Final Course Reflection

Jacob Baggaley

4/18/2019

In Hindsight of English 2010

I had originally selected that I was going to speak about death and how people find peace after

the loss of a loved one- but later my writing developed into me talking more about depression

and that people can experience depression in many different forms and for different amounts of

time. My perspective definitely changed because of that and I feel that I understand those who

have gone through these sort of things more because of it. I honestly felt that my last writing in

the persuasive effect project really brought it together as I was able to share the story of Jim

McMahon and everything that he went through in dealing with his mental health and how he

responded to all of the issues that he had. (https://theflatlinersmagazine.weebly.com/pursuit-of-

happiness.html)

I generally chose to write all of my original drafts in essay form because I feel that in other

mediums I can’t really clear my head with my ideas as well as with words on a page. I feel that

when I start off by using an essay format, I can get all of my ideas onto a page and then I can

adapt my writing from that time so that it fits exactly what I need it to be. I can also change my

medium at that point and get more creative. For example, in the magazine project I was able to

do an audio transformation of my flash memoir because I felt that what I had written down on

paper was actually some of my better work and that the wording was excellent. Though I didn’t

read what I had written word for word in the audio, I was able to talk about my experience with

depression and how it all played together and it really brought it home because I had written out
exactly how I felt and could finally find the correct word usage when I was doing my audio

recording. (https://theflatlinersmagazine.weebly.com/finding-consolation.html)

I feel that the adaptation part of my project was a little difficult at first. Like I said above, I really

wanted to stay in essay format because I can give my most clean and refined work through words

on a page, rather than through some other medium. It made me nervous when I knew that I was

going to have to transform my work into another medium, but then I got more confident as I

realized that the words I had on the page were a great guide for a dialogue that I could create and

share in place of it. The final product is posted in my magazine project and I definitely felt in the

end that it was a great adaptation. This skill will also be useful if I have to give presentations

because I can write my ideas and phrases down that I need to share, but ultimately I can speak

about what I have written and it can be a big difference in how I share.

Collaboration in revision and design was an excellent experience for me. It’s not often that I get

my work posted to where others can review and share, but it honestly brought some great ideas

that I could use to make all of my essays more powerful. This was especially effective when I

was doing my magazine project and had to work with all of the extra people- I was able to work

with them and we came up with an excellent editors note as well as excellent designing in our

page. I was nervous about having to meet or collaborate outside of the classroom, but we were

able to work well together online easily. (https://theflatlinersmagazine.weebly.com/)

I think my main hope is that I can use my writing skills in the future business world where I plan

to spend my career. I feel that the adaptation and revision will play the largest role for me

because if I ever need to present in front of a team or business officers I will need to use the

skills of adaptation to move my words on a page to words inside of my mouth, as well as

revision so that I say everything with the best wording possible.

Ultimately, my largest takeaway is that revision is super important and when I get words on the

page and have time to revise and revisit my writing, I can often improve its quality significantly

by changing a few simple things. Peer review is also a huge help for me and a great opportunity

for me to weed out things I don’t need in my writing. I definitely plan to use this in the future.