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Carmen Bernal

Professor Parker

ENGL 1302.2IN

13 Aug 2019

Reflective Essay

Taking Composition II this second semester has helped me reflect on what I can do to

improve my overall writing which will benefit me in future college courses as well as my

potential career. The different types of papers and required techniques of each style of writing

have helped me learn to write to different audiences. This class has taught me many strategies

that can be useful for other courses. Some strategies include organization, outlines, word choice

and style of writing.

I believe that when writing the proposal argument is where I saw the most improvement

with effectively organizing a paper. In my opinion, my thesis statement thoroughly stated the

three main topics that were discussed in my body paragraphs. In the writing assignments before

this one that was one main struggle that I faced. For example, in the Casual Argument the

feedback given was, “I don't see a clear causal claim here. I can't help but feel that overall, your

essay is suggesting that people start out as either extroverts or introverts, an typically stay that

way throughout their lifespan, except when they don't” This comment helped me to refocus my

entire paper and make improvements on my argument before the final submission. I would drift

off the topic, which would make it seem as if all of my body paragraphs were all over the same

topic. The next helpful comment given for that same assignment stated, “Essentially, your causal

claim would be personality development (as and effect) has the following main causes

____________, _____________, and __________”. This feedback provided a focus for the
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thesis statement, which helped me to reorganize my work without feeling the need to start from

scratch. With feedback from the professor and other students throughout the semester, my

organizational skills seemed to have improved, especially in our last major essay assignment.

My outlines and rough drafts helped with my writing assignments this semester. Before

taking this course, along with 1301, I learned about how writing a rough draft is important.

Before I would write my paper and just slightly edit it. Throughout this course, I have written a

rough draft and completely changed my topic because of the comments I received from the

professor, students, as well as online tutors and grammar websites, which were extremely

helpful. For example, when I was given the comment, “I do not see any evidence that supports

your claim regarding a "cause". You have also not cited any sources, leaving me to take your

word that what you say is in fact true, and that does not work in academic writing. You are

expected to cite expert sources to back up your claims”. This helped me to realize that I needed

more reliable sources to make my claims valid.

Throughout this course, I have also learned a lot about expanding my word choice. Along

with expanding my vocabulary. Mostly, throughout both English courses, I have learned to

refrain from using the word “you”. I never used to notice when adding in the word, “you”, when

writing in the third person, but ever since I started to get comments about using the word too

much, I start catching myself now. In addition, I make sure to change it to a different word when

I catch myself using it.

Lastly, throughout this course, all of the different styles of writings have helped

broadened the types of writing I was used to. I now know many different styles of writing, along

with many topics. This class has also taught me ways of finding new topics to write about by

utilizing the course textbook and the ability to read and comment on other students’ writings has
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also been very helpful for me in developing my style. This course has taught me many life

lessons that I plan on using in further college courses. Also, I am very eager to see what the rest

of my college life has in store for me.