Self-Reflective Essay

Over the course of this semester, I have improved as a writer. At the beginning, I would like to think I was fairly decent, but I didn’t have much experience in anything but English and the occasional history papers. This year was difficult, as it forced me to learn new ways of writing. As I got more comfortable, I clearly improved, with my writing and content improving. Essays like the Prairie Meadows scholarship and annotated bibliography were remarkably different than what I was used to, and I benefited from writing them. The beginning of this year, I wasn’t incredibly concerned with my sentence structure or the impact of the words I used. As I learned and wrote more, my sentences got more complex and I -for the most part- stopped using

Since the first day of this class, every aspect of this class has been a learning experience for me. As I have said before, my Senior English class was very thorough as far as teaching the basic rhetorical tools and the skills necessary to analysis a piece of writing, but coming to college, I lacked the skills needed to actually put those skills into practice in my own writing. My knowledge of revision and drafting was limited by my habits of only editing grammar or changing a few words to sound like I was academic or qualified. Even though a great deal of this course focused on the skills necessary to be an efficient and effective writer, the last portion of the course was very useful to the development of my skills as a writer. Through revision, I learned how to take unorganized jumble of ideas and claims and arrange them into a piece that makes a useful and compelling argument with a purpose in mind. I find it hard to admit it but I actually found that I enjoyed the satisfaction of revising my work and making it better.

This is the end of my 8-week course for English 112 Writing & Research in Disciplines. Over the course of the class, I have grown and learned more than I actually thought possible about writing but there is still room for improvement. I came into this course, not a strong writer it’s not really my strong point and never has been. Although this course has taught me some various methods of writing a paper. For example, the last assignment where the paper had to be written in CSE format. It was difficult at first because I used to only writing in MLA or APA format.

As the course has progressed, I have learned new skills and improved old skills. I improved in the revision process and vocabulary in my works, as well as learning how to go through all stages of the writing process.

The internship for Optimist International has turned out to be more than I could have ever expected. It all started with a bit of luck as I missed out on the initial internship that included assisting two managers that were in charge of an annual convention in New Orleans and an annual golf tournament located in Florida. Instead, I was tasked with assisting the convention director with the tasks leading up to the convention. As I settled into the internship the tasks quickly evolved in to a variety of tasks that covered a large number of aspects in the business world. In the beginning of the internship, it felt like I had to prove myself to the management involved, but as the internship moved on, I believe I gained more trust with the faculty and I began to get tasks associated directly with management. There was an onsite representative in New Orleans that was in charge of finding community service opportunities that members could participate in the buildup to convention. I was tasked with setting up the time and dates for an emergency kit assembly project for Save the Children and helping paint two rooms at a local culinary school for at-risk teens, called Café Hope. I was able to reach out to contacts with

Overall, I feel that I met my objectives for this term. Honestly, I met goals that I never thought I could and enjoyed myself throughout most it. In fact, I rekindled a joy for learning that I thought was long gone. In doing this, I learned some new skills, and overcome some of my graduate school writing fears. I even created a presentation that I was not embarrassed to show to my friends and family. I think that this class has prepared me well for the courses to come and I look forward to becoming an even better writer as I continue through

Enrolling to Heritage University I wasn’t sure what to expect. While obtaining my Associate of Arts degree at Yakima Valley Community College my ultimate goal was to become a social worker. Although, towards the last quarter at YVCC I realized that I was not passionate enough to continue that career pathway. Transferring to Heritage I looked into the Business program. Now, I will be graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration on Entrepreneur. During my junior year I realized I wanted to concentrate in marketing but was not completely sure, so taking a internship with the Heritage University’s Academic Skills Center was a great opportunity to put into place my interest for marketing.

Throughout my high school and first semester of college I have achieved great lengths academically and through the community. Beginning with high school I had the amazing privilege of serving the Charlotte community along with the surrounding neighborhoods with a team of peers. I was a part of CONNECTIONS Youth Leadership group and through this program we learned about all the other great leaders before us through the theme of Underground railroad. We spent the one summer following the trail of the Underground Railroad beginning in North Carolina driving until with reach freedom and in this case, it was Canada. Of course, this was completed with the help of modern transportation until we reached freedom. After learning about many prominent and lesser known

In Aug. 2010, I completed my B.S. in Environmental science concentration in biology at Taylor University. Courses I have taken, allowed me to be familiar with different aspects of biology, ecology and geology. As a result, I was able to experience the tangibility of these fields, for example gathering and analyzing field samples. Furthermore, one summer was spent taking and examining water quality samples, as well as examining plants and animal specimens. For my senior project, I designed and completed a practicum, where I removed invasives plants from a local forest near my hometown. After accomplishing the objectives, the superintendent offer me the position of a natural resource specialist.

I am an individual like no other I have ever met, not to be arrogant or boastful, but to explain the extent of my uniqueness. I was born to a foreign-born Serbian mother and a half Italian, half English father. I was born in New York City, but was raised in a suburban town on Long Island. With my paternal grandparents, Pops and Nana, I went on many travels, both around the United States and Atlantic Ocean (they owned a large sail boat). With my maternal grandparents, Baba and Deda, I went on many urban adventures, having probably traversed nearly the whole of New York City on foot, exploring, eating, and playing in playgrounds with new found friends. Also from my maternal grandparents, I became fluent in my understanding of the Serbian

In the beginning of the year I was not confident in my writing abilities. I did not know how to format different types of essays, nor did I know the meticulous research that goes into each and every paper. When we started off with narrative writings I felt fairly comfortable, but little did I know that I was a grammatical nightmare. My most common mistake was forgetting about commas before coordinating conjunctions. I would also often times become wordy or improper whenever I wasn't sure how to get an idea across. Whenever the year started I was clueless on how to format any dialogue at all, but as the year progressed these dialogue mishaps dwindled down until in my final papers they were much improved. Finally, my greatest personal improvement

I have always enjoyed writing, and I believed writing was a subject I was naturally good at. I turned in papers that were still rough drafts, I did not evaluate my sources, nor did I ever take the time to fully understand the prompt. It was not until my first semester of college, in my writing composition course, I realized that I had a lot of work ahead of me to be as good a writer as I thought I was. In the writing course, the students were required to compose several essays using different methods to help progress on the course objectives. The work in this portfolio demonstrates that I have used the methods of synthesis and evaluation of sources to advance my critical thinking skills and develop personal responsibility. Though I have

My name is Theresa Laquita Williams. I was born in Palatka Florida but I now reside in Zion Illinois with my husband. I am in my second year at the College of Lake County. Upon completion of my Associate of Arts degree I am planning to transfer to a university to get my bachelorette degree in social work. When describing myself I would say that I have a strong love for people of all color. I am very friendly, outgoing, free hearted, creative, and a big dreamer. I am always thinking of ways to generate money. Some of my best qualities are helping people. The neighborhood kids call me Mrs. T. and I am always passing out little treats to the kids in the neighborhood. My worst qualities as a person

In this self reflection, I will be discussing about my limiting and supporting beliefs, my transference examples, and the primary and secondary function of my major habits. My limiting belief is that I do not have the skills needed to be in a manager position or communicate effectively, and my supporting belief is that I can learn and improve my skills to do the things that my limiting beliefs maintain that I could not do, such as being a manager or an effective communicator. My transference is the fear of admitting my mistakes to my supervisors that is transferred from the experience I have with my father when I was young. Lastly, I talk about my major habits, such as doing homework early, which primarily gives me ample time to work on my

“Independent and free thinking takes life long commitment for each of us. When facing contradictions and misunderstanding, just remember we can always make room and coffee for all of us.”