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Oscar Figueroa

Professor Ditch

English 115

6 December 2017

Reflection Essay

Entering college I was worried about how I would do when I was faced with a written

assignment, due to my level in writing. I felt like my writing skills were not so great because in

highschool I would receive no better than a C on any of my written assignments. Preceding

into Professor Ditchs class, I felt threatened because she made it clear that her class should be

taken seriously under all circumstances. Reflecting back to my old written assignments, I was

worried because I thought she would judge my papers with pity. As we got deeper into the

semester I learned many important qualities that my past teachers seemingly failed to teach me.

My level of critical reading improved by annotating, analyzing quotes, and summarizing class

readings. Throughout the semester there were specific assignments that would help us for the

final essay at the end of the projects. In my previous classes the teachers would give us articles to

read, and then have us write an essay about it without thoroughly analyzing the articles like we

did in Professor Ditchs class. With all this new knowledge that I grasped from this course it is

evident that I dramatically improved as writer.

For Project Space unsurprisingly I received another C on my final essay. This was no

shock to me because I was still adjusting to this new way of analytical thinking and writing. I

was just beginning to grow as a writer. I also only went to the Learning Resource Center (LRC )

once thinking that I did not need it. I did not fully understand the topic of gender and spaces, so I

was not really able to elaborate what I was trying to say. For some reason I also felt embarrassed
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and shy to ask the help from anybody including the professor. I didnt want to come off

unintelligent even though I truly needed a better understanding of the topic. The assignments that

came before the essay were the only materials that I could rely on to write that essay. When I

received my essay and saw all the helpful comments that Professor Ditch kindly placed on the

margins I was relieved to see such helpful feedback. Professor Ditchs positive feedback allowed

me to better improve and prosper on my future assignments. My mistakes consisted of unclear

statements, diction errors, lack of textual support, and clarity. I took all my mistakes into account

and made sure that I would not let these mistakes occur again. After seeing all the mistakes that I

made in Project Space, I reflected back on my essay and improved in the areas I needed too. This

allowed me to flip the switch and flourish in my next essay, Project Text.

I showed that I immensely improved as a writer in Project Text by receiving an A on

my final essay. I believe that I was able to achieve this grade because I thoroughly analyzed, as

well as provided a stronger argument by using textual support and clearly elaborating my claims.

Professor Ditchs feedback from my essay, Project Space, allowed me to focus on my

improvements in clarifying my Project Text essay. Her feedback on my previous essay helped

me as well as learning to receive all the help I can get. I pushed myself to attend more tutoring

sessions at the Learning Resource Center to improve my writing skills as well as attending office

hours when needed. Professor Ditchs office hours allowed me to get any questions answered

which allowed me to be very clear and specific in my Project Text essay. Throughout my Project

Text essay I improved on making solid statements, providing evidence, and thoroughly

specifying topics throughout my essay. For example I would make a claim and then support that

claim by adding textual evidence that made my claim stronger. In the Project Text essay I went

into detail with clarifying each paragraph whereas in Project Space I lacked that writing skill.
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The Project Text essay was a well-written product based on the learning experience from the

other Project Space essay.

Thanks to what I have learned in my time here in English 115, revising my Project Space

essay was not as difficult as I found it to be at the beginning of the semester. I was able to easily

change my past mistakes, like not including evidence or making a clear statement. For example,

on page three Professor Ditch kindly pointed out that I should add textual support after claiming

that I am feminine for showing my sensitivity in spaces with friends. To support this claim I got

a quote from Aaron Devors article Becoming members of Society, that stated that to be

masculine one must have a degree of emotional insensitivity. Therefor making me feminine

because I am not conforming to this masculine trait by being sensitive. In this essay I also

noticed that it was not really that interesting and it lacked the appeal to grab a reader's attention.

For this reason I decided to uses something else that I learned in this class which was painting a

picture in the reader's mind. For instance on page two when I was talking about Day N Night I

used details that paint a picture of the intensity of the mosh pits.

In Project Text though I did receive an A, I also made a few mistakes that I learned

from. For example, I did not organize my essay in a way that would have made it more effective.

In my reflection I proved that I learned from this and I was able to organize that essay in the way

it should have been. There was also some statements that were not so clear, so I went back in my

revision to make my statements understandable.

Going from a C paper to an A proves that my writing skills have without a doubt

improved while attending Professor Ditch class. I am now able to make strong arguments that are

supported with clear credible sources. I am now also able to organize my written assignments in
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a way that flows perfectly. I have come a long way since the beginning of the semester and hope

to keep improving as a writer.