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Jaselle Ríos

Professor Hugetz

ENGL 1301-05

2 December 2020

Reflective Essay

All throughout the semester, there were three major essays written – all of which were

completely different than the other. The essay I am choosing to reflect on is my visual rhetorical

analysis essay. This is the essay I spent the most time on and enjoyed the most. Considering we

were able to choose a source from a select few, I enjoyed knowing I was working on a prompt

that interested me the most. This essay taught me the most because it taught me about correctly

citing sources, as well as forming ideas based off of the sources given.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest issues I faced while writing all of my essays was proper

citation. I had a general understanding on how to avoid plagiarism and how to cite sources. A

strong essay is not possible without specific examples and quotes, however it is possible to

include these things but still get it wrong. During my first essay, I did not use quotations or

examples whatsoever. In turn, this made my points weak since there was no evidence to back it

up. Even by the second essay, I had used sources but had either cited them ineffectively, or

didn’t use my sources in a way that fully supported my ideas. Through some digging in the

textbook, and feedback from my peers and instructor, I managed to use sources more effectively

in the VRA essay, as well as cite them correctly to avoid plagiarism.

Another problem I had with my essays was different issues with my thesis statements, as

well as my topic sentences. Throughout all of the essays, I was told my thesis sentences were not

adequate enough, which was honestly understandable. I didn’t clearly state my ideas in the
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thesis, nor did I write it in a manner that made the most sense. In my first two essays, I didn’t

really pay too much attention to the thesis statement or the topic sentences, I was primarily

worried about getting the essay done. But with the visual rhetorical analysis essay, I had more

time to go over and analyze my essay, as well as get good feedback from my peers and

instructor. I had struggled with thesis statements and topic sentences primarily because I could

not pin point an idea I had for an entire essay/ paragraph. But getting feedback and help, as well

as reading the textbook, all helped me to gather my thoughts thoroughly and state what needs to

be said. With this latest essay, I was able to pin point certain issues I was having and get help to

fix said issues.

Overall, all of the essays I wrote this semester helped structure me in some way with my

writing. The review essay, report essay, and VRA essay highlighted issues I was having with my

writing , and feedback from my peers as well as my instructors aided in my improvement in

writing. The visual rhetorical analysis essay helped and taught me the most with my writing

because it showed me the importance of correctly and effectively citing and using sources, as

well as forming a proper thesis and topic sentence.