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Abel Abarca

Professor Beadle

English 115

9 December 2019

Reflection Essay

Throughout the semester, I have gradually found new ways to improve my writing that I

did not know about previously. Although I felt confident about my essays, there were always

areas that I made mistakes, and I made sure to do my best in not making those same mistakes in

the next essay. Through each essay, I spent several hours altering anything that did not seem

right or needed more information. During certain times, I also found myself feeling stuck with no

clear idea of what direction my essays were heading. However, with the assistance of the

Learning Resource Center, I learned how to analyze the content of my essay and critique it,

which will significantly help me from this point forward.

In the late stages of writing my Project Space essay, I had a clear idea of what I was

going to argue, but I decided to go to the Learning Resource Center for advice. I came in with a

rough draft, and by the end of it, I had a list of improvements that I had to make in order to have

an effective argumentative essay. The main problem with my essay was giving the significance

of a point I made and then connecting it back to the main text. I also had some issues with my

thesis and its clarity. After reviewing the feedback I received, I took into consideration what

needed improvement. When I was thinking about the significance of my quotes, I thought about

the question, “why does it matter?” and I wrote a short explanation on the side answering the

question. Another question that I utilized was, “how does this relate to the text?” so that I could
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connect my points back to the text; therefore, it would not seem like a random tangent. In my

thesis, I began to think about how I could answer the who, what, why, and how, that way, I

would have a clear thesis that a reader could understand. The questions gave me an outside

perspective of what someone might think when reading my essay, which I find very useful.

When I had to write my Project Text essay, I kept those questions in mind, but I decided to go a

step further.

While writing my Project Text essay, I found myself struggling to find a position that I

was going to argue for, so I decided to write as much as possible. On a separate piece of paper, I

wrote several thesis statements that I could think of and filter out any unnecessary information.

Further down my essay, I would do the same thing for my evidence, and it was a very long

process. I then spent several hours comparing what I had written down and proceeded to view it

as an outside reader. After a couple of reads, I wrote some criticism for myself and decided to

make further adjustments on the phrasing of individual sentences. The last thing I did was check

for any grammatical errors which I did not do in my previous essay. In this essay, I looked at

every line to make sure everything was neat and correct. Finally, when it came to my Project

Media essay, I combined all the effort I put into each essay into making last argumentative essay.

The Project Media essay was one that I managed to finish quickly despite at first, not

knowing what my visual text was going to be early on. From the rough draft to the final draft, I

wrote in abundance like before and took out anything that did not contribute to the argument.

However, in this essay, I ended up splitting specific paragraphs because I found that some

information could stand on its own and not cause one paragraph to go on forever. Another

improvement I made was trying not to overly criticize myself for the most little details in my
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essay. While I harshly criticized myself, I found it challenging to concentrate and continue to

write, so I made a conscious effort not to be severely critical. Then when the time came for peer

review, I received positive feedback that reassured me that my essay was fine. In the end, I

moved paragraphs around so that the essay would have a better flow and submitted it as my final

essay of the semester.

In each essay I have written, I have progressively improved due to viewing each one as

an outside critic, allowing me to gain a different perspective on writing and prepare for future

writing courses. This semester helped me develop a skill that I never had before, which resulted

in my prior essays being mediocre. Without that primary skill, I am sure that my essays would

not have a clear and concise argument and would have been an absolute disaster. It was

necessary to be able to see my mistakes because if I chose to ignore them, I would have never

been able to learn from my mistakes and continue to make them in future essays. However, even

learning how to criticize rightly takes some work, and I plan to improve as time passes. I will not

allow myself to fall behind these upcoming years.