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Damaris Alvarado

Professor Batty

English 101

15 December 2019

Portfolio Reflective Essay

What I have learned about writing in this past semester was how important it is to be

concise and consistent with evidence, acknowledging the counterargument and giving a

perspective on both sides by naming the weakest points of the counterargument, and making my

argument strong and shine brighter by stating all of the best points. I realized that reading is the

most important part of writing. All of the knowledge that I had about each essay that I would

write would have to do with in-class readings from articles, excerpts or texts that we had gone

through together. Reading was just as important out of class, because it is how I was able to

gather evidence, sources, and backups that help support my arguments. Reading through

databases and books to include in my essay was something that I’d call the most crucial part.

I have found out that I am very indecisive when it comes to how it is that I am going to

construct my thesis. I tend to overthink it way too much and I try to acknowledge the

counterargument while also stating my argument and trying to answer the “so what?” question.

My weakest point is definitely coming up with a thesis. Because when I try my best to

incorporate a fully developed thesis I find that it overall becomes a long run-on sentence that

does not look good. One strength that I found out I have is knowing how to navigate the library

database. I never knew how to read from a database to find texts that support me, and when I
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found out how to properly use it I became more aware of how to cite my sources and how to

know if a source is credible.

The assignment that helped me improve on my research and incorporating evidence was

the immigration essay. I had to read various texts from different authors that would be to my own

benefit because I would be able to include them in my essay. For the immigration essay we had

to include one of the texts and also an outside source, that is what helped me improve my

researching skills. The assignment that helped me improve on developing a thesis was the

in-class essay. It was timed so I had to work fast so I pressured myself to remember any

knowledge that I had learned to come up with a strong thesis and that helped me because in the

end, it ended up being one of my favorite informative thesis I’ve written. I hope to continue

improving on the flow of my paragraphs. Making sure that the reader does not get confused

while reading, and I hope to avoid fragments and run-ons.

I can apply what I have learned in this class into real life, and in my career because we

learned the art of persuasion. I know to acknowledge my opposing point of view, but yet at the

same time making my side stronger. I can now make my arguments clear and persuading. I know

to never plagiarize, which is very important because that encourages me to become more creative

and original.