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Adrian Latosquin
Professor Haas
Writing 37
12 December 2014
Reflection Essay
Professor Haass Writing 37 class concentrated on critical reading and writing, team
effort, grammar skills, and presenting speeches on the detective genre as our center-point. We
analyzed the impact of the genre during the Victorian Era and the 21st century, scholarly texts
from several scholars, the conventions of the detective genre, and the structures of Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Our classwork focused on the different topics of the detective
genre by doing group presentations/projects and personal daily reflections, to show our curiosity
on how the Sherlock Holmess story was a big inspiration towards a variety of people. Also, we
wrote other essays and excerpts that were about the perceptions of the scholars and Doyle, as
well as the comparison of how the conventions of the genre has been updated or remained the
same in todays modern society. The fundamentals of the Sherlock Holmes story and the
detective genre has enhanced my strategic and writing skills to be more creative, based on the
information I have learned from the class.
Furthermore, what I have learned from the detective genre was fascinating, as there was
more aspects then I had expected of what made the genre popular to the public. Based on the
presentations and the wikis Ive worked on such as the Victorian Era presentation that focused
on The Hound of The Baskervilles by Conan Doyle, I was surprised to see that it wasnt just the
character of Sherlock Holmes itself that made the genre so amusing. The importance of John
Watson to the Sherlock Holmes stories, the quality trait of Holmes being a genius, and Holmess

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cunning observation skills relates to the success of the detective genre. Through analyzing the
content, it helped me learn there are more characteristics in the genre to look out for than to
generalize just the main points. It made me realize to persistently look at details carefully when
Im reading a novel or excerpt to see the main points that an author or scholar is trying to
convey, and use descriptive language when Im writing in order to make my ideas more clear.
Throughout the class, the scholarly texts that I read are very different compared to the
articles and stories Ive read in high school, as theyre more complex to comprehend. Since its
more difficult to understand what a scholar is trying to say, I had to change my reading process
in order to adapt to their higher level of thinking through being open to go more in depth of their
context. In order to make it easier for myself to comprehend their overall message, I would learn
what different parts of a sentence mean, and then put it all together to see what they were trying
to say. For my literature review essay, I would have a problem figuring out what a scholar, such
as Dove, would try to explain as its hard to relate with their content. Im confident that I
understand the scholarly texts better now, as Im able to identify the claims and topics of the
scholars easier, by breaking down the content piece by piece of what they wrote.
As well as for academic writing, I keep in mind that the information I write is accurate
and credible from a reliable source, as well as making sure the overall flow of an essay or an
excerpt is cohesive. For my literature review essay, I concentrated on the rising popularity of the
detective genre during the Victorian Era, and how it continued to thrive in the 21st century. In
my first draft, I chose to revise this section: When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the
detective genre through his unique stories of Sherlock Holmes during the late Victorian
Era, it attracted a huge audience as it became very popular. Numerous scholars have
written about the genre, and why it has remained popular for over a century. Scholars such

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as George Dove, LeRoy Panek, and Jerome Delamater had debated on how the detective genre
thrived during the Victorian Era. They had generated their viewpoints on the genre, which
includes what captivated the readers, the interest of crime and criminals, and how the middle
class during that time relates to its huge uprising. I choose this passage as I believed it had the
controlling idea of my overall essay, and I wanted it to be noticeably clear on what I would be
talking about in that essay. I revised the paragraph as it contained multiple problems such as
having a few sentences that needed to be more clear and direct according to Professor Haas, and
I had incorrectly mentioned that Conan Doyle was a scholar. Also, there were minor grammar
mistakes, and I wasnt specific enough on what my topic was for my essay. This portion of my
essay that I revised made me learn to really focus on being specific and detailed on what I write.
For my rhetorical analysis essay, I focused on how strong the relationship between
Watson and Holmes is in the BBC Show, Sherlock, and how the classic male role of John
Watson has been changed into a female lead role as Joan Watson in the CBS Show, Elementary.
In my first draft, I chose to revise these sections: Conan Doyles classic conventions of Watson
in the nineteenth century such as always categorized in the middle-class, being a narrator, and
having a student-teacher relationship with Sherlock Holmes, have been altered after time. The
revolution of Watson caused changes to the character through gender and personal traits, while
there have been several conventions that remained the same from the original. The updated
conventions of Watson that todays society perceives of the character being middle class, a
gentlemen, and having a student-teacher relationship with Holmes, has been inspired by Conan
Doyles stories and ideas of the original Watson in the Victorian Era. Elementary and Sherlock
transitions some of those conventions similarly, and other conventions differently through
another perspective. I chose this passage, as I believed it was the main building block of

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showcasing what my entire essay was going to be about, so I wanted it to be rewritten better. I
had to revise it, as I needed to introduce the classic conventions of the detective genre in the
beginning of my essay, so I would be able to use them as a reference. Also, I needed to be more
specific with my points in order to show more detail on how either Watson has changed or
stayed the same in the modern-day texts, compared to the classic conventions of Doyle. This
section of my essay that I revised taught me to write more in a formal tone rather than an
opinionated tone, and to introduce the background history or information of a particular subject
before talking about it with deeper details.
Therefore, expanding my writing skills in this class involved peer reviewing. The class
and I would peer review each others essays, forums, or ideas to have feedback on how well
weve written, or what can be changed or fix in order to further improve our content through
engagement. For example, my peers gave me great feedback on my rhetorical analysis essay.
Both my peers have agreed that my quotes from my credible sources were used well. They
recommended me to be more specific with a few of my sentences and points in my essay, as I
agreed that I could have been a little more descriptive. Eric Xian had advised me to give a little
introduction of the cinematic element, match on action, in my scene from Elementary before
analyzing it right away. I would have given a brief definition of match on action in the
beginning of my sentence, and then talk about how the element was used in the scene afterward
to show support on my topic for that paragraph.
From working in groups in presentations or projects, collaboration is important in order
to be successful. For both the wiki and presentation projects Ive done, I helped find research
information about a specific topic, and contribute on making a slideshow or a website page while
checking for any mistakes that I notice. For example, for the Victorian Era wiki, my

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contribution for this presentation was researching on the effects that Jack The Ripper caused to
the public during that time, and specific details on the case of how the person was, and their
aspirations. In addition, I looked up how the case ties in with Doyle's work of Sherlock Holmes,
and how the popularity of the case continued to increase in that time period. I had written the
paragraphs for the slideshow that focused on this topic, as well as finding the pictures to go along
with it, and creating the slide itself. Sharing the work equally for an assignment in class gives me
responsibility for how we act in this class. Also, it involves being flexible with time
management as doing a group project relates to doing the work outside of class frequently, so I
would always make time to speak and work together with my group members.
The Connect assignments were a great benefit of developing my reading and writing
skills. Since I knew that I needed to work on my grammar, and analyzing different
characteristics in paragraphs, the several Connect assignments really helped me understand
specific details to be aware of. The topics that I needed to Recharge were verbs and verbals,
and the pronoun-antecedent module. I have a good handle of subject-verb agreement, however I
do need to practice on paraphrasing and summarizing a little more, in order to be more skilled in
those topics.
In conclusion, I have learned that you need to go in depth of the material youre reading
so you can fully understand what an author/scholar is saying. Metacognition is an important
attribution to this class, as we reflect on our work through our blogs, work, and ePortfolio to see
how much we have learned and progressed as a student. I still need to improve on being more
detailed on my essays, as I tend to be too general occasionally. This class helped me become
well prepared and confident on presenting a power point or a speech in front of an audience,
which can be a benefit for me for my remaining time in college or in the work field.