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Itzel Soto

ENGL 1302-480

Dr. Hanan Saadi

9 August 2023

English 1302: A Reflection Essay

My second writing course in a 4-year university. I have a year under belt of being a

college student and have take English 1301 to help me be successful in this 1302 course. With

the knowledge I gained in 1301, I have applied it onto my 1302 course. For instance, the

rhetorical choices I made when revising each essay was simple. For Essay 1, after reading the

essay prompt, I discovered that I had to join a conversation with scholars and create my own

research on my topic. My topic in Essay 1 was how the mind is so powerful that when one does

positive affirmations daily it can result to having a positive day. In my original draft I had

provide a graph for readers to read; however, I did not interpret what the graph meant. My peer’s

and professor were confused by the graph provided. Thus, when revising for my final draft I

described what my graph meant and interpreted what each data meant and showed. In addition,

for Essay 2, I lacked in providing my evidence. My explanations and claims were vague.

Therefore, for my final draft I provided in-text citations and provided more evidence with how

animal testing has it’s pros and cons. Lastly, for Essay 3, my thesis statement was unclear. So, I

created a successful thesis statement that followed throughout the paper. I had lacked in

providing what the researchers think about the topic to back up my position of the argument.

Thus, I implemented what most researchers thought and their researches to prove how animal

testing is unethical.
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Nonetheless, when designing my website I had to come up with a overall genre. That’s

when I came up with butterflies. In my opinion, butterflies stand for strength. The reason I chose

butterflies as my genre for this website is because butterflies undergo change. They are ugly and

soft at first then undergo pain to become a strong and beautiful butterfly. The butterflies

morphing into something better is what I stand for. As a writer from taking a first 1301 English

course barely knowing how to successfully create a paper to now being able to create my own

research papers. I have created a homepage to discuss about the author (me) and have provided a

table of contents that have links for Essay 1,2, and 3 process.

Stating back to the rhetorical situations when revising all three essays, I had homework

activities and readings that have influenced my revisions. For instance, for Essay 1, the first

homework assignment stated on my website is where I learned how to find peer-reviewed

articles. Doing this assignment has influenced me to find great articles that will help back up my

claims. For Esssay 2, the “Synthesis” homework assignment has influenced me to create a

successful annotated bibliography. With the help of doing this homework assignment, I knew

how the difference between summarizing and synthesizing an article. Thus, reading on how to

create a successful synthesis has lead to my great annotated bibliography. For Essay 3, the

homework assignment “Literacies Crossing Borders”, I got to discover how authors provide their

thesis statements and learn what evidence they provide for readers to understand their topic.

With the knowledge I have gained in English 1302 I can apply to future writing courses

and even history courses that require a debate or research. Creating a successful research essay

will be applicable and helpful when creating a experiment in a science course or arguing a

position on a debate for a history course.

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However, courses that will not be applicable based on the knowledge I gained in English

1302 will be courses like math and art. For instance, math doesn’t require analytical thinking but

rather solving numbers. Also, in art requires a creativity to create a image not analyze a topic.

Throughout the course of my English 1302 course, my writing strengths have stayed the

same and my weaknesses have been changed for the better. My strength has always been creating

a clear thesis statement and restating it in the conclusion paragraph. My weaknesses, on the other

hand, has changed over time. I either give vague information on the body paragraph or go off

topic and discuss random thoughts and ideas. For instance, one of my old writing weaknesses

was discussing thoughts that are not related to the topic. Now, I lack in giving detailed

explanations. Thus, I will be working on how I have to give evidence and detailed explanations

without going off topic.

The most challenging aspect of this website was providing links. Tech is not my thing;

however, with a few clicks and moving around I got the hang of it. The least challenging aspect

of this website was choosing a genre. Butterflies was the least of my concern as my main topic of

this website as butterflies has always been my model.

Overall, my identity as a writer has changed with this essay in various ways. For instance,

I am now aware of my writing strengths and weaknesses. With any feedback I receive, I do the

totally opposite of what they tell me. I’m all in or all out. For instance, giving vague information

on the body paragraphs then to providing too much irrelevant information in the body

paragraphs. With writing these 3 essays and gaining new knowledge throughout this 1302 course

I can say that I can successfully create a research essay and take a stance, as well as create a

experiment and provide results.