. To be
bold, English 113A was slow. However that does not necessarily mean it was a bad thing, it was
slow to the extent to find my errors and mechanics to improve on. My professor granted me a lot

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of insight on my drafts, and displayed many common errors we should avoid. Honestly the
amount Ive progressed in this class wasnt much, which was expected in my view. However, I
did learn how to find and correct many of my grammar mistakes and work habits. Therefore, I
attained the knowledge I was looking for. Overall, I now understood the concepts I either missed
in high school or had trouble learning.
My goals for next semester is to be able to use my new writing prowess and be able to
translate in English 113 B. I want to be able to analyze essays and poems, because in the past that
is one subject Ive struggled with. English 113 A was a class of advancing my writing skills and
resourceful ability. I expect next class to be considerably more difficult, however I think it
shouldnt be too difficult; because I learned how to be self-sufficient and learn how to use the
many resources for students in this campus. I view this class as an opportunity to build a stronger
foundation for university as a whole. The foundation to grasp the higher level of learning and
maintaining it. I hope to prove in English 113 B that I am capable to display diligence, and
integrity. With that, next semester should be a memorable class alike English 113 A.
Overall the class English 113 A, ran by Professor Jackie Hymes was a class of improving
my writing and more. I learned how to be more intellect in this class by learning how to work
with people. Despite of the class being review, it was good to strengthen what I already knew as
a writer. I learned how to correct the mistakes I overlooked in the past. The class was overall
easy to understand and it was very beneficial for myself. With that I hope next semester will be
as enjoyable as this class.

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Work Cited
Benavides, Carlos Integrity of Esports, it is a Sport 2015 --- Mentos are Great 2015