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Cynthia Moreno

Mrs. McCann

English 1301.125

23 November 2021

Reflection on Essay 3

Essay three was by far the easiest essay to write. Although its word count was a lot bigger

than the previous essays, there was a lot to discuss depending on the article that was chosen to

analyze. Personally, the topic of same-sex marriage was a fairly easy topic, since the article was

not talking about the legalization of gay marriage itself but the arguments that would aid in

convincing the citizens of America to allow such practices to occur. The article was interesting

and very effective in convincing its audience. The authors, DeLaet and Caufield, did a great job

arguing their claim and allowing the readers to look at gay marriage in a different perspective.

There was an improvement in the quality of my writing. Even though we were only

required to write a total of three essays in the semester, the progress made between each one is a

great amount. Essay after essay, the topics and prompts became easier to comprehend and write

about. Although the difficulty of each essay may have impacted our performance in the essays,

the overall improvement is very noticeable. It almost seems like magic. We didn’t write many

essays, but we were able to improve a lot in such a short amount of time. Of course, the other

homework assignments that were given to us to complete every week were of great help, but

being able to analyze the work of others and being able to explain the genre they used or the

rhetorical devices they worked with were mainly due to the essays and getting practice on

analyzing articles and essays. I find it very fascinating.

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Still, even with the improvement made throughout the semester, there are still

weaknesses that are prominent in the essays. Elaborating on certain things is still a difficult task

to complete. In fact, I find it very difficult to elaborate without repeating what was just stated a

sentence or a paragraph before. Just like there are weaknesses in my writing, there are also

strengths. For instance, one of my strengths is my ability to write a clear and concise thesis

statement. Every essay we completed in the semester had a very strong thesis that I took pride of.

With each essay, the thesis went from decent to better and then finally to clear strong thesis.

The process of writing and turning in multiple drafts and then working with peers were

all very new practices that were utilized in class, but they were very helpful in the process of

writing. Having others read your essay and getting to hear about different perspectives is a very

good way to transform an essay into something that people want to read. If one has another

person read their essay, and the person claims that the essay sounds too mean or too melancholy

for the topic being written about, then the writer can simply go back and edit the essay so that

other readers do not think the same way. Not only were peers helpful but they also made the

process of writing more enjoyable. If it weren’t for the peer review feedback, I am sure that our

essays would not be the same or as good as they are now.