Duane Bascom

English 1010

English 1010 Reflection Paper

I honestly only took English 1010, like a lot of students, because it is required for the

degree I’m working towards. I was hoping to learn skills that would help me succeed in my next

English classes that I will take. I use writing at work quite often and was also looking to improve

some skills for my communication and presentations in the workplace.

I was surprised to find this class not so focused on spelling errors, like so many English

classes beforehand, but more focused on the structure of your papers and critical thinking on

your subjects. We learned how to analyze our papers so that we can reach our readers in the

way we intend to tell our stories. We learned about many common writing mistakes that

writers make in their writings.

I myself always thought I was a decent English student and that it always has come easy

to me. I’m decent at writing papers in short time frames. I have learned that in doing so that I

either quote my resources too much or that I’m not analytical or detailed enough. I commonly

lack giving reason why my sources or statements prove my thesis or work against my thesis.

This is a skill I feel like I have improved but still feel like I need to keep improving on and hope

to do so when I take my next English class.

The biggest thing I improved during this class was my ability to analyze my past work or

others works and if they were effective or not in getting their message across, the way they

intended. I learned how to identify the audience they were trying to reach and how well they

did this. We also went into great depth on how to cite our sources in different formats for our

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 Duane Bascom
English 1010

papers which was a great skill that I needed a refresher on. I feel like my writing and my

comprehension of others’ writings has greatly improved since taking this class.

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