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Isaac Boothe

Dr. Jenny Billings

ENG-111-4501N

15 June 2020

Reflection Essay

Throughout this course, I have obtained writing skills and strategies that will be used in

future English classes as well as any other course that requires writing. Dr. Jenny Billings

provided many effective strategies to help organize thoughts and begin the writing process, all of

which were useful when conducting my essays. Taking this course has certainly helped me

improve my writing as I have mastered different writing skills. Although I still need to work on

the skill of collaborating actively in a writing community; I have mastered the skill of locating,

evaluating, and incorporating relevant sources with proper documentation, as well as the skill of

demonstrating writing as a recursive process.

Collaborating actively in a writing community has always been a struggle for me. I am

naturally an introvert, so communicating with others that I do not know personally is a challenge.

As soon as the first essay was assigned, which was the Personal Reflection Essay, and it was

time to peer edit, I knew that it would be tough. I made it a personal goal to work on and

strengthen my skill of participating in a writing community. I remember opening up a peers

essay for the first time and thinking to myself “wow, I really have to correct this persons paper

and give them advice on how to make it better.” I was nervous about it at first because I didn’t

want to offend anyone or hurt feelings, but I soon realized that its more friendly than hostile.

Peer editing is about helping others perfect their skills and helping them make a better grade on
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the essay. By the time the second essay was assigned, which was the Informative Essay, I was

more comfortable with the process of communicating with my classmates and collaborating in a

writing community. Although I still need to work on this skill more, being forced to participate

in a writing community has definitely enabled me to come out of my shell and learn that its about

helping others, not tearing them down.

Learning how to write as a recursive process is something I learned in this course that has

made the essay process simpler. Before taking this course, I did not quite understand the use of a

recursive writing process as I believed it to be a waste of time, but in fact I was wrong. Dr. Jenny

Billings, along with chapters two and three of the book, provided great insight and advice about

writing as a recursive process that made it clear as to why its effective. Writing as a recursive

process has enabled me to gather and organize my thoughts before actually turning them into an

essay. The Career Research Project really helped me understand and master the process and put

it to use. Before I began to write, I laid out all of my ideas for each paragraph on paper and

thought to myself what I wanted to communicate to the reader. The Career research project was

such a lengthy essay that without organizing my thoughts prior to writing, my essay would have

been all over the place. The recursive writing process is a great tool that I will definitely use in

future English classes, as writing essays became more clear and easier as the learned it.

Learning how to locate, evaluate, and incorporate relevant sources with proper

documentation is a great skill that I mastered during this course. Learning this skill made me

realize how much more effective a sentence is when it is backed up by a relevant source.

Backing up evidence with a relevant source helps prove to the reader that what is said actually

carries truth with it, not just personal opinion or bias. Both the Informative Essay and the Career

Research Project helped me master this skill. These essays not only required me to write about
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what I already knew on the topic, but also research new information to present. Supporting

original thoughts with relevant evidence is essential when conducting a research paper. Locating,

evaluating, and incorporating relevant sources with proper documentation is a great skill that I

will surely use in future English courses.

Throughout this course, I have obtained writing skills and strategies that will be used in

my future writing. Dr. Jenny Billings provided great support throughout this course that made

writing essays easier to understand and organize. Although I still need to work on specific skills I

learned, I was able to master certain skills and improve my overall writing. The skills I learned

will not be forgotten, and I will certainly incorporate them in my future English classes as well as

any other course that requires writing.

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Work Cited

Billings, Jenny. Writing and Inquiry ENG-111 syllabus. 2020. English Department, Rowan-

Cabarrus Community College, Concord, NC. Webpage.