Personal Reflection Essay

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

The end of the semester is approaching quickly and you can see “light at the end of the tunnel.” The final assignment is a self-reflection essay on what you learned during the semester in ENG 111. There were three other essay assignments. The first one was called a literacy narrative, the second one, a single source essay, and the third one, a multi-source essay. But how can I write about things I do not understand? I had never taken an online class before, much less, a class that required so much reading and writing. This is a college level course and I am just a junior in high school. I was clueless about writing a paper in a format and I possessed no knowledge of a works cited page. So, what did I learn? First of all,

While I appreciated that one of my peers provided feedback on my work, I feel that the feedback that was provided did not fulfill the assignment. My peer did not provide detailed feedback on my paper that could be adequately incorporated in my review and revisions. Most of the information that was provided as feedback were simply statements that reiterated what the prompt question was. Please see the below feedback provided to me by my peer.

I’m not a notable writer, nor have I really wanted to join the writing industry. However, I have been interested in other people’s writing. From their deep meanings, content, and different formats/styles. It’s a wondrous creation made from within our imagination and experiences. It has inspired me to write too. I’ve been writing most of my life that it has become a necessity. And now from my past experiences with writing, I try my best to improve my skills as a writer for the future.

Writing is a selfish act. The first goal for writing is to better yourself, the writer who is wrestling with their emotions, life and thoughts. Reading and writing are dependent on each other. Writers are inspired by what they have read, and they think of their own lives and build upon their influences. Every writer must read, in order to gain knowledge of what is inspirational for themselves and others, “ You learn to write by reading and writing,, writing and reading. As a craft it’s acquired through the apprentice system, but you choose your own teachers. Sometimes they’re alive, sometimes they are dead,” (Atwood, Pg.201). This statement is well

| |the intellectual conversation of topics that were discussed. I also enjoyed the learning |

Explain how you were able to use your existing knowledge and competencies from many subjects to succeed in your task.

What comes to your head when you think of writing? Personally, I think of a long dreadful process, that I am not particular too good at. Even though one half of my brain wants to hate writing, the other half realizes how important of a quality writing really is. Over my high school and middle school years I have learned many of my own deficits when it comes to writing. Attempting to over come many these deficits in my writing, I attempt to seek perfection in my limited strengths. I am going to discuss assets and weaknesses of mine, that make me believe that I am no better than just a average writer.

Ever since I began reading as a small child, I have loved literature and the written word. However, even though this has always been the case, I originally was not a literature major when I entered Arizona State University. Instead, I began my college career as a Physics major. What I came to realize after completing some of the required courses for the major was not that I was not good at physics since I had done exceptionally in all my classes, but that I was more interested in reading the articles and writing the assignments for my classes than I was in actually doing research in the physics department. Therefore, even as I was pursuing an entirely different degree, my love of literature and writing was still fundamental to my learning, and it was this that eventually lead to me changing my major to English Literature. Coming to this decision to switch majors was difficult, however the experience was beneficial in the long run. Not only am I now enjoying the work I am doing as a student more, I also understand that writing, editing, and reading critically is important to all disciplines. Had I not first begun my

The comforting sound of the click-clack of the keys, the smell of freshly printed words, the crisp feeling of having finished writing a master piece. For some, the art of writing is a frightening feat that has the equivalent appeal of being water-boarded. If you would have told me five years ago that I would be forced to write a five-paged essay with the use of scholarly books as well as peer-reviewed articles, I would have silently wept tears of fear. My writing is something that has taken me years to evolve and continues to be a learning process. From a young age I had always done everything in my power to escape having to write. I felt as if I lacked some magical ability to connect. I feared that my readers would not be able to grasp my message. For some obscure reason I felt that I was not capable of reaching pass the margins of the page and into my reader’s minds. But if this class has taught me anything it is how to push past my own mind and enter a world of ambiguity, obscurity, and creativity.

I never really thought about who I am as a writer. I have been in Lone Star for a year and this is my third English class. Out of the three classes, this class has challenged me in many ways, by organizing my thoughts, putting them into words, and writing something that will keep the reader’s interest. It has broadened my writing concept by writing essays, personal narratives, commentaries and research.

In the sixth grade, I fell in love with writing when my teacher let us step outside of the box, for the first, and only time. My friend and I wrote a journal about the Holocaust from the point of view of young girls in concentration camps. I fell in love with the creativity of writing and thinking in ways I never had before, but after that short week assignment in the sixth grade, writing went back to the standard five paragraphs. If I ever tried to write outside of the box, without following my teachers ‘ingredients’, I would be told I was wrong, until College writing this year.

The talent to write can be used to portray your strength in speaking one’s ideas into life. One of the many challenges in any career is communication. Failure to learn how to communicate with others and find a solution, you can become unorganized hence leading to deficiency. Upon finding a passion in writing for the Voices, the teen newspaper in The Reading Eagle, I found a voice within myself to share the opinions of people I interview. As I continued to write I also grew in the

In both my personal, professional life I have dealt with the issue of plagiary. As a practitioner I’ve seen the gamut with students. The practice of representing ideas falsely happens often and unintentionally. If writing represents symbolic thought I would be hard pressed to apprirpitatley name and give credit to where all of my thoughts originated. However I have learned to separate the authors voice from my own through the use of citation.

I was a 13 years old when I joined Shamrock in 2007, and it was the first time I was living away from my family. It was pretty hard to get used to everything at first, but things started to get only better and better.