W. D Valgardson Reflection

We were asked to write an essay that utilized literary elements to support a central idea of the text. However, while completing this assignment, I reflected on the major strides in writing I had made since the beginning of the year. In the first body paragraph of the first writing assignment of the year I use three lengthy quotes in addition to convoluted sentences such as, “Even though Jem had disobeyed Atticus, Atticus understood that what Jem did was mature and thought-out, and Atticus respected Jem’s actions.” Conversely, in the final task for The House on Mango Street, I was able to demonstrate control in my writing. I had learned to reduce the wordiness of my writing and also that complex ideas stated in simplest terms were the most enjoyable for the reader. When explaining a quote by Mamacita, I was able to be brief but poignant showing great improvement since the first essay. Within the writing assignment, I explain that Mamacita’s lack of ability to express herself is “... represented by the metaphor of the skinny thread in the form of Spanish that acts as her only road to ‘that country.’ However that thread is being torn by ‘the man’ and his belief that English is Mamacita’s present and future while Spanish is her past.” I was able to express the complex idea of the Spanish language being a part of Mamacita and not just a language, using a minimal amount of

I felt that I put a great deal of effort toward the grade that I wanted, through my strict self discipline in my class effort. I was extremely critical when I was reading novels and stories, editing essays, and writing essays. Moreover, I was able to improve my writing and analyzation

In reviewing the essay, there are many errors I noticed. Overall, your writing lacks focus in regards to ideas, grammar, and spelling. I am no expert in any of these areas, but my ability to produce a coherent essay is demonstrated by the fact that I am nearly done with college. The goal of my essay is to guide you towards a better way of writing based on my prior experiences. A good essay in my experience is one that has three major components: structure, depth, and voice.

Overall, the essay seemed to lack flow as a result of a noticeable absence of transition words. The essay had bad syntax. Each paragraph seemed to be scenario after scenario and each sentence seemed to be idea after idea. For example, in the first paragraph, the list consisted of multiple sentences, instead of just one sentence with commas. “But they are few: Being mistaken for a wheat field by a cloud of locusts. Being buried alive”...“Interviews from film festivals.”, this seemed like an awful way to list ideas. In addition, the fourth paragraph of the essay was made up of only 2 sentences, one

Considering that I demonstrated proper usage of quotes, and wrote a decent hook that could grab an audience’s attention. Also, I connected every paragraph, so that the paragraphs could be cohesive and understand by the reader. Not only that, I have finally written a thesis statement that was backed up with the quotes. Although, I did notice that my grammar and punctuation were a bit off, and I forgot to describe the fear that females displayed and how it’s seen today in modern society. Which wasn’t too bad; nonetheless, I felt that I needed to improve these two aspects, if I wished to succeed in English

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This year has been a long one. With all the trials that Mr. McGee has thrown at me, I’m surprised that I have made it this far. I will reflect on the work that have completed, and self evaluate myself on what I did well and what I could have done better. Throughout the year, my strengths have been not failing the class, my weaknesses have been the essays, and the work that I could have improved on was studying.

When you finish, reread the essay to check for all of the points above, and then proofread it to be sure your work does not contain errors in grammar or spelling.

English had been a breeze previous years before. I never put in the extra effort like I would have for a math class. I was used to getting A’s or B’s in English. So when my first narrative essay came back as an F, my stress levels rose tremendously. What I didn’t know was that an F would bring me to greater things.

Looking back at project 3, I felt very happy with the essay I produced. I am not one to enjoy writing since I usually do not feel very confident in my writing. I felt the work I produced through project 3 was one of my best. I put a lot of effort into this essay and it showed in my final draft. With this being said, after comparing my essay to the rubric I gave myself a 3.64 overall on this project for many reasons. This essay in no means was perfect, but I learned from my strengths and weaknesses.

The majority of them were in my English classes and a few essays for other classes, which takes only a few days to compose. I mainly took standard English classes and one honors throughout high school. The grades I've received from my writings and also for the class are mainly B's and a few A's, nevertheless, I would like to receive an A in this class. At this point, you might be frowning and begin to question my previous statement. How could someone who only worked hard enough just to receive a B's will receive an A in this class? I am also not a very experienced writer as I've established earlier. I also fully understand that this course will be more challenging than any of my previous English classes, hence I am having an anxiety attack while writing this essay, nevertheless I truly want to become a better writer. A good writing skill is one of the keys to become successful. You will be required to be able to intellectually express yourself to

Within English 219, we have already learned a vital set of writing skills, that will allow for the improvement of essays, and summaries that must be written for future assessments. Some of these skills that would be relevant for achieving general writing improvement could be ideas such as thesis development, structuring and planning, or more specific examples when actually fleshing out the essay such as elements of grammar and style. Thesis development which is crucial so that ideas can be fully explained and related back to a point which can be interpreted as an overarching theme for the entire paper, and allows the reader to interpret the topic of not only the essay but of each paragraph. Taking a step back we looked in class at the subject

Using frequently over used words can corrupt even the best essay. I received a grade of C overall. I was quite disappointed in myself and my performance as I know I have the ability to do better. There were four places that should have had commas

At the beginning of the year the first essay that I wrote was a rhetorical strategies analysis of the book Into the Wild. I believe that this paper is the best starting position of my writing as I have not yet been exposed to different writing strategies. As I started the essay my attention getter was a definition on what a rhetorical device is. I think that I could have improved on that as my audience would have probably known what a rhetorical device is, thus starting with a definition was not the best way to go. To start this essay should have started with something more interesting to engage the reader to continue reading not just state some fact. Going down the paper my body paragraphs were not written to their full potential. I did not go in depth to analyse how the author used these rhetorical devices to “create depth in the story”. Within paragraph three I was analysing the usage of logos and I started, “ This aspect of fact stating that ...used is a clear evidence of logos the fact based argument”. This clearly shows my novice approach to an analysis, as I only stated another definition of what a logos

As a writer there are many elements of writing that I struggle with, especially when composing an essay. When writing an essay, there are usually many skills that need to be used in order to be successful with the writing assignment. Many times in writing I struggle with explaining and fully developing the supporting details and ideas in my essay. I would also like to improve on incorporating clear topic sentences and concluding sentences, connecting my paragraphs ideas back to my thesis. Lastly, improvement can be made in my writing by avoiding awkward or wordy sentences. Writers face numerous challenges in their writing but strive to overcome or improve these challenges with each piece they write.