Tyler Lown

5-18-2011

Mr. Larry Neuburger

ENG 102 Final

Final

Reflection of the Year

Over the course of this semester I have learned a great deal of information to help better

myself as a writer and also as a student. Many of those tools include how to effectively write a

research paper, effectively write out an APA style bibliography, creating and maintaining a

public blog, and also use my internet sources to the full benefit I can. Although these are great

tools, many other properties have been gained to enhance my writing as a student.

During the course of this semester, we were assigned to do research over the Holocaust in

full detail of the main events that occurred. Along with this assignment we had to construct a

bibliography in the APA style format. This style includes a detailed description of what each

source was including in depth analysis of how we use each source efficiently. After establishing

our bibliography we then researched each source thoroughly until proper information was drawn

out. While doing this, I learned many things about the Holocaust that I didn’t necessarily know

before that definitely helped with my knowledge towards the paper. The research was intense

because of the amount of time it consumed and the detailed notes that went along with it.

Discovering the pictures taken of the people and places were incredible. These media helped

enhance my understanding for the horrors that happened in the Holocaust further than just what
the text has to offer. Although the paper took awhile, I gained sufficient knowledge of how to

properly construct a research paper without second guessing myself.

This was the first class in which I created a class blog during my college career so far. At

first, I was not as forthcoming to the idea of publishing my thoughts and ideas for the class to

see. But once we began, I took hold of the benefit of seeing how others thought of the same

project and in the end it helped me gain more confidence towards writing as well as giving me

new perspective for future projects. The class blog also forced me to be more organized with my

writings. It was a place where things could be published without worrying about where the

papers were at or if I even had the material. I could sit down create drafts of my work and

construct full assignments in a digital folder that practically managed itself. The comments

within the blog also pushed me to make better postings then I would have wanted to do before.

Beforehand, I would have made half-ass attempts at writing with little to no proper punctuation

and grammar. Now, on the other hand, I tend to be consciences of how I write and how I want to

make a point in my writing. The blog to most would be considered a waste of time or an easy

avenue to points, but to me it was a place where I could get recognition and headway for better

future writing, whereas before I settled at average.

This semester forced my hand into electronics like it hadn’t before. It previous classes I

was told to do assignments from an educational source provided by the school. Although these

were helpful, it provided only a limited view as to what the internet provided. Throughout this

course we were encouraged to use the full world of what the internet had to offer. This view into

the internet brought me to new sites like scribd.com, diigo, and blogger. All of these sites

provided different and unique tools that helped with the class projects and homework

assignments. Diigo in particular helped out with the research project by consolidating all of the
sites I used throughout the project and confining them in an easy to use catalog. This site will be

used in the future for multiple projects but the credit has to be given to this class as to turning me

on to this site. With the new window of the full internet opened, I gained significant ground in

my researching, producing of work cited, and usage of helpful sites.

No longer will I have to worry about where to stow my sources on the internet or where I

can openly speak about my work. No longer will I fret over the idea of a research project or the

hassle of an APA bibliography. From this class, I have gained a lot of knowledge that will

benefit me in the future with not only English course, but all other courses due to the information

relayed from your course. The work you assigned was always helpful into making the class and I

better writers and truly helped us learn the material needed for college. The guidance and

interest provided in this class has made my English 102 experience extremely enjoyable and I

cannot stress the fact that I truly gained knowledge from you. Thank you Mr. Neuburger for

being a fantastic teacher and fully providing worthwhile information this semester.