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Megan Young

Stephanie Tatum

AP Language

17 December 2019

Reflection Essay

I have learned a lot about myself as a writer this semester. I came into my AP Language

class thinking that I was already a fantastic writer and did not have much room to improve. My

attitude was quickly changed when I realized I was not including all the information in my

essays as I should have been. I learned that I almost never included a proper thesis statement and

I also did not explain my quotes that I used to the full extent that they should have been

explained.

In my first timed rhetorical analysis essay, I completely left out a thesis, and did not

explain any quotes more than a sentence or two. My oversimplification was immense. However,

after a few more timed essays, I began to consistently include a thesis statement. By the end of

the semester, not only was I providing thesis statements, I also elaborated on my quotes and

reasoning to an extent that was more acceptable. While my elaboration might have been only a

little bit longer, the content of my explanations were more relevant to the prompt than before.

As a writer, my style has not changed, just the content in my essays. As Mrs. Tatum once

said, I have a mature writing style, I just do not go into much detail on a topic unless it is one I

enjoy. I am slowly including more elaboration in my essays, even if it is on topics I do not enjoy.

That will be something I will need to work on even after this semester is over. Although my
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elaboration is still weak, I have learnt how to explain quotes and provide relevant information

from my own experiences.

I have grown a lot this semester, I went from failing essays to making high grades on

them, and I am proud of my growth. I can not wait to learn even more about myself as a writer in

the future.