David Herman-Chavez

Emily Litle

ENG 121.002

12 December 2017

Reflection

Despite my distaste for writing of any kind I must admit I feel I have improved and

learned a few different styles that I believe will benefit me in the future. When English 121

commenced I wasnt even sure I would finish the semester let alone pass the class. This is due to

lack of experience in writing the specific papers the instructor chose for the semester. Yet with

diligence, I was able to persevere and expand my writing abilities. This gives me hope for what I

might be able to do in the future if I continue to progress as a writer.

In the beginning of the semester before we started any major papers we began writing

journals. Journals were intended to keep us writing all throughout the semester and in-between

major papers. Since I have a revulsion to all forms of writing, I found this unbelievably painful

and required more effort than I would like to admit. In my journal number two titled, Unnoticed

but Necessary, I felt it was a depressing paper and could be a perfect reflection of my attitude

towards writing. This was because journal two took me awhile to write and I became uncertain

of being able to produce long papers in the future making me depressed among other things.

However as the semester progressed I began to gain speed in writing, soon I was able to produce

a journal within a fraction of the time. This built my confidence for writing the bigger

assignments and allowing me to finish out the semester.

The first major paper the instructor assigned us to write in the class was a visual analysis

of a photo that we had the opportunity to choose. The purpose was to critically examine a photo
and determine what rhetorical strategies were utilized and for what purpose. This expanded my

knowledge on what the image was really trying to convey, because normally I dont even think

twice about the barrage of images I see throughout the day. Having to describe the subtlety in the

imagery to someone who has never seen the photo was something I was weak in as a writer.

Learning about Ethos, Pathos, and logos really helped me provide the reader with a more in

depth description. This allowed me paint a more vivid image, ultimately helping them visualize

and get a better understanding of the image. With any luck, I can retain the information of how

rhetorical strategies are used so I can better explain images in more detail giving my papers more

volume in the future.

Another area in which I was weak and benefited immensely from was when we wrote a

summary and reflection on John Swales The Concept of a Discourse Community. According

the Paper 2 assignment sheet a summary should, accurately encapsulate and express the thesis

and major supporting points from the source article. Summarizing Swales article proved to be

difficult for me, mainly because I did not believe I fully understood what the author was even

trying to convey in the first place. Then having zero confidence in what I read lead to a difficulty

in reflecting on the article. However, because I was forced out of my comfort zone and wrote the

paper because we were required, I was able to get a better understanding for how the paper

should be organized and properly cited. Although, upon receiving my grade on the final draft of

my paper, I learned that I was not properly citing and that in the future I need to put citations

next to sentences that I paraphrased.

This leads me to an extremely important step that I acknowledge the benefits of and yet

have a very hard time accepting, the peer review. As a person who dislikes writing I

exceptionally dislike having people read what I write. Even worse is having to read other peoples
papers and give constructive criticism. When you feel like a 9th grader could out produce you,

you feel like you are not qualified to review other papers and feel embarrassed at the quality of

paper you produce. Nevertheless, the insight I received from my peers offered me views and

ideas I never thought of. As a writer, you might not include information assuming the reader

knows and having a peer review your paper they are able to ask questions to things you might

not have noticed. Although I will admit, I rarely made changes based on their recommendation

and I still managed to get decent grades on my papers.

To me the most important review I received on my paper was from the instructor. She

was able to point out areas of my papers that were weak and or needed more detail. Specifically

on paper 4 the argumentative research paper, she was able to ask questions like why do people

choose supply-side economic theory? and why is supply-side economic theory bad? Who will

it hurt? Since I plan on going to school for economics, I did not take into consideration that the

reader might not be familiar with the variety of economic theories available. This made me re

think of how I write my papers going forward, because I normally did not take into consideration

who will be reading it. Now I will elaborate on what the issues are, how they will affect, and

whom they will affect.