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Kate De La O

Instructor McCann

English 1301.127

19 September 2021

Reflection of "The Problems Hidden in The Shadow"

Learning to write is one of the greatest gifts acquired by the human race. It is through

writing in which a person can freely express their thoughts and emotions. With various forms of

writing, such as poetry, freewriting, academic writing, and so on, there is a style that suits

everyone's needs and preferences. Since elementary, writing has been a crucial component in our

academic life, each essay and activity contributing to our personal writing style. Writing the

essay "The Problem Hidden in The Shadows" allowed me to undergo the complete writing

process, revealed faults within my writing, taught me to trust the writing process, and overall

improved my writing capability.

In my eight years of writing, there has never been a paper that completed the entire

writing process. This was due to the time restraint that is placed in grade school writing. Being

accustomed to writing in a linear process, the two-week time period for this paper allowed me to

progress through all the stages of writing. Due to the need for perfection, writing drafts have

never been my forte. When articulating a sentence, it is constantly being edited and tweaked in

my head before being set out onto paper. Once on paper, it was almost like the sentence was set

in stone, never really going back to apply major changes. However, in "The Problem Hidden in

the Shadows," it was my first time writing a "real" draft. In "The Problem In the Shadows,"

bonds, set by specific writing formats, once holding me back, were finally broken. The draft was

composed of improper grammar, punctuation, structure, and so on, anything opposite of a

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finalized paper. From there, revisions were made to create clarity, express thoughts and ideas,

and eliminate unnecessary sentences. Both the drafting and revision portions of the writing were

often skipped in my previous papers before, never really understanding the importance. Now

comprehending and undergoing the complete writing process, the frustration often associated

with writing has alleviated reinstating my love for writing.

One becomes accustomed to their own writing style, that they often miss mistakes and

are constrained within self-set limitations, thus not progressing in their writing. Going to the

TAMIU Academic Center for Excellence taught me how to break down my paper sentence by

sentence. Pointing out consistent faults in my writing, such as mentioning the "why" and then the

"what" of a sentence. Feeling like my paper was a bit stagnant, the writing center pointed out that

the format of my essay was to blame. This critic brought to my attention the importance of not

only having excellent sentences and topics, but the format in which you present can make or

break your essay.

This essay being the first to complete each stage of the writing process, there was

skepticism in the outcome. In the beginning, it seemed as though my scrambled thoughts were

mushed together and plopped onto the page. It was like a complex word puzzle trying to make

sense of the fragments and grammatical errors plastered throughout the page. Nevertheless,

powering through the writing process proved at the end more effective than the linear writing

process previously used. Writer's block was less prominent as there was no set structure or

pressure of time when writing the essay. Writing freely and going back to make revisions

allowed me to continue my writing flow, whereas trying to articulate a finalized sentence on the

first try took much longer, often leading to losing my train of thought. The raw format of writing

during the drafting stage was a sort of hiding and seeking game. Going back and discovering
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ideas that were subconsciously written within the paper led to questions, which in turn served as

more content for the paper.

As a writer, there was a significant improvement in my ability to analyze the subject of

my paper. Before, the thought of writing 800-1000 words on a Facebook community seemed

intimidating and challenging because, in my opinion, there was limited information to elaborate

on this subject. Nonetheless, after analyzing and breaking down the community from various

perspectives, a plethora of content emerged. When writing future papers for any subject or

format, analyzing the subject of my article from differing perspectives will generate new ideas,

thoughts, and opinions to elaborate.. For example, instead of just writing what a community is

and what this specific community does, an alternating viewpoint of the subject would be how the

members partake in the community. So, in the essay "The Problem Hidden in The Shadows," the

community would be the Blue Campaign, founded by The Department of Homeland Security,

which uses its Facebook platform to raise awareness about human trafficking. The members of

this community are active members as they share posts, messages, flyers, pamphlets, and so on,

spreading the community's message.

Writing is not always an enjoyable process. Many circumstances forcefully pushed on,

such as a time limit, specific structure, and set of words, make writing all the more difficult.

Despite having written other papers, there has never been an essay that left an enduring and

prominent influence on my writing. Writing "The Problem Hidden in The Shadows," there was

an augmentation in my writing, gaining trust in the writing process, understanding the

importance of the circular writing process, and brought to attention unnoticed errors.