Alexandra Barraza English 103 Reflective Essay Reflection Essay My writing before entering English- 103 was very

well, if I do say so myself. I have always been known as an excellent writer. In the beginning of my collegiate career I have noticed that this wasnt one hundred percent true. I have viewed some flaws I have now perfected, such as my mechanics in writing which I have still to improve on. The writing in 103 has taught me a lot of skills, and also a lot on how to actually set up an essay. I expected college writing to be a lot of how is it now. My expectations were met, except on how much time is given in whatever it is that you are writing. The sort of writing I expected to be given in English was a lot more opinionated and self-writing, not so much comparing and researching. But with that I learned a lot more skills. Some skills I developed a lot were on my very first English essay. The narrative essay I think was my best work because I am the one telling the story. I think it showed a great deal of what were the desires I needed to attract from the audience. The narrative essay was about my aunt that suffered a stroke this summer. Her eyes beamed open, her face flushed pale, and it appeared she had jumped out of her skin. This description was on how my aunt had suffered a seizure in the hospital. I think this sentenced was very descriptive and really caught the audiences attention. Imagining what had been described some of the people that read my essay said that it gave them chills. That was the whole point of me drawing in the audience. The only huge flaw I had on this essay was the mechanics throughout the entire paper.

I continued to have this flaw throughout my essays, but I was becoming better and better at it as my writing kept increasing, with more and more assignments. My final assignment I believe was the one that projected very well the type of genre I was writing about. The analysis essay was about two stereotypes that I had to compare and contrast. I had chosen the stereotype that child stars become scandalous media fiends once they grow old. This I found to be the easiest genre to write about, because I am just comparing two pieces of media. Not all child stars grow up to be rebellious and only appear in the media because of the scandal they have created, but because they are actually talented individuals that have a lot to prove and will not fall into that category. This excerpt from my analysis fits the genre essay because it actually analyzes about the comparison I am having between the two. My other examples of writing do not show. One example of writing that shows the strongest understanding of evidence is my process essay. The process essay was also a kind of comparative, but more of an instruction manual or guide to how to survive an attack from a monster. It explains a step by step process on recognizing, and attack the monster. My monsters were vampires, and I used the example of the Twilight characters in my essay. The evidence I had to write about these creatures came mostly from prior knowledge. I am a huge fan of the Twilight series and I knew what exact evidence I could use in my essay. There are vegetarian vampires, those who only feast on animal blood, and then there are you typical blood sucking evil vampires, those who suck human blood. (Twilight, 2008) This quote from my essay I remember listening to something similar to it from the movie Twilight. I chose this excerpt in particular because it helps the reader tell the difference between the sorts of vampires that exist, and that not all are bad. But it was very

important to get that point across to help the reader determine the vampire. Again this is more comparative. A more analyzed essay that shows my skills off the best would be my second essay. The interview essay I wrote about my roommate Alexis. I had to interview someone about their life, and since I was barely beginning to bond with my roommate I decided it would be best to interview her. I had to have two interviews with her to think of a base for my essay. The main idea I had chosen was the how the two men in Alexis life have influenced her, and how her relationships impact her goals. I am talking about her boyfriend, and her father. I had to really analyze the interviews; I recorded the interview, as well as jotting down some notes that interested me when she would talk. Once I was finished with the interview I would replay the recording and again jot down what I found interesting in her response. I believe in the interview at first Alexis was not very pleased about me talking about her personal life, but once she opened up about how the men in her life have really influenced her, then that was when I knew I could explain her thoughts and ideas a lot better. With all four of my major essays being discussed the essay I think I am most proud of is my analysis essay that I wrote. It is more personal and I feel that whatever question it may be asked I can always respond. This analysis essay I took to the writing center to get reviewed and having gone there for the first time I was a bit nervous. The lady at the writing center helped me revise my final essay to turn it in again as a revision. I had to compare my old essay to the new one I was revising. I found a lot of mechanical errors, but over the time I spent revising it I had improved dramatically. It didnt look like my aunt, she couldnt move, speak, breathe, see, or hear. All of her senses were shut off. This quote from my essay was very hard to describe, this is when I first saw my aunt on a hospital bed. I feel in this essay my mastery of the writing

process is shown throughout the essay. The idea of what I wanted to write about was very easy to figure out. The revision is what took time and patience to get nearly perfect. In all of the four essays I completed this semester the essay with my best and most polished work would be my analysis essay. It was my favorite essay because it was personal and I could add or take away from the real life story that I had encountered. I feel if I have made it longer explaining what has happened lately it would have made my essay a lot stronger. But during that time my aunt was still in recovery and not in the better condition that she in now today. It is my best work overall because of the imagery I add to the essay such as, What is a human without their five senses? Practically dead, living off of a machine, the only way we could say that my aunt was alive was by seeing and hearing her heart beats on the monitor. The essay to me was very personal and the descriptions I made in my essay were completely true. Thats why I feel it is my best work. In conclusion, overall I feel I have grown into a better writer because of how each of the essays we had assigned were touching every kind of writing there is, such as analyzing our own life experience, interviewing on someone elses life, researching while also using prior knowledge and giving instructions on an imaginative character, and lastly comparing a research topic. All these shaped me to the writer I am today. The small assignments done in class have also taught me a lot on how to manage my skills, and compare my work with others work. I enjoyed the peer revision because you get another persons actual feedback that really helped and affected the way I write, so that was useful. What I hope to improve in my future writing career is my mechanics in writing, which really affected my writing, because I would always have excellent content but the mechanics were always off.