My Reflection Paper

After analyzing many of my written works, I highlighted my writing weaknesses along with notable strengths. Evident in my earlier works, my vocabulary was more basic and was not as powerful unlike my more recent essays. Seeking to improve, I started utilizing words I learned during the year

Though my experiences with writing have not been as great throughout the years, I am beginning to improve. I still have notable weaknesses, but then again everyone does. With that being said, I am looking forward to improving my strengths and weaknesses in writing this semester.

Writing was never a known weakness of mine. However, I could never confidently call it a strength. Throughout the course of this semester, my writing style has evolved and I have rid my writing of many habitual mistakes. I have learned to appreciate writing much more, and enjoy the moments where my mind meets words on a paper. Creativity has always been one of my strong suits, but through this course I catered my creativity to compose a variety of essays and speeches. Likewise, public speaking is something that I did not struggle with in the past, yet the structure of the class required a video speeches which was fairly new to me. All in all, I have been able to identify and modify gaps in my composition of writing and speech as a result of this course.

This course offers numerous opportunities to improve our writing. In this class, I not only enhanced the skills I already had, but also learned new writing concepts. Before I took this class, I knew that my writing is poor, and I have always wanted to improve it; however, I did not know how and what aspects of writing to improve. So, I came into this class with the ambition to improve my writing, and I have accomplished my goal although there is still room for improvement. At this point of this course, I have learned the elements that successful writing is composed of, and I am now able to categorize the various techniques that can work together to define strong

Throughout my many years of taking English courses I have learned great things. With this, I have had great writing experiences and developed strength in writing. Though I have learned many new skills on writing, I still strive to be a better writer. In this essay, I will discuss how my education, prior writing experiences, writing strengths, and writing weaknesses factor into my choice.

Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. (Eds.). (2012). Foundations of addiction counseling (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

I plan to build my weaknesses in writing with practice. “Good writing is an acquired art, and it takes practice” (Bethel University, 2014, p. 4). I hope to see improvement with each essay I write. With practice and guidance from my facilitators, I hope to one day list my writing skills as a “5” on the self-assessment survey.

This year, with my six essays in hand, I have been able to map out my improvements in my writing. Before this analysis, I was sure my weakness would have been Organization, and my strongest would have been Voice, just like last year. However, things have changed. This year, my weakness in my writing is Conventions and my strength in writing is my Voice. These two things are important, along with the other four traits that I have graded myself on.

Writing makes possible to us expressing in a paper what we cannot communicate by talking. For this reason, the writer must make his composition readable and understandable in order to get the idea by the reader of what he is attempting to communicate. This requires a whole writing process that I have experienced thus far this semester in my English Composition I Honors Course. I have recognized what my strengths and weaknesses in writing are. So that, focusing more on my weaknesses than my strengths will help me to improve much more my writing skills by the end of the semester.

English is a hard language to learn, for there are numerous elements of effective usage and writing. Many people, including me, struggle in writing because of a lack of knowledge. Since middle school, English was not a strong suit of mine. I struggled with the simplest of tasks often taking a considerably longer time to complete a task than the other students. Unmotivated teachers and a lack of interest resulted in remedial writing skills. To put it simply, I had little confidence in my writing and I dreaded taking the class because of the writing involved. In spite of my fears, I took the course and I was able to perfect and challenge my mediocre writing skills.

I was raised as a Christian and have only attended small, private, and religious schools. Throughout my experiences I have encountered many different ideologies and forms of worship under the umbrella of Christian faith. These different ideologies and the psychology behind worship and faith have always interested me deeply. These fascinations have lead me to a study of the human condition and the ignorance of man. My interests in the facets of human life and how the human race interacts with each other and with nature has applied itself to my academic and intellectual life. Through English I have been forced to reckon with the many injustices of history and how they have not been abolished but morphed into new and subtle forms. I’ve been made to contend with the fact that religion has many times been a perpetrator of injustice or, at the very least, refused to act. I am reminded of Martin Luther King Jr. who, in the “Letters from Birmingham Jail”, responded to the white pastors urging them to stand with him and not allow the church to fade into irrelevancy. As we know, the white pastors abstained from encouraging the non-violent resistance for equal civil rights and Martin Luther King Jr.’s prophecy became reality. The level of arrogance and willful ignorance displayed by the pastors has led me to self-examination. It has also caused me to examine the methods of social change that are most effective.

Of the many writing experiences I’ve had as both a student and a military officer, two events stand out that shaped both my appreciation of and confidence in writing. The first happened when I was in grade school and involved my father. He enrolled in a basic computer class sponsored by his employer and I clearly remember him agonizing over a short writing assignment to describe the applications for computers. I remember thinking it seemed like a simple task, but for him it was an arduous process for which he was not prepared. The second incident occurred during my MBA studies, working in a group of three on a capstone research project. As the integrator of our combined contributions, I was astounded when one of my project partners sent his portion, of which a large section had the faint blue background evident of a cut-and-paste from Wikipedia, yet no citations. These cases stick out because of what I’ve found are two truths in writing.

During this course, we have discussed the various ethnicities that make up the American culture and the effects that happen to each. I found the class to be refreshing considering how people view ethnicity and its interaction in the history of our country. My intent of this final essay is to cover what my views of the ethnic makeup and diversity that exists in America today. Next, I will cover how historical conditions that were covered in the class have influenced the current ethnic relations in the United States, and how my experiences guided me to these points in history. Finally, I will compare my own experiences with an individual with different experiences than myself.

Since the beginning of the semester, my writing has changed and evolved to accommodate and sustain longer essays. With longer essays, there is more room for in-depth analysis. Further analyzing a topic has led me to findings that I did not know existed. As I continue to write, I uncover addition and superior methods to approach my writing to the benefit of me and therefore, my audience. Throughout the semester, I have incorporated techniques to further my narrative throughout my writing.

Writing is not just as simple as putting words down on a document or a piece of paper, it is a process. Within this intricate process are steps that involve more than just writing, such as critical thinking, planning, and editing. Using these steps has not only helped me when planning an essay but also when composing one. Throughout this course, I have managed to improve many skills and gain a lot of strengths, but I still possess some weaknesses. Overall, I believe my strengths have definitely outgrown these weaknesses and have led to a better, more high-quality writing process which leads to improved essays.