Final Reflection

Throughout this first semester of college level English, I would like to believe that I
learned a lot about my writing as well as what to improve. Starting with the largest lesson, I
learned the difference between sound content and fluff. Until it was pointed out to me, I had to
idea that I was writing fluffy statements or repetitive paragraphs, I believed that what I was
writing was important to the goal of the paper, but now I can tell the difference. This aspect is the
reason I had to re-write an entire paper (paper two) and greatly revise another (paper three) This
problem was greatly abundant in paper two because the word count was very high (2100 word
minimum) so after around the third paragraph of the paper I was finished delivering all my
information so I had to spend the next four or so paragraphs restating what I said in the first
three, instead of coming out with more information to back up my argument. Fluffy statements
also involve long, drawn out beginnings to sentences. For example, to begin a sentence for paper
three I wrote If I could put this picture into a category dealing with types of colors I would put it
in the pile of bold, bright advertisements Not only was the end of the sentence complete fluff
but the beginning spends way to long to get to what the color of the picture actually represents
and when it finally gets to the meat of the sentence, it all just turns out to be fluff. I ended up
removing that sentence completely from my current, updated paper three because it held no
significance for my paper. Another large lesson that I learned, mostly from papers two and three,
was the importance of not using statements like We concluded in the last paragraph or Lets
take a look at this because it is you doing the research and it is you revealing it, not the reader. It
is your job as the writer to present the information to the reader, not act as though you and the
reader are the same person going through the same experience. The last of the three very large
lessons was the importance of proofreading and checking your grammar. I thought just reading

the paper once through would be enough to notice all possible grammatical errors. I know now
that its best to re-read the paper multiple times on multiple occasions. I also found it very
helpful for students in class to proofread my papers because they see things that I would never
have saw and for the most part give me adequate advice on how to revise. For future papers I
will be sure not only to proofread my papers very thoroughly, but also to let others read them to
find things that I may have missed. I also learned much more about whom I am as a writer from
taking this course as opposed to any English class that I have had in the past. I learned that I am
better at writing a story (paper one) then I am at writing a research paper (papers two and three)
though now, even though they are not my favorite papers to write, I know how to write one
without half of it being composed of fluffy statements, incorrect uses of we and lets and
large quantities of grammatical errors. Another lesson I learned from writing these papers is to
always cite a source if you need to, what I mean by this is that if you want/need to state a certain
fact to help your case in your paper, be sure to cite it or it is just opinionated. For example, in one
of my first drafts of paper three I stated It is recommended, for protein synthesis to take effect,
that each person should eat one gram of protein per pound of body weight this information is
actually critical for proving a point later in the paper so it is detrimental to mention it but even
more important to cite. Another reflection of paper three would be to remember that the paper is
about an advertisement and an anti-advertisement. What I mean by this is to not spent three
quarters of the paper talking about the original advertisement and whats wrong with it, but to
mention both advertisements equally as much as well as what they are about and how they
compare and contrast. For example, in my first final draft for paper three, I went through the
entire intro paragraph without even mentioning the anti-advertisement and the paper itself is
supposed to be about the anti-advertisement as well as the original. Though I should have already

known this, I also learned to not mention past authors in your paper from cited sources by their
last name. For example, I referred to Michael Mathews later in the paper as just Michael A
major lesson that I will definitely bring with me to future English classes would be to stick with
your argument throughout the entire paper; do not swing sides or stay on the fence. For instance,
in paper three I spent the major bulk of the paper talking about how BCAAs yield no results, I
even put the words No Results on the anti-advertisement for the paper. This would be fine if I
could back it up, but I could not, because though BCAAs barely help your athletic performance
or recovery, it does a little, and a little isnt No Results So when I got my paper three back
from my instructor I had to change the entire focus of the essay from BCAA Increases
Ignorance to BCAA OVERpromises UNDERdelivers In paper two and three I also learned
how to correct my Work Cited page. I had never used a hanging indent before in my work
cited so I originally got points off my paper, but now I know how to create a hanging indent and
also when to use it for my work cited section of my papers. Referring back to paper one, I
learned that if you mention something in your paper that is completely irrelevant to your paper
and you will not end up using it later on to support your argument, then do not even include it in
your paper. For example, in the very first sentence of paper one I wrote Due to circumstances
that need not be mentioned If Im not going to ever mention it again or expand on it, then there
is no point in mentioning it in the first place. This could also tie into not included fluffy
statements or beginnings to sentences. Paper one also taught me to not indent my header, but to
line it up to the non-indented portion of my paper. Another very important lesson that I will
definitely be taking to heart next time I write a paper would be to watch my tone when writing a
paper. For example, in paper three I originally called the BCAA product a profane name as well
as mention the word Damn in the wrong context. Originally I didnt know it would be

considered non-formal to use cursing as long as it was called for (which I thought it would be)
but now I see that the safest route would be to not even mention any curse word in the first place.
One last important detail I learned from writing these papers is to not get off topic. What I mean
by this is that it was very easy for the first paper for paper two to get off topic from talking about
the visual/textual analysis (what the paper is actually about) because there was little to talk about
when it came down to the visuals and text of the image. So what I ended up doing was after I had
ran out of things to say about the image, I began stating information about masters student level
debt. Though it is important to include background information for your paper, it is not okay to
compose almost half the paper with it. In the end, as I wrote this paper I had no idea how much I
had learned from taking this course. I learned some very fundamental English ideals and its a
great thing that I made these mistakes now then way into my major later.