Morgan Lail Course Reflection Essay English 1102 Professor Voltz My Journey through English 1102

As I began the class I didnt realize that my skills as a writer would be tested as immaculately as they were. I struggled with some of the topics thought out the semester, but this only made me a stronger writer. Numerous blog entries and journal entries I struggled with took me out of my comfort zone as far as writing strategies, and techniques. I learned from a speaker in another class that to grow as a person you have to be taken out of your comfort zone. Getting back some of my papers in the semester I didnt expect to have as many corrections and notes on the side of my work. Coming into this class I thought of myself as a strong writer, and didnt realize I needed as much work as I did. Some would say that I was in denial. Looking at the revisions and inputs that were on my papers I learned some of my strengths and weaknesses. As a writer I will admit that one of my weaknesses is incorporating fragments and unnecessary wording in my sentences. One example of this is when I include I. Papers that dont even ask for my personal reflection I tend to include it. In defeating this problem I try to read my papers multiple times and delete these from my papers. Reflecting on what I learned about writing throughout the course, I find that I learned the most in my EIP project. I find my best piece of writing to be my final essay arguing that Rap music does not influence violence. I put in a great deal of research before constructing this essay. The whole process of the EIP helped me create a strong paper, because we were challenged to make a proposal, annotated bibliography, and research paper. Without the proposal my

origination of ideas would have appeared as a cluster of information that was not needed to support my argument. The annotated bibliography encouraged me to find stronger sources and find information from each that I would incorporate in my essay. In the construction of my essay I found the annotated bibliography to be most useful. My ability to support a topic based on research was increased from the proposal to the final paper.

A topic that really challenged me through the semester was the rogerian letter. I struggled to write a paper to a friend without being pushy or including my own thoughts. Each journal entry had very different writing criteria. This challenged us to be very diverse in our writing skills. For me the genre for the rogerian letter was very new for me. I had never written an argumentative based letter in this manner. We were told to avoid sounding combative, and not to refute the other side. This is something I struggled with because I use strongly loaded words in an argumentative piece. I struggled to write the piece, but found it as a success. I find that my skills as a writer grow when I am given a difficult piece. This class has been very helpful to me as a writer, and as a learner. I think my writing techniques were strengthened. I increased my ability to incorporate research into a paper, and back up my argument with factual information. I learned which habitual errors I include in my

papers, and found solutions to defeat them. I overcame assignments such as the rogerian letter, blog entries, and other journal entries I struggled with. This class was very different compared to my other English courses. I was taken out of my comfort zone when writing more difficult entries, and grew as a writer. Overall, I think that I deserve an A on the portfolio. I am not a creative person, and I really struggled with the Google sites website. I spent long hours making my portfolio as successful as it is. This piece was an accomplishment for me, because I have never made a website, or blog page. I referred back to the information on our portfolio numerous times to make sure I was incorporating everything you were asking for. In retrospect I really enjoyed this writing course. I feel that this course really helped me grow as a writer. I put a great deal of effort on the EIP project, and applied everything I learned during the semester to make my final piece a success. This course was very important on my educational journey. I plan to take the techniques, and writing tactics I learned about and apply them to my future assignments.