Rebekah Clark

Professor Moore

ENGL 1301

30 April 2018

The Reflection of a College Student

I began this semester already aware of some of the areas in my writing that I struggled

with. After the first few writing assignments, I learned that there were quite a few other areas in

my writing that needed improvement. This class was without a doubt, the most challenging

writing course I have taken and certainly caused me to step out of my normal writing habits and

sculpted me into a more skilled written communicator. In the beginning, it was clear that the

areas in which I had the most difficulty were with deciding on an outline, having sentences that

were too long, and properly formatting my works cited page.

In the first major essay we were assigned, I had a difficult time trying to decide on body

paragraphs and coming up with what to write on. The growth of my writing is shown from how

my writing changed from the review essay, to the report essay and the visual analysis. There is

no where in my essays that I can physically show how I improved on choosing body paragraphs,

but throughout the semester, I know that this is one of the ways this course helped me become a

better and more time efficient writer. After doing peer reviews and writing more of my own

essays, I know that I have improved in this area.

Having sentences that were too long was another area that I struggled with in my review

essay. Sentences being too long and having awkward sentences were reoccurring problems I had

throughout my first major essay. The way I overcame this obstacle was to revise, revise, revise.

Using information in the power points and handouts provided by Professor Moore, I was able to

learn how to correctly review an essay, by knowing what to look for.

 The final area in which I struggled was in citing sources. In the first essay, I not only

incorrectly incorporated sources into sentences, but I also struggled with the formatting of the

works cited page. By completing the report essay, using citation machine, and getting feedback

on how to improve from my review essay, I was able to overcome this area of my writing. I

believe that my success in incorporating sources and formatting my works cited page, is best

shown in my visual analysis report that I completed.

In the end, I am thrilled with the outcome of this semester and I believe that I learned a

lot of valuable information that will assist me in the future. By completing this course, I have

developed skills that will not only help me to succeed academically, but also in life. I believe that

the journey I took in my writing from the beginning of the semester to now reflecting on what I

have learned, has been impeccable. I look forward to further improving my writing when I

continue onto other writing courses. By overcoming my struggles with body-topic paragraphs,

having long sentences, and difficulty in incorporating sources, I have learned effective

development, interpretation and expression of ideas, through communication in writing.