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Yaretzi Mancillas

Ms. Castro

English 1301

02 October 2023

Reflective Essay

The definition of the word reflective means relating to or characterized by deep

thought; thoughtful. Being reflective is looking back on a certain situation or in this case, an

essay and finding what was the purpose of the particular words in the essay. The text being

reflected on is a report and analysis which consists of 3 pages of information being given in an

article published by Laredo Morning Times.

Initially starting to write this essay was very intimidating and required a lot of

motivation on my part to “rip off the band-aid,” and start. Once I started writing the essay, I

found myself getting lost in the words of the article I was analyzing. I was looking for a much

deeper meaning and understanding of the article. Slowly but surely, everything started to click

and before I knew it, I was multiple paragraphs in. I did however face a lot of challenges that

were very hard to overcome. For example, writing the introduction was probably the most

difficult thing to do in this essay, because it sets the tone for the whole essay. I felt like if I

messed up the introduction the whole essay would feel off. The first version of the introduction

was completely off, but my professor Ms. Castro helped me get back on track with a great

suggestion. The suggestion made by Ms. Castro really helped me in organizing my essay.
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Having several challenges comes with any essay, but for some reason I felt this essay to

be one of the hardest essays to write. At this point I already had my introduction/ thesis

statement, from there I would just look at the article and really think about what that reporter

was tried to convey. This process for me was very hard, because I don’t normally think too deep

into things. So, writing this analysis was a challenge, but not one I was willing to give up so

easily on. I then started to question everything, asking myself questions like “Why would the

writer put these certain words together?” or “Why did the writer organize the report in this

way?” Asking myself those questions made it easier for me to write a lot while still being on

topic. Staying on topic for me has always been a challenge, so for this reason I paid more

attention to not straying away from the topic and always coming up with more questions to

answer.

This whole writing process was very different than anything I have ever done before.

This was my first college level essay experience, so saying that it felt different is a given.

Throughout this whole essay I had to constantly be going back to the prompt, because I would

somehow always run out of ideas or what to type next. I remember referring to the class book

and I read two chapters on how to organize your thoughts, so it sounds more professional in a

formal writing format. Reading those two chapters alone helped my writing process a lot.

Another thing that helped me perfect my essay was the peer review. The peer review

really helped me because someone who is my age is helping me and I felt more comfortable to

ask my partner questions. My partner really did help me further the level of my writing and I

also got to see what she wrote about and sort of compare it to mine. I was drawing ideas from
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reading and correcting some of the mistakes she had made in her essay and applying them to

mine to further improve my essay. I really enjoyed the peer review; it was like a win win; you

get corrections on your essay, and you also get to make a new friend in the class.

Proofreading your essay is like the final verification that your essay is good enough or up

to par with what you are expected to produce. I proofread probably thirty plus times, and I still

don’t think that I caught all the mistakes. I am taking this essay as a learning experience and like

a step stone for my other essays to come. I know my essay was the best, but I tried my very

hardest to produce a decent essay and I hope to only advance from this point forward.

I learned so many important lessons from writing my first college essay. I will take these

lessons with me for the rest of my college career, so I can be further prepared to produce

amazing articulate essays that will never disappoint me or my professors.

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Works Cited

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021. "MLA Style

Center." Modern Language Association, Modern Language Association of America,

style.mla.org/.

Microsoft Word, version 365, Microsoft Corporation, 2022.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Year of publication.

For additional information on MLA Style formatting, please consult the MLA Handbook,

9th Edition.