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Rodriguez
Ruben A. Rodriguez

Mrs. Monica Rodriguez

ENGL 1302

11 December 2023

Final Reflection Essay

Throughout English 1302 I have learned how to write an annotated bibliography,

research analysis, and an argumentative essay. From these essays I reflected on each one to fully

incorporate my new findings and reflect on my writings so that I guarantee that information stays

intact. I was taught many skills that were used to guide and to better me as a writer and as a

student. I encountered many obstacles that stumped my journey throughout English 1302 but

nevertheless I overcame and learned these skills that will carry me throughout college and even

further into my career.

To start off, I wrote three essays an annotated bibliography, research analysis and an

argumentative essay. At the end of the end of the semester we were tasked to make final

revisions on these essays which acted as our final notes on our essays to finish off the semester

with better knowledge we gained throughout the course. The first rhetorical choices I made when

revising my first annotated bibliography essay was rewording my weak sentences and giving

more information pertaining to the statistical side of the article. For example, this sentence in my

last source paragraph of my essay 1, “The authors back this up with stating the consequence of

burning out and the signs that lead up to it such as overthinking, anxiety, and low sleep (2). the

authors performed an experiment. “Participants completed a survey that measured leisure time
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planned physical activity, work related stress, burnout, and perceived life satisfaction (2). The

results were that stress was associated with exhaustion. They found that from exhaustion comes

stress since they were interlinked (2). This would only lead further into the rabbit hole of not

working out (2). This contributes to my article by pointing out how stress and exhaustion work

together against your will to act on physical activity and can contribute on stunting my progress”

[Annotated Bibliography] This paragraph had only two citing’s which was lacking in terms of

the annotation process, so I added two more and changed words around, so it only said what was

necessary. I did a similar thing to my second essay such as this paragraph from my research

analysis, “Studies were tested on kids from 4 to 8 who had already had a healthy pallet

beforehand so that this test would trigger muscle memory (2). “The disruption of lockdown and

other restrictions has impacted the way the public obtain and consume food (Food Standards

Agency, 2020b). The studies were conclusive in showing that during lockdown kids were more

susceptible to letting themselves go with the easy access to junk food and laziness from

quarantine. In conclusion, it was found seven out of eleven kids were on the index ranging from

the 2nd decile to the 7th decile (7) (table 1).” In this revised paragraph I made choices that

paraphrased and limited unnecessary words so that my readings were straight to the point. And

lastly, I made the same rhetorical choices in my last essay such as this paragraph, “What

should’ve been taken into consideration is that most teens who suffered during this period have

been influenced not only by COVID-19 but by other sources such as social media, and upon that

knowledge it is difficult to truly determine the statistics when not taking this into regards.” These

sentences were reworded to seem more real and coming from a person who will argue it with

intent to critique the authors writings.

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Furthermore, when it came to designing my website, I made a lot of choices in terms of

display to show a neatly designed website for my readers. For example, I used pictures of forests

and mountains to catch my readers eye with color so that they are more kean to reading my

writings. Another choice I made was to section my essays all in their own category so everything

was organized and not cluttered so that the readers may be able to easily scroll through each

essay and all that it entailed. For example, for each section I put my first draft, second draft, and

final drafts along with the full final draft essay on display. This gives readers the ability to

download my drafts and even read them displayed. I did the same routine for my final reflection

essay which has its own category but also is displayed on the home page of my portfolio.

Furthermore, when it came to homework assignments there were q few that helped guide

me and map out my process to start off on my writing journey. For example, the Annotated

Bibliography invention worksheet. This homework assignment helped me map out the steps I

needed to process so that I could fully understand the procedure of writing my first essay. It had

columns with categories titled source, “authors claim, how they support their claim, how it

connects or builds upon other sources, and your analysis of how the author contributes to your

research on the topic”. These helped me organize my thoughts and formally gather my

information to put into its coordinated category. It worked as a table to correctly go at my essay

the right way. Another homework assignment that helped me was the Research Analysis

Synthesis Worksheet. This assignment worked the same as the annotated worksheet except this

worksheet was on ten sources rather than eight sources. This worksheet had the same categories

except with rows for the extra two sources.

In addition, English 1302 taught me a lot of skills in terms of writing such as learning

how to write an annotated bibliography, research analysis and an argumentative essay. Form
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these writings i can say that these skills will be used in my other courses in the future such as

business courses. As of now with the semester coming to an end there are no courses this new

knowledge would be of use for, however, for my next semester I am taking multiple business

classes where there will possibly be many writing assignments. Considering these possible

writing assignments won’t be as intense as my essays in this English 1302 course, it will prove

my essays more than useful for my future writings. In terms on which essays would best help me

would be my second essay, my research analysis. This is because this essay guided me in

researching on multiple sources and citing them with getting direct information form the source

to best back up my topic. This would act as steppingstone for my future writings that would deal

on researching sources for business related issues. Lastly the third and final essay I feel would

aid me in my business courses when it comes to making an argument upon sources. This would

go hand and hand with my research analysis in guiding me in my business writings.

In contrast, there were skills that I couldn’t take with me into my other courses in terms

of my writings from this course. This is because my other courses that I took weren’t related to

English 1302. For example, I was taking courses like math and history which didn’t require any

sort of writing involved. This meant that the essays I wrote wouldn’t translate into these courses

which dealt with numbers and memorizing historical events. Unfortunate but in truth there is

only so much that an English course can provide that doesn’t only deal with the inside its

curriculum. This is due to the fact that each course has its own curriculum which defines the

identity of each course. This means that the annotating process I learned is only necessary within

an English course and isn’t asked upon students to write about in other courses, especially my

courses like math and history. In the end this English course has done a lot for me as a writer but

unfortunately not every course asks this from students thus making the annotating process
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useless on my journey to my college degree. It does pain me that it won’t be of use for my future

courses for I spent a lot of time and effort into my writings, but nonetheless I am grateful.

Moreover, this course has taught me a lot as a writer and as a student. I came into it with

very few knowledge on my mistakes due to the mass interruptions I encountered in the previous

English course. this unfortunately stumped me in my process of bettering my writing skills so

coming into English 1302 was quite the challenge for me. My strengths started weak from the

start so my first and second essay weren’t so strong at first. My drafts lacked a lot of information

and paragraphs so at times it was just a couple paragraphs because I again still had a lot of

interruptions that prevented me from giving the attention my work needed. For example, my

second essay was only a couple paragraphs because I had personal things to worry about which

faulted my writing and from that came weaknesses such as structure and citing. My strengths

during my first essay were my ability to annotate and give enough information along with

citations to further back up my annotations. Surprising I was good even though I was so new to

it. There were no draft essays so I only wrote one final draft for my annotated bibliography, and

it came out well, however, I did have some weaknesses such as straying away from the

information so I could drag it out long enough to mee the requirements I needed for each

paragraph. My strengths and weaknesses did not stay the same for my second essay, in fact they

got worse. During my time of writing my second essay I encountered a lot of personal issues

which strained my ability to efficiently write my second essay. My strengths only became my

ability to write the necessary information down that pertained to the topic and my weaknesses

became my weaknesses became my lack of attention to my writing. This led to my drafts and

final draft of second essay being very weak. Fortunately, there wasn’t much needed for the

second essay that wasn’t already asked for in the first. Since all these essays were built on the
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same sources it wasn’t too much of an obstacle to progress towards my third and final essay. On

my last essay my strengths were back to square one and I was strong in my research process and

my ability to argue these articles without fear of critiquing. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t

sided with all the sources and their studies so I picked the ones that would best create several

arguments to give insight on other opinions. My only weakness in this essay was the time I spent

during its draft phase and the struggle it was to find other sources that best fit my arguments. I

was able to strongly argue my voice without resorting to first person and transfer each paragraph

smoothly to the next paragraph in order stated in my thesis. This made it easier to connect my

thoughts and arguments in check so that my strengths could overshadow my weaknesses.

Ultimately my strengths and weaknesses were back and forth but I do wish that those

interruptions hadn’t taken place so that I would’ve been able to strive even further into my

writing.

Moreover, when it came time to make my website there wasn’t anything that was

challenging. Given I had already made one in the previous English 1301 course, so I had the

skills to make another one for this course. I’d say the most challenging aspect of the website was

just the time I had to put in to make it. With finals from my other course taking place at the same

time as this course I found it difficult to do all at the same time. One of my courses would take

the fall for I didn’t have all the time in the world to give my undivided attention for each course.

fortunately, I was able to make my website with all its aspects that best fit the rubric, on time.

Another challenging aspect of the portfolio was for example, having to revise each essay. I found

it difficult to make the time for that and to find the right paragraphs to revise. When it came to

the least challenging aspect of making my website, I would say that was organizing each essay

and their drafts along with their reflection essays. For example, I made a category for each essay,
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essay reflection, and essay revision. I added pictures and the script of each essay along with its

files so that it gave options and ease to the readers. Another least challenging thing was having to

find the files that the portfolio required. For example, the drafts and the revisions. This wsa easy

because I named each draft, reflection, and revision beforehand so that when it came to the time

of making my portfolio all I had to do was look for those names and transfer it to my website.

Ultimately, with my knowledge of website making it wasn’t difficult to make this portfolio.

Lastly, I do feel stronger and better as a writer and as a student. Having gone through this

course I can ensure an efficient essay on several new essay genres that I did not know before. For

example, if I ever needed to write a research analysis, I can confidently write one with ease. With

these new skills I find writing to be easier. My identity has been more confident than ever and

with this new knowledge. For example, towards the beginning I was very intimidated to take

another English course again. From my previous one I was very weak in my writing and was not

looking forward to writing again. Coming into English 1302 I found that even though these

essays were more difficult, I had more time and attention to put towards them so that I may

efficiently learn these topics. Transitioning to my second essay I found myself to be stumped due

to personal reasons and form that came a bit weary of what to expect to for my last essay.

Fortunately, I overcame my personal battles and was able to focus on my third essay so that I

may progress further into my identity as a writer. Towards the end of this course, I have become

a better and more confident writer than before. I am thankful of the process I went through to get

here in more ways than one. I truly have come far and for that I can officially say that my

identity as a writer has improved and continues to improve along with my writings.

In conclusion, I encountered many obstacles throughout this course, and from those

obstacles there are some I overcame and some I did not. In truth, I do not know if I ever will
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overcome the ones, I struggled on for my time is divided amongst other things than just writing.

But I can say that given all of that, I have improved and progressed further into my writing than I

ever have before. I learned how to write an annotated bibliography, and research analysis, and an

argumentative essay. From these essays I learned how to annotate, cite sources, and argue my

opinion without resorting to first person. I gained a lot from essays and ensured the knowledge

stayed concrete with the reflection essays I wrote on them. Finishing up my portfolio and final

reflection essay I do feel a sense of relief for I am not the best at writing, nor have I found

pleasure in writing. Given that information, it doesn’t mean that I am not grateful for these

writings. I learned what I needed to and am thankful for everything my teachings taught me, I

can now move on further into my college journey with this knowledge and use it, for I now find

comfort in my identity as a writer.

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Work Cited

Rodriguez, Ruben, “Annotated Bibliography.” 5 December 2023 ENGL 1302, Texas

A&M International University, student paper

Rodriguez, Ruben, “Essay 2 final draft ENGL 2.” 5 December 2023 ENGL 1302, Texas

A&M International University, student paper

Rodriguez, Ruben, “Reflection essay 3 engl 1302.” 12 December 2023 ENGL 1302,

Texas A&M International University, student paper

Rodriguez, Ruben, “Essay 1 Invention 1302 Experiment and Research Paper.” 133

December 2023 ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University, Homework Assignment