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Reflection Essay #2 Kylie Goad

Professor Julie Baker

ENGL 1301-181 FL23

22 October 2023

Reflection Essay #2

Essay #1 taught me much about what I needed to do to improve my writing. In essay #1, I

learned that I needed to use in-text citations when giving examples of whatever topic I was

talking about. In this essay, I used multiple models to relate my work to my main point, and by

using those examples, I needed to give credit back to the author of the text. I wasn’t sure when or

how to use in-text citations in my first essay, but by doing this essay, I understand when and why

we use them. Another topic I learned in essay #1 was not to use yourself in your article. For

example, when talking about going into a new state you usually see a welcome sign; you want to

refrain from using words such as “I, me, or anything relevant to you. In the essay, you want to

make it relatable to others, not make the essay all about you and how you relate to it, or what you

believe, remember, etc. Essay #2 has brought me much knowledge as I read others and my own.

Everything around us has a message; we take too much for granted. Having to visualize and infer

what a picture, poster, movie cover, etc. actually means has taught me a lot. There is more to life

than what meets the eye, but we usually see something and judge it based on that because we

don’t want to take the time to look deeper. In my other classes, I will slow down and take my

time analyzing/reading things to see if there is more to something than what the book/picture is

saying/showing us. With this information, analyzing visual elements of a text helps me improve

my writing, because I can use examples of what I see to explain my thinking and go into better
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descriptions of why I thought something the way I did. In the future, if we have to read

something and write about it, I will make sure that before I even open the book, I analyze and see

what the cover might be trying to tell us, then read the book. By doing this, I will not only allow

myself to start with an idea of what I might be reading about but also gain a deeper

understanding of the book. After reading other essays, I would say my strengths are making

sentences, paragraphs, and the story, in general, flow. I feel confident in my topic sentences and

tying each other in every time instead of sounding choppy and jumpy from one topic to the next.

My weakness has to be the way I explain my thinking. When I write, I feel very serious and

straight to the point, whereas I could make it more interesting if I learned a different writing style

to help myself flow in a more attention-grabbing center. Although I feel that both of my essays

are very similar in my writing style, I have led myself to believe that my professor will enjoy

reading this one more because I can go into depth about what I am writing about, allowing me to

give examples, and explain what I am seeing. They will say again that I am on the right track; I

have room to grow. Although this essay was more enjoyable for me to write, the most

challenging aspect was finding a way to describe what I was seeing in a way that people would

understand as well. Everyone sees things differently, y and while writing this essay, I knew that,

but I still wanted to try and find a way to explain my thought process to the readers and see if

they understood what I was seeing. The least challenging part of this essay was finding a visual

representation that interested me. Lastly, my identity as a writer has changed with this essay,

because now I feel more confident with myself and my writing. While I know I have much room

to grow, I think I have learned much more in this essay than in the last one. For example, I now

know not to slack off and jump into reading something but to see and analyze it. As well as I now

understand the purpose of in-text citations and can use them confidently. Overall, this essay was
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very intriguing, and I had a great time researching and analyzing my image to help educate those

around me.