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English 101-32

Professor Matey

30 April 2019

Critical Reflection Essay

Transitioning from high school englishEnglish to college englishEnglish was a big

transition for me. Comingg into college I had the expectation that it would be just like high

school english but with a more difficult curriculum. After this semester, I can say that I was most

definitely proven wrong but in a great way. This year I have faced many adversities such as

learning the concept of and how to useusing digital literacy. This was something I wasn’t used to

because most of my English classes consisted of instead of traditional writing. I also struggled

with leaning the idea of, understand rhetoric, rhetoric, how to createing a strong thesis statement,

and many more conceptsetc. Although I struggled a lot I also was successful in many things such

as doing in text citations and learning how to proofread. Taking Eenglish 101 has made me not

only a better student overall but also better writer overall a better student as well. Helping to

prepare It has also prepared me for my future classes and for my major as well.

As a writer I believed that I am very personalized. writer I would say that I am a very

personalized writer. For example, I like to put a lot of my emotions, experiences, and opinions

into what I write. Which can have its pros or cons. I like my writing to be something being able

to make my writing something other people can connect to, or relate to in some way by

generalizing the thoughts and experiences I'm writing about. I believe I have a strong

relationship with the written word. I enjoy elaborating on minor details with a plethora plethora

of information. Although, I don’t consider myself an amazing writer I do believe that I am a

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good writer. I feel I am because I have a way with words and I also know the impact words can

have. I am still learning and will continue learning as a writer and as a person. And that will to

learn makes me a better knower of things. Also, I know how to express what I feel and exactly

how I feel clearly. I try my best to convey my thoughts and feelings and the logic behind it to the

person reading.

A major weakness I faced and brought into college was simply beginning essays .essays.

The hardest part for me is developing my points and making sure that I am backing up my thesis

statement. Trying to begin my first essay was a major hassle for me, I know ew what I wanted to

talk about but I didn’t know how to put it down on paper and starting is always a major hassle for

me. Having these difficulties sent me to the writing center. I felt like my professors throughout

school never gave me a clear definition of what a thesis statement isis, so the writing center gave

me three purposes a thesis statement accomplishes: introduces the topic at hand and gives the

reader an idea of what to expect out of the paper, presents your argument, and demonstrates the

importance of your argument. Knowing these three tips already made it easier to create a thesis

statement. After knowing the definition ng of what a thesis statement is, was they encouraged

me to brainstorm ideas and based off of those ideas create my thesis statement. I learned that

writing a good thesis statement isn’t as hard as I make it. In fact, I learned that if I do good

prewriting and brainstorming for an essay, the thesis will practically write itself. So my new

technique is since then before I begin writing my any thesis statements I make sure to have a

least a page of ideas jotted down. Another tip that also helped me is writing my paper first and

coming back to my thesis statement last.

At the beginning of the year I struggled tremendously with the idea rhetoric. I had trouble

having to analyzinge how words affect the overall message words and how the readers see the
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text. Struggling with this concept motivated me to continue reading the book Rhetorical

Approaches to College Writing. Reading the book gave me a better sense of the three rhetorical

approaches: logos, pathos, and ethos. During assignment two I was able to show my

understanding on rhetoric, and analyzeow how text creates an argument. In other words, I

text creates an argument. In other words, I analyzed how the argument is constructed, and how

the elements of the text work together as an effective or ineffective argument. The news article I

used was about the celebrity college scandals. One of the examples that showed my

understanding of rhetoric was when I stated “Another example the rhetor uses numbers and data

is when the author states “Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of

paying $500,000 as part of a bribery plot to help their daughters gain admittance to the

University of Southern California” (Kates). In this example, the author gives direct numbers and

facts, which gives her more credibility. In the article no persuasive language is used to make the

reader feel any type of emotion, instead this article is intended to be unbiased, informative, and

factual.” I stated how the use of numbers and statistics made her more credible and how that mad

argument affective. Doing that essay allowed me to show my understanding of rhetoric and

demonstrate my ability to recognize and process an author’s rhetorical choices.

Besides pointing out the areas of my writing upon which I have improved, there have also

been trends throughout my writing that I still strive to improve upon. One such trend that I

noticed from my through instructor feedback that I received was that I tend to not follow the

correct CDC/MEAL template. When I quote or paraphrase, I don’t comment on it before moving

on to my next piece of data. In assignment 2 when I usedI used I would state my examples the

example my commentary was very vague. For examples, I said my only commentary after was

“In this example, the author gives direct numbers and facts, which gives her more credibility”.
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Only adding this commentary makes Making me less credible as a writer and makesing my paper

seem like a summary. After it was brought to my attention, after each paragraph I go back and

checklist every step in the MEAL plan to make sure every step is there. While I have become

aware of this issuesthis issue I am still in the process of correcting it.

Revision played a major role in the English 101 course. From the first to last paper my

revision skills have become tremendously better. Before this course once Once I completed a

paper I would be done with itit, but this class has taught me the importance of revision. Revision

has taught me to challenge my own ideas by deepening and strengthening my your argument. It

has also helped me to find the weaknesses in my writing and even discover patterns of error or

habits of organization that are undermining in my papers. Though revising takes time and

energy, it also helps you to become a more efficient writer down the road and it's something I

will definitely take away from this course.

I have gained many benefits from engaging in various forms of writing in English 101. In

my first essay I learned how to stay on topic, structure an argument, and able to recognize and

process the use of rhetoric in an author's work. For the second paper I learned how critically read

source texts and put them into conversation with one another. It also taught me how to respond to

a question or audience by providing context. Last but not least the last paper taught me how to

pick out credible sources, balance my argument with dissenting opinions, and clearly articulate

my position in an academic context. Doing various formsforms, ofa writing has helped me in

various aspects and introduced me to different ideas for the future.

Coming into college I had the fear that englishEnglish was all about reading large books

and writing fifteen page papers, and gladly I was proven wrong.Iwrong. I feel confident in saying

that I have successfully navigated this new territory, and have become a stronger writer because
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of it. This class helped me make many improvementsmany improvements that I didn’t see

myself achieving. Although I faced many different adversities this year such as understand

rhetoric, creating a strong thesis statement, I learned that I can always seek help and get better.

Taking englishEnglish 101 has made me not only a better writer overall a better student as well. I

have learned from my past mistakes and developed the necessary skills to become a more

successful writer in the future.