Robin Keetch

English 1010.40 D
Dr. Sean M. George
30 November 2015
The Light Shines in English 1010D
Im writing this letter to shed some light on the essays that I have written for the class
Introduction to Writing 1010D at Dixie State University. These essays include: a literacy
narrative, an ad analysis, an expository essay, and an argumentative essay. Admittedly, I was very
arrogant in signing up for this class, after all, how hard could writing essays be? That thought
was short lived as the first essay was assigned; writing goes beyond putting words on paper.
Over the course of the semester, I not only found my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, but I
developed many skills. Below I will analyze each essay and discuss my strengths and
weaknesses.
The first essay, Can You Please Translate That into English, is a literacy narrative. It
was written so my audience may gain an insight of the struggles of learning to read, write, and
understand a second language, and recognize the emotions parents feel for their children. My
audience can relate to the story because they have had to learn to read and write, and probably
have taken a foreign language class at some point in their life. I chose to write about this
situation because it had been a significant problem that I faced with my child.
The best part of this essay was the introductory paragraph. It grabbed the audiences
attention by presenting a problem that needed to be resolved. I painted a picture of the emotions

that were felt by providing vivid details. However, I feel that throughout the essay, my sentences
were short and choppy, and didnt have a smooth flow when reading it. Overall, I feel this was a
well written essay; however it does need some more revising and editing.
The next essay, True Beauty, is an ad analysis. I chose three advertisements that
contained full figured women from three different companies. These ads were appealing to me
because they didnt use the typical fragile, skinny model. Each company used these models to
make a similar statement, You dont have to be skinny to be beautiful. Weight is a struggle that
women face every day, so I was excited to analyze these ads.
The introduction and conclusion were very effective in this essay. The introduction was
appealing because it stated a problem people can relate to. I feel the analyses that I provided
were accurate with what the companies were trying to imply. Even though this wasnt an
argumentative paper, it had a strong opinion; however, I dont feel that it negatively affected the
outcome of the paper.
Acetaminophen: The Real Enemy, is an expository essay. The purpose of this essay
was to educate my audience about autism and acetaminophen. Many people believe that
immunizations cause autism, when in actuality, they have been misinformed of the research that
has been done. My hope was to bring attention to the current research being done on autism, and
the negative effects of the medication people take on a daily basis.
This essay took a lot of time and effort; it did not come easy. Overall, I feel the essay was
well written, however I think there is some revising to do. The introduction is the greatest
weakness of the essay; it is explanatory, but it isnt an attention grabber. The body of the paper

is informative, but needs to be organized a little differently. There is a lot of information on this
topic that could still be added to make it an amazing paper.
The last essay, To Be or Not To Be Immunized, is an argumentative essay designed to
convince my audience that not receiving immunizations is harmful to not only themselves, but to
society as a whole. Because of the continuous decline of vaccination rates, some infectious
diseases are reappearing. I provided background information and convincing evidence to support
my argument. I also included a counter argument to those who may be opposed to vaccinations.
Vaccinations are a huge controversy in my family, so this topic is important to me. My
family has arguments for both sides, so I found this research very intriguing. I feel this essay to
be a little delicate. It has some strong points and some weak points all throughout the essay. It
has a clear introduction and strong supportive information. However, the flow from paragraph to
paragraph needs to be improved. This is a broad topic and could have been narrowed down.
I close this letter with the statement, the light shines in English 1010. I have been
intellectually enlightened by this class, and I hope to have enlightened others with these essays.
These essays have become valuable to me; they took a lot of time, effort, and creative thinking.
The never ending article summaries and essay assignments gave me lots of practice to develop
better writing skills. I have also come to enjoy writing a little bit more. Through this assignment
I have learned that essays may never be complete. I hope to take these new skills and use them in
my next English classes, and throughout my medical career.