Imani Moore

Dr. Cuddy

Written Communications II

April 26, 2019

Reflecting on my Second Semester in English

Website Link: ​https://firstyearswork.weebly.com

English is not my strongest subject and writing has always been a struggle for me.

Throughout my years in school, I have found ways to make my writing better. During this

semester, English 102 has pushed me to use my creative side. Creativity is not my strongest suit,

so I think the projects we have worked on really helped me improve on that. Managing my time

was hard for me as well, but with the help of some resources, I was able to overcome that

struggle.

One major realization that I had while working on our English projects is that making

outlines makes writing way easier for me. I am not the best at explaining myself, so it is very

beneficial if I write some of my thoughts out before I start writing. When I start writing without

any notes, my thoughts seem all over the place and my paper does not flow. Although I did not

do that for every project, I definitely noticed that when I did my writing turned out way better

than when I did not write an outline. I used to never write out outlines because I felt like they

took up too much time. I felt like the time I used writing the outline could have been used writing

the actual essay. However, now I know that if I manage my time correctly, I will have time to

write out my outline and the essay, which will result in a great worded essay.
 A project that I really enjoyed was the infographics. That project really helped me

explore my creativity. I planned out how I wanted my infographics beforehand because I did not

want them to look rushed or sloppy. I took my time with picking out the color schemes, pictures,

and other aspects so that the infographics looked nice and neat. Although it was a project for

school, I had fun doing it, which I think is what helped me push out my creative side. Since I put

so much time aside for the infographics, I was able to play around with the different features that

were offered and make my work look colorful and professional. I am not artistic, so normally I

do not enjoy projects like this, but putting my time and effort into the infographics allowed me to

find pleasure in doing it.

None of the projects were too hard, so I did not struggle with any of them. The only thing

I struggled with was time management. I was able to master it a little better towards the end of

the semester, but during the beginning I had a hard time with it. My workload was way heavier

this semester than last semester, so it was a lot to handle at once. I found myself putting more

time and effort into one subject over the others, so I was falling behind. Time management is

something I have been struggling with for a while, but I ended up finding a way to get better with

it. I bought a planner to help me visually see what I have to work on, when everything is due,

and write out when I will work on certain things. Buying a planner really helped my work life

become easier. It took some time to get into the swing of things, but eventually I got the hang of

it.

Overall, I can proudly say that I improved greatly over this semester. I was able to

identify what I struggled with and seek ways to help my problems. Being creative on majority of

these projects was fun and I am glad that I was able to dig deeper and find the artist that I did not
think I had inside of me. I overcame my struggle with time management, which I will take away

and use for my next three years in college and life after.