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Yamoni Marsh

Professor Cuddy

English 101

9 December 2019

A Semester's Reflection

The first semester of my freshman year is coming to an end and English 101 was by far

one of my favorite courses. It took a long time for me to adjust to a new environment and I still

believe that I’m adjusting, even now. I’ve learned many things about myself over the course of

the semester, such as the good habits I’ve continued to cultivate and the bad habits I’m still

working to get rid of. English 101 has shown me many new aspects and outlooks through a

variety of subjects and media, by introducing documentaries, researching topics, reading through

scholarly journal articles and creating a website. During the semester, there were a few

challenges, easy to grasp subjects and some writing improvements, and I hope to continue to

grow and learn from those experiences. Over the course of the semester, I have learned how to

do a large quantity of interesting and helpful assignments, ones that will allow me to move

forward productively in the future.

While working on various projects for English 101, I found it very easy to find

documentaries and topics that I would have a good time writing about. I thoroughly enjoyed

looking for a variety of different topics and genres for my projects because it allowed me to

decide what I wanted to learn more about. The time for reading often eluded me, but I was happy

about the amount of knowledge and information I was gaining from my English course. English

class allowed me to read, write and learn about many things I was unfamiliar with, I enjoyed the
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various project prompts and was able to be creative while getting my point across through my

writing.

A few things I struggled with was the main aspect of one project, in particular, it seemed

slightly formidable at the time, but I was able to overcome it in the end. During the process of

writing my paper for the third project, I was stumped when it came time to find an article that

was similar to my scholarly journal article. I was somehow able to find the same scholarly

journal article and mistook it for a normal article because of the different writing styles the two

articles had. It was humorous that I happen to come across the same article, but once I was able

to speak with my professor my confusion diminished and it became easier to write my paper.

There were some speed bumps along the way, but I was able to overcome them with the help of

my professor and encouragement from my peers.

After I figured out the places I was struggling with, it was easy to fix my mistakes and

improve my writing for the future. The main improvement I made to my writing was the ability

to use different media as a base for future assignments. Watching documentaries, navigating the

OED (Oxford English Dictionary), searching for scholarly journal articles and creating a website

are the biggest improvements I’ve made in my academic career this semester. I’m very grateful I

was able to acquire these skills and improve my writing with the assistance of my professor.

Going into English 102 next semester, I hope to gain even more skills and knowledge that will

better prepare me for the future.

The trials and tribulations of the semester allowed me to grow, develop a multitude of

skills and obtain insightful knowledge. English 101 helped me advance in my writing skills,

improve from my mistakes and use different sources to obtain information. As I learned to find

different forms of rhetoric in documentaries, navigate the OED, search for scholarly journal
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articles and handcraft a website, I was introduced to a new type of writing that sparked a passion

for writing. Many years of learning the complex aspects of grammar and writing structure, lead

my writing to where it is today, with many more years to come I’ll continue to perfect my

writing over time.