Reflection Paper

When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

This course was comprised of many learning activities; each was designed to help me achieve the course learning outcomes. I have taken two college English classes in the past; however, it has been several years since my last college class. I have some experience in writing and this class definitely helped me get back into writing. I often have trouble brainstorming and capturing the subject I need to write about. This class definitely helped me overcome the challenges I faced in writing and being able to effectively express my ideas in a clear and concise manner. Not to mention, it definitely helped build my writing foundation through a step by step approach to each assignment. Therefore, this class bolstered my writing and communication skills.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

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.

This course has helped me with many chances to figure out how to properly write papers. Prior to this class, I had little experience with how to build a legitimate paper. It has taken experience, and getting normal evaluations, to show me how to precisely write. Despite the fact that this course required different papers to be turned in, I am appreciative to have possessed the capacity to gain from my oversights and develop as a writer. I have constantly cherished written work, however now I am ready to improve my writing as the semester

In this course, I enhanced my reading and writing skills. Reading and analyzing stories allowed me to become a better critical thinker. Beside, Learning to review and identify errors with the help of my peers and my instructor improved the quality of my writing. Also, I gained valuable practice in evaluating the credibility of sources that I would include in my writing.Finally, I also want to thank this class since I become more confident in my writing and my reading abilities

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that there was not just one significant learning experience from this course. I enjoyed the variety of readings and the conversations with classmates. Developing papers to convey my thoughts and provide supporting evidence, has helped me become a better writer. Though, I am far from being a superb writer, this course provided the opportunity to further develop my writing skills.

At the beginning of this course, I was convinced that success would come relatively easy. I had imagined there being few assignments with the guidelines for papers and assignments being broad. I soon came to the realization that I would have my compositional skills pushed to the limit. Although I entered the course with a adequate level of competency in writing, I significantly had my knowledge and skills in academic writing expanded as showcased in the progression of my assignments. I have learned proper procedure for MLA formatting, as well as proper rhetorical analysis, as opposed to synopsis. My writing has become more refined as well as focused. I am better able to concentrate on proper analysis, so while this is my biggest area of improvement,

When I started the class, I believed my level of writing was at a strong point, however, as the class progressed I found out how wrong I was. I learned that I needed to work on two certain things to succeed in the class. The objectives that I have always seemed to struggle in is correcting my sentences from becoming fragmented and knowing how to successfully structure them and learning to use citation throughout my papers. Knowing to successfully apply these, I believe has made me a better writer than what I started as.

After taking this course, I look back at the writer that I was at the beginning of the course compared to the end. I have changed significantly as a writer. I am able to look at different writing assignments and determine that each assignment is unique. Meaning, not all writing assignments can be composed or formatted the same. I have instilled in myself that you do not have to write the way the textbook teaches. The freedom to write in your own fashion and still successfully complete the assignment makes someone a good writer and produces good writing.

When I knew that one of my classes would be a writing course I must admit it was reason for some concern. I recently finished my Bachelor’s degree and had to write many papers. Every word of every paper was a struggle. As I looked through this course I am certain it will be invaluable to meet my goals.

I learned how to be persuasive in my writings, by using ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos. From now on I am planning to double check any resources I use in a research, look for and use the most credible sources. Also writing an annotated bibliography was an important step to learn, it did most of the research process. Synthesizing sources together, I used to highlight the important ideas in each source before this course but putting in a synthesis matrix made it easier. It was important for me to read about writing paragraphs, conclusions, introductions, and how to write in an academic way, because I do think I have a weakness in

Before taking this course my writing styles and habits were very different. I was the typical procrastinator because I would wait until the night before a paper was due to start it. This did not allow me enough time to properly proofread everything, which resulted in getting points deducted for simple grammatical errors that could have been avoided if I would have had the time to proofread. My writing styles have many strengths and weaknesses and I have been able to improve my writing because of them. I have learned from my strengths and weaknesses how to become a better writer.

Over the course of the semester, there has been numerous amount of areas where I believe I have improved in comparison to high school. What has helped me in my writing is the writing class and the in-class writing workshop. The writing class that is located in the Kremen education building has helped me with my writing greatly because in the writing center the person in charge teach us lenses and we apply those lenses to the writing, draft, or reading that someone brings in. The in-class writing workshop has helped me because other students get to read my writing. This is helpful because I get feedback from many students and they let me know what needs to be fixed. A new tool I have been using is They Say I Say. The book is very helpful because of the information and examples it provides such as the templates. I have been applying the templates into my essays and I have seen a significant difference.