Reflection Essay on Writing and the Composition of Literature

This semester has impacted me and my writing abilities greatly. I feel I have improved in all aspects of writing. Throughout High school writing was never my preferred subject, but after taking this class I have developed an interest in writing and no longer look at it as a chore, but more as a method to express myself.

From writing thoughtful poems to research papers, I have experienced composing a diverse portfolio of literary analysis and criticisms throughout the school year. I started out the year writing minimally. By the end of the year, I noticed I was able to express my ideas and thoughts in a more clear and concise way on paper. Ultimately, each composition allowed me to widen my horizons as a writer and see how I could improve as a writer.

From the early beginning of the school year to the current day, my writing skills and knowledge have improved and broadened over time. If not drastic, the change is noticeable nevertheless. For almost an entirety of eighth grade, assignments of varying difficulty challenged me to a degree. To be frank, some seemed as though they were beyond my comprehension and ability. However, determination amalgamated with knowledge obtained in advance helped me to overcome my doubts, for I exceeded my expectations; surprisingly good grades and comments are a delight, owing to the fact of that I don’t tend to think of myself as being proficient at writing. Consequently, the assignments given to me this school year shaped me into who I am as a writer.

I began this course with goals to significantly improve my writing. I knew there were challenges for me to overcome, because I have not written much at all since high school, which has been more than twenty four years ago. Nonetheless, I was up for the challenge and each week I made sure to do exactly as instructed in the weekly syllabus, reading each every assignment very carefully. At first I felt overwhelmed, but as I completed the homework and discussion post assignments for the weeks prior to the major papers, the overwhelming feelings subsided and I concentrated on each task at hand.

As a writer, I have improved greatly since the first exploratory narrative essay. There have been many challenges that I have faced in my writing, but I have dealt with them in the best way possible. Over the course of the three papers I have written, I have improved in the flow of the papers, as well as the content of the papers. This semester, I have managed to overcome most of the challenges in my writing and have grown as a writer because of it.

In his essay, "Teach Writing as a Process not a Product," Donald Murray outlines the major difference between the traditional pedagogy that directed the teaching of writing in the past and his newly hailed model. Traditionally, Murray explains, English teachers were taught to teach and evaluate students' writing as if it was a finished product of literature when, as he has discovered, students learn better if they're taught that writing is a process. For Murray, once teachers regard writing as a process, a student-centered, or writer-centered, curriculum falls into place. Rules for writing fall by the way side as writers work at their own pace to see what works best for

As this course comes to and end, it was very interesting to see how my writing has changed over the course of the semester. After having taking multiple English classes and writing multiple essays throughout my academic years, I have always been trained to write a certain way. Quite the opposite of being concise, instead I was trained to over explain and analyze the points I was making in my written assignments.

In my ePortfolio, I have gathered a series of my writings that I have completed over the course of this semester. Overall in this entire course I have learned a great deal of material that has pushed me to become a better writer. From my past courses, I have noticed that I am not the strongest writer but I do try my best. With Professor Knox’s tough grading system, he has given me drive to bshow my potiential as a writer. I feel as if my knowledge has increased a significant amount on the following topics/concepts and I support each claim with the correlating artifacts 1) Writing process Artifact 1-Writing Log 3, (2) Discourse Community-Artifact 2 Assignment 2 Partner Review, (3) Rhetoric Artifact 3- Assignment 1, (4) Genre Artifact 4- Reading Notes Week 10; and (5) Critical Thinking, Reading, and Research—Artifact 5--Assignment 5. Every assignment has shaped me into a more developed writer and has prepared me more for ENG 280.

When I entered your classroom on the first day of school this year, I was confident that what I had learned in previous years was sufficient enough to call myself an experienced and competent writer. However, I discovered throughout the semester that this confidence hindered my ability to improve in the beginning. The first few days of analyzing essays and literary works was something I had never experienced before, opening up my eyes to a side of literature and the English language that I previously did not pay any attention to. After we finished writing our very first in-class essay, I was extremely surprised to see that the score I earned was a 6. But when I look back on that very first essay, I am even more surprised to see what I could improve using the knowledge and strategies I learned in AP Junior English.

Review of my course, I have learned some new techniques that have improved my writing and learning how to tone, grammatical errors, and writing format such as MLA style, and how to use them in my writing. Looking for appropriate essays for my research essay was the hardest part since I must read every essay related to the topic thoroughly, and look for points that can support my arguments. As for the argument part, I have learned how to provide an argument, and how to look for reliable sources in OC library and to properly quote and paraphrase. My improvement of writing skills can be seen in each essay. Before class. I have to read a lot of readings and it made me nervous. This is like an impossible mission, but I am glad that I finally go

In chapter 2 of “Literature and the Writing Process” by Elizabeth McMahan argues how she believes one should organize an effective paper, as well as how to build an effective argument. The object of study of chapter 2 is to teach the reader how to organize a formal paper, and build an effective argument using examples from the story Evelyn as well as using other examples. The author of “Literature and the Writing Process” name is Elizabeth McMahan; she was a professor at Illinois State University and held bachelor of arts and masters of arts degrees from the University of Houston. McMahan also received a doctorate in 19th century American literature from University of Oregon, and was a co-author of many college textbooks books. “Literature

When I first entered this class, I did not have a clue as to what inquiry was nor did I know how to write an inquiry paper. I had always written argumentative essays. It was either this or that, not why could this be an option? Or why did the author choose to use this example to express his opinion? I will be honest, I still do not completely understand inquiry. I understand the concept of it, but I do not understand everything about it. I understand that it is used to explore the different possibilities of a viewpoint, idea, or tone of a paper but, why is it? I understand that inquiry is meant to be used to gain a deeper meaning of the ideas or concepts presented by the author. It is meant to be used to ask questions that get further in depth than a simple yes or no. Inquiry is meant to use evidence to back up the answer provided. Inquiry helped me progress in the writing world as it allowed me to further explore different writing styles.

This first semester at the University of Akron has flown by. I learned many new writing concepts that helped me become a better writer. English composition was a required class that I had to take in order to get my degree. Although this class was required I still wanted to take this class to become more knowledgeable about writing. Coming into English Composition I was worried about all of the papers and the workload that I would have to complete. I knew that I was going to have to write a lot more than I previously had in highschool, but I was unsure of just how much. The works that I decided to include in my portfolio comprise of my Literacy Narrative, Image Analysis Paper, and essay titled Mayas Hardships based on Maya’s experiences in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I selected these works because I felt that they are the ones that require the most improvement to them. The papers i've chosen show how far I’ve came In English Composition.

The following is a reflective essay that will elaborate on what I have achieved on the Literature class that was about sixteen weeks longs. The first week was doing introduction to ourselves in divided groups of other students. Through the discussion board everyone had a chance to talk about themselves, basic background history, interests, major career and the what one hopes to learn from the Literature class. The following are few of the topics that caught my eye during the quarter which includes the following writers: Earnest Hemingway, Harrison Bergeron, Jamaica Kincaid , William Shakespeare, Amy Tan and students in my ground Gabrielle and Megan.

It is my belief that through this class and the tools provided, that my growth as a writer has grown through leaps and bounds I would never have assumed possible. It is not so much the skill I refer to, although I would think skill has gone up in some levels as well, but more so the appreciation for the craft of writing itself. Intially, at the start of this class my sole goal was to further my understanding and appreciation of the writer's and books that I so love to read. Through further evaluation within the first week, a few other goals came to mind, of which were, making writing a habit, finishing what I start, stop second guess my writing skills and making effective use of detail and description. Through the use of the many articles, various reading materials, whether poems or short stories, and especially through the workshop, I feel I was able to really push myself to accomplishing these goals. I have thus far learned how important it is not to be skilled at writing per say, but to have the will to write, that poetry is as much about it's sound as it is about it's subject, just how important character development is, how the narration and point of view of a story is essential to the way the story is told, and just how much of a difference peer's critiques can make to your writing.