Molina 1

Kayla Molina

Dr. Kevin Lindberg

ENGL 1302-102

25 November 2023

The Final Reflection Essay

When I was in high school, writing essays was straightforward and did not require a

significant amount of time or effort. It was only when I began taking English courses in college

that I learned the true meaning of writing. There are several processes and components to writing

that can further enhance the essay quality. Some examples are the writing process and the

reading process. The writing process consists of understanding the assignment, thinking of a

topic, considering the rhetorical situation, managing time wisely, coming up with ideas, finding

information, formulating a thesis, etc. At the same time, the reading process includes reading

rhetorically, being an engaged and active reader, knowing whether to read fast or slow, etc. Each

process is different but has the same result: a well-written paper. The two processes are linked,

both depending on one another. With these processes, I was able to understand my assignments

clearly, generate ideas, and present my information accordingly.

Throughout this course I acquired a good amount of knowledge about academic research.

I followed the book’s, Everyone’s an Author, advice and planned my papers based on the given

information. I first started off by picking a topic that piqued my interest so that it would not feel

like a chore to write. In this case, I chose organic vs inorganic food because I was discussing this

subject in another course at the time. I then considered my rhetorical situation: my audience,

purpose, tone, stance, and genre. Next, I narrowed down what I would focus my research on,

which was the difference between the two food products, and primarily argued for inorganic.
 Molina 2

These differences included premium prices, health benefits, consumers' willingness to pay,

consumers’ social pressures, and credibility factors of companies. After deciding what my main

argument was for, I began searching for sources that related to my topic. For instance, articles

that questioned organic foods about their consumer trust, health differences, and what affects

purchasing. Almost every piece I had picked had similar information, with various perspectives

on the matter, which was of value for my research. After all these steps, I started writing my first

paper, the annotated bibliography.

However, before I began any of my papers, the homework or quizzes were the first and

primary form of use in preparing for my assignments. Each reading, leading up to the annotated

bibliography, had helped me comprehend the context behind the project and what needed to be

done. One example of the homework that assisted me was group quiz five, which focused on

quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. In this homework, we went over short and block

quotations, ellipses and brackets, fair use, and patchwriting. Initially, I believed I knew exactly

how to do an annotated bibliography because of a previous class that required one, but I was

proven wrong. Not only did the formatting change, but I learned I had done it incorrectly. In the

other course, I did an annotated bibliography, and I did it in APA format, which was different

from this paper because it needed to be in MLA. My citations needed to be corrected, and I had

trouble synthesizing the information from the articles.

Nevertheless, with the homework, I was able to understand what was required and how to

go about it. The reading showed me how to summarize my research articles and give proper

credit. It also helped me avoid the risk of plagiarism and informed me on the term “fair use.”

As for the research analysis and position essay, it was easier to put my ideas together.

Since I had already done the annotated bibliography, I was one step ahead because all the
 Molina 3

information I needed had already been written. Nonetheless, there were still some minor hiccups

in my writing process. For instance, the research analysis was a bit difficult for me to put

together without repeating the exact phrases or words. I had to work my way around this

problem by rewording sentences more in my own words or narrowing down some information to

fit more. I also found more sources, that were not originally in my annotated bibliography, to

further my knowledge on the topic and avoid the issue of regurgitating facts. However, with the

additional sources, it took more time to read through the articles to find the information I needed.

This took away from my already limited time, especially since the articles were more than ten

pages long.

The researched position essay was the least challenging compared to the other two

because I had already been writing argumentative essays for English 1301 and other courses.

Writing the position essay came naturally, and I was able to support my stance efficiently. In

English 1301, the main focus was on rhetoric, as in ethos, pathos, and logos. After consistently

writing based on those three persuasive techniques, I felt confident writing the essay. Further

feeding into my confidence in the researched position essay, I received positive comments on my

first draft from my peers. The only trouble I encountered was trying to fit all my thoughts into

one essay. Along with the problems said before, procrastination was also a significant issue I had

to deal with when it came to finishing papers. Although I still procrastinate, I was able to make

more time for my work and provide better-quality essays than before.

Moving on, as stated before, I had issues with my annotated bibliography and decided to

revise that essay. Additionally, when I first submitted the paper, I saw no errors, but after going

back and rereading my work, I had made a lot. I also looked at the professor's comments, which

helped immensely in fixing my mistakes. Some comments included how to properly cite journal
 Molina 4

articles, where sentence fragments were, better word choices, how to fix my works cited page,

etc. Firstly, I fixed my citations since I was missing some information about the source, like the

volume and page numbers. I had also made the mistake of italicizing the title of the article

instead of the journals, so I revised that as well. I then moved on to adding the additional sources

I found for the research analysis, for I needed to meet the requirement of the number of sources

needed. I had only put three sources when I needed at least five. Lastly, I revised any words or

sentences that needed more clarification and details, along with fixing my in-text citations. I had

put different in-text citations for the same author, which I had yet to notice. An example would

be that I had put the first name instead of the last name for the first citation and then correctly did

the second citation with only the last name of the author.

After completing the revised essay assignment, I moved on to building my portfolio. I

used the app Weebly, which I had also used in English 1301, to design my online portfolio.

Initially, I had yet to decide what I was going to do for my website and struggled to find a theme.

As time went by, and I was looking at different websites related to Organic foods, I found a

theme fitting for my portfolio. I wanted my portfolio to look professional, organized, and easy to

manage. I first began by choosing a template I saw fitting and a background picture. The

background picture had vegetables, suiting my topic of organic vs. inorganic foods. Then came

the lengthy portion of the assignment, the links to my works. I could have made the website very

straightforward, but I challenged myself to create a portfolio that was as if it were from a

research organization’s website. I wanted to appeal to people who were interested in foods,

specifically organic vs. inorganic, and the statistical data of its advantages. Next, I arranged the

font, font size, text color, and spacing between each section, and I organized the different pages

with designating buttons. I then linked these buttons to every assignment I had done and inserted
 Molina 5

the backgrounds. For each essay, I inputted a scribed document, where I inserted my first drafts,

final drafts, and reflection essays. For the homework and feedback, I took pictures of the papers

on my phone and emailed them to myself to upload them to the website. The final step I did was

to explain each essay within one hundred and fifty to two hundred words. I did this by

simplifying what each paper was about and what was required in terms of the prompts. For

example, I defined what an annotated bibliography was and what the conditions were. The

conditions could include the formatting, word limit, whether it was solely research or needed a

stance, etc.

Furthermore, throughout this course, I was able to learn a lot of new material that I had

not known before. I was able to work on my citations properly, find valuable sources, know my

rhetorical situation, how to correctly synthesize information, understand how visual elements

affect my audience and paper, and use my peers' comments. There were quite a few firsts I

experienced in this course, along with information I already knew. Fortunately, the class was not

as challenging as I thought it would be and was a good learning experience. The only tricky

aspect of the course was the reflection essays because I felt as if I was repeating myself in every

essay. Mainly, since the questions had stayed the same, there was not much else I could say.

In spite of that, I discovered my writing strengths and weaknesses. With the feedback I

obtained, I found that I can excellently present my ideas and summarize articles more than I

imagined. I came to this conclusion because of the praise from the peer reviews. My peers

further praised my in-text citations and worked cited page, which surprised me because I believe

I still need more work on that. What’s more, I noticed that my introductions received very

positive comments.
 Molina 6

Moreover, my weaknesses are that I need to provide more details or information for my

audience to understand what is being discussed fully. Other areas for improvement would be

citations since I struggle a bit to correct them and my sentence structures. As for my research

assets and imperfections, there are only a few. My assets are that I can effectively find resources

quickly, with no trouble, and find the information I desire. I also take note of where each piece of

information is located and highlight the most crucial data. My imperfections are staying focused

on reading each article and gathering resources that are over five pages in length.

In summation, I learned a good amount of new material that can be applied to other

courses. With my new skills, I can effectively approach research papers and argumentative

essays with ease. An example would be for a biology class I am taking next semester that will

most likely require a research paper; with my new skills, I can accurately find valuable and

trustworthy articles, synthesize the articles, and properly cite my sources. Although there were

some challenges, I was able to overcome each and every one of them throughout the course.

There was a good amount of simple tasks rather than difficult though. Even so, each assignment

led me to acknowledge my strengths further and work on my weaknesses. To illustrate, I was

able to act on my citations, in-text citations, and paraphrasing. Overall, I grew as a writer while

taking this course, and I believe I am prepared for the academic research community. I may not

be on the same level as others, but I can still put out a well-written research paper, mainly if it's

on a topic that piques my curiosity. I believe this to be true because research papers are solely

focused on the facts gathered from trustworthy articles, journals, books, or writings. Appealing

to logic is effortlessly simple for me to do since data is mostly always correct, which helps

support a claim or thesis.