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Hiram Reyes
English 1301 280
Professor Julie Baker
23 April 2024
Semester Reflection Draft 1

Throughout this English 1301 course, I have gained the ability to learn and improve on

many things…Specifically, I built on my brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing

writing processes. Moreover, I gained the ability to generate ideas, organize my thoughts

effectively, and modify them to improve my essays' clarity, coherence, and quality. The many

discussion boards and the assigned peer-review articles are some assignments that have helped

me understand these processes to a better extent. Being able to learn these processes has also

helped me make good analyses in other classes. An example of this is being able to write a well-

critiqued analysis of many subjects for my history and philosophy classes. These writings

provide analyses that have demonstrated a fine distinction of complex ideas. The application of

thinking analytically highlights the many impacts of the skills I have gained from English 1301.

Moving on, learning about analysis in this course was challenging, but I eventually

grasped it. By doing the genre, visual, and rhetorical analysis, the class helped me delve deeper

into the meaning of the text employed by authors. I have learned to identify an author's purposes

and ideas, as well as how to evaluate the effectiveness of the processes that were used throughout

a paper. Another thing I learned was being able to incorporate evidence from a text to improve

the success of a coherent argument. Including these newly found skills in my current skills have

helped me develop my analytical skills, which enabled me to use critical thinking skills and

apply better insight to my writing. As mentioned in the first paragraph, some things that helped
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me understand these analyses were the discussion boards and the assigned peer review articles;

however, another source that helped me was reading the Lunsford book assigned to us at the

beginning of the course.

In addition to learning about analysis, learning about revising was also something that incredibly

positively affected my writing. Solely off of revising, I enhanced a vast range of skills that

contributed to my writing process. The essay I gained the most knowledge of revising was from

my second essay. Visual analysis is a complex genre that requires a significant amount of

attention. While revising my essay, clarity and coherency are the most essential parts of an essay.

While fixing the coherency of my visual analysis, I chose to exclude obscurity and uncertainties

to clarify complex concepts and ensure that my arguments would flow smoothly from one idea to

the next. Choosing to focus on clarity was a crucial skill I needed for communication as it would

effectively enhance my thoughts and ideas to my audience. Another skill I decided to focus on

was being aware of my audience and what group of people would be reading my analysis.

Revising my essays to target my readers individually helped me understand my audience's needs

and expectations of what is to be read. I learned how to tailor my writing, style, and content to

engage my writing with my audience. Being able to resonate with readers is essential for any

writer to stay relevant and impactful with their audience. Lastly, another skill I chose to focus on

was critical thinking and analysis of my papers. In improving my paper, I learned how to

critically evaluate my writing and spot where I need improvement on my own. Having the ability

to analyze my writing left room for me to foster a more profound meaning and level of critical

thinking that's helped me develop stronger arguments in my papers. Overall, instructor feedback,

peer feedback, and course concept revision provided me with an understanding of the writing
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process. It also allowed me to gain the skills needed to produce precise, engaging, and effective

communication.

Adding to the revision of a visual analysis, this particular genre has many challenging

aspects, including its nonchallenging aspects. I believe that the most difficult part of analyzing

the picture I chose was interpreting and understanding visual elements. Visual

elements/components are hard to comprehend because of the need for a deep understanding of

visual literacies and principles for this type of analysis. No matter what picture is chosen, a keen

eye for the little details and the ability to detect fine distinctions is a trait that few people have.

Explaining the messages and meanings an artist tries to portray with elements can become highly

complex. Personally, I found it challenging to involve the many different compositions of colors

and symbolisms to provide significant insight. In addition to providing insight, it also took much

work to convey the interpretations in writing effectively. In other words, ensuring that the written

analysis accurately portrays the chosen image is a demanding task that took me a vast amount of

time to figure out. On the other hand, the more accessible part of writing the visual analysis was

figuring out how to structure and organize the essay. A visual analysis usually follows a clear

structure inherited by the elements someone analyzes. For example, as with any other essay, the

paper begins with an introduction providing context and the analysis's main points. Then, it is

followed by describing the tools and elements being used. Next, you sectionalize the paragraphs

in which you presented the aspects in the introduction and then top it off with a conclusion. Since

the elements heavily influence a visual analysis structure, the essay's revision is more accessible

than the photo's interpretation. Therefore, although it may not seem like it, the visual analysis

revision presents a manageable challenge.

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In English 1301, many concepts are available to engage a general audience; clarity and

relatability are essential to this course. A choice I made to communicate course concepts was

using analogies and everyday examples in my writings to make abstract concepts more tangible.

For example, when describing a genre, visual, or rhetorical analysis, I compare them to

characteristics of other real-life things. As it is known, every genre in writing has its aspects and

expectations from its audiences…Hence, all the different writing genres have conventions that

can be described through analogies. Another choice, specifically for my visual analysis, was

using media in my essay. Many people are more visual than audible/reading learners;

incorporating media with my essay can enhance my understanding of what I am trying to convey

to my audience. Including a visual also contributes to the meaning and persuasion of words to

my audience and provides an example to analyze and discuss. Lastly, a significant choice I made

was to use step-by-step breakdowns. Although this was something personal and could not be

applied to my writing, it immensely helped me through the writing process. A step-by-step for

me was breaking down the complexities of the instructions for the essays into steps that made

them more approachable for me. I did this by noting a guide that would start from the first draft

all the way to the editing. Planning out what I would do for each step allowed me to come across

clearly to my audience and communicate effectively and appropriately.

Moving forward, I found many things throughout the course that made the semester both

challenging and not so challenging. Starting with the difficulties, something I found challenging

was processing the genres and their guidelines on how to write a correct gene, visual, and

rhetorical analysis. Because this was not my first time taking English 1301, I doubted my writing

and gained writer's block. My first time around this course, I failed and was harshly talked down

on by my professor, so I had difficulties organizing my ideas, hoping to stay on topic. I was

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previously told that I ramble and do not effectively communicate through my essays to my

audience, which also developed a sense of perfectionism in writing for me. Perfectionism is

something that negatively affects the writing process for me because I always have an unrealistic

expectation barrier for a perfect essay. This is a challenging aspect of the course because it

would paralyze my ideas and the writing process so that I would not sound like someone who

does not know what they are talking about. In terms of actual writing, at first, I had and still find

a lack of clarity and focus in my writing. These two aspects are arguably the two most crucial

skills for any paper. Without these two skills, audience awareness also goes out the window,

which is also challenging. Writing for diverse and unfamiliar audiences is a struggle due to not

knowing the audience's needs and interests. While writing these papers, I had trouble adapting

tones and languages to engage my readers effectively. Although there were many challenging

parts to this course, there were also many somewhat easy things...these easy aspects turned out to

be my strengths in my writing ability. One of the more accessible aspects of English 1301 was

revising effectively with feedback from peers, the professor, and ACE tutors. For example, after

receiving comments from external perspectives, I was provided fresh insights and other ideas

that can help identify my writing strengths and weaknesses, making it relatively easy to fix.

Building my vocabulary was another easy aspect of this course. English 1301 provided a good

number of activities that gave me a chance to expand my vocabulary. Discussions and other

assignments/readings provided new words, which led me to improve my communication skills

on paper. Lastly, applying grammar and writing mechanics to all of my work was another thing

that was probably the least challenging aspect of the class. Again, as previously mentioned with

vocabulary, I found out that my writing mechanics were a strength through feedback from

others.
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Regarding how the class went, the course has prepared me well to be a part of the

academic writing process. One of the takeaways of this course was understanding academic

conventions. It taught me how to properly use the MLA format guidelines in almost every other

class requiring writing. This aspect of writing has improved my navigation and participation in

activities and assignments. Another way this class has prepared me was by strengthening my

critical thinking skills. Academic writing at a university level is something that requires an

immense amount of critical thinking. With the genres that were needed throughout the class, the

course allowed me to strengthen my ability to analyze and synthesize information. This comes

from the many analyses that are assigned…it has encouraged me to engage myself with

challenging ideas and arguments with my own perspectives. Lastly, English 1301 exposed me to

communication skills I did not know I had. Although it is a writing class, the academic writing I

came out with has extended itself outside of the classroom. It provided me with the proper

communication that is appropriate for professional settings, specifically at work. Some examples

of this are having conscious arguments with myself about situations, being able to present ideas

to customers, and having educated conversations with influential people from other companies.

The communication skills I have gained in this course have presented themselves with

professionalism from many backgrounds. Moving forward, the preparation of this class has been

essential in shaping my English character and my academic growth; it has provided me with the

necessary skills to excel academically.

In conclusion, my journey throughout English 1301 has provided me with many

opportunities to become the better writer I am today. As I reflect on my numerous experiences in

the course, I realize that it has developed me to write, think, and communicate at a proper

university level. Although coming across many challenges, I am confident that the skills I have
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gained from this course will continue to do me well and serve a purpose in my academic

endeavors and professional pursuits in life. As previously mentioned, this course has prepared

me to navigate through the academic writing community with the correct writing processes to

engage with meaningful contributions to scholarly discourse and be able to communicate

effectively in everyday situations. Furthermore, focusing on my writing has empowered me to

talk coherently and tailor my messages to resonate with an audience.