Lanter 1

Nevaeh Lanter

Ms. Castro

English 1301

30 September 2023

A Look in The Mirror

Every morning I get up and look in the mirror. When I do this I look at my physique and

ask myself, “how do I make myself better,” I look at what I did the day before and manipulate it

to better myself for the day to come. This essay is my look in the mirror on my first essay in

college. It deals with taking what I have learned from this essay to better prepare myself for the

future writings, and other courses. I have asked myself many questions and formulated answers

to share with you.

I have learned that there are many different genres and typically a genre isn’t just one in

particular. It is usually a cross between two or more. The genre is also determined by the

rhetorical situation. There are many concepts to rhetorical situations and they differ from creator

and reader. The concepts of genre and rhetorical situation can help me in other courses by

opening my mind to take in information in a new light. By considering the genre, I can better

approach the text in a way tailored to that genre in turn allowing the information to be retained in

a better way. By considering the rhetorical situation of the creator and my own rhetorical

situation, I can better understand what is being communicated because I know the background

and purpose of the text. For example, in a chem lab course the layout of the document could be a

report and the rhetorical situation is to inform, in knowing that, I can prepare myself to read a lot

of information that may be important. With writing situations, knowing the genre and rhetorical

situation will prepare me to respond accordingly. For example if I am tasked to analyze a book
 Lanter 2

for a college level course, I will understand that my audience is my professor. With this

understanding in mind, I won’t write as I would to a group of kindergartners. Therefore my

response would also be an analysis or report with the rhetorical situation to explain to someone

who is already knowledgeable about the topic; the only reason I am able to determine the

appropriate response is by determining the genre and rhetorical situation of the original source.

In UNIV I can use brainstorming, drafting, and revision to answer questions relating to

the book we are reading. I can brainstorm places in the reading that answer the questions, then I

can draft the answer, then I can finally revise to make sure that my answer flows, makes sense,

and answers the question being asked.

By getting advice from my professor, I found a whole new perspective. She took my

conclusion and suggested making a new paragraph. In doing so I was able to further explain my

point, and get my essay to flow better from paragraph to paragraph. She also broke down one

paragraph in a grammar sense and helped me gain a view and knowledge to see, find, and fix

each paragraph to flow, be informative, and be grammatically correct. Following that, she

reminded me that I am writing to answer questions and that the questions are known by the

reader. I had kept the questions in my paper and she advised me to take them out for that reason.

In doing so my essay took on a more informative and professional tone.

By getting my essay peer reviewed, I got the opinion of my audience on my work. He

explained some points that were too bland or repetitive. To fix this I dug deep into my

vocabulary. He also pointed out that I was straying off topic. I have always had a problem doing

that, so I refocused and re-read my paragraphs. In doing so I found places that strayed from the

main focus of the essay and reconstructed them to support the main topic.
 Lanter 3

By proofreading I realized that in some areas it was unclear what point I was trying to

make. I also found that some of the information I was giving wasn’t even related to the

questions being asked. One example of each is I never mentioned how the genre was the way to

go to communicate, and I was talking about how it is hard for a lot of people to understand

components of new technology. Becoming aware of these problems will help me in other

assignments to better organize my work, and it has helped me better understand my tendencies as

a writer.

The most challenging part of this essay was staying on topic and connecting the

information to the point I was making. To overcome this challenge I asked my peers and used

trial and error. I would write a sentence or two connecting my evidence, read it over, then

determine if it lacked information or if the connection wasn’t clear. The way I stayed on topic

was by focusing on one thing at a time. I would complete one paragraph, read what the next one

should be about, then began the next one. By taking breaks to revisit the criteria I reset my focus

on the task I had in front of me. Getting practice and being more aware of this will help me in

future and current courses by highlighting my weak points so that I can be more aware of them

and strengthen them throughout my writing career.

The least challenging part of this essay for me was the introduction. It has always been

easy for me to be creative and make connections. In my introduction, I warmed up the readers

with a background to instruction manuals and guides without them knowing that my document

was a guide. In doing so, the reader is drawn in and prepared to talk about a big thing being

broken down.

The reflection process is all about breaking things down and thinking about the process of

getting there. How did you get there, what was hard, what could have been better, and many
 Lanter 4

more questions are asked when reflecting on a piece of work. Overall my essay was good for

being the first one in college. It helped me recognize what my weak points are and uncovered

ways to overcome them and strengthen them. My look in the mirror was a positive look, but a

look that also recognizes there is room for improvement.