Past, Present, Future
Reaching the end of the spring semester, I have definitely grown as a writer. During the beginning of the semester, as I look back at what struggles, accomplishments, and goals I have set, I have thrived greatly. Some of my struggles in the beginning of the semester I would say, are using strong, reliable sources, writing literature reviews, and managing my time. Towards the end of the semester, all of those struggles are now accomplishments. I took away a lot from this semester given the variety of “projects” we had to write individually which had its own emphasis on a certain subject to help me grow as a writer, such as compare and contrast, proposals, and joining the conversation in debates. As writing drafts and getting the feedback from my peers, I have definitely learned from my mistakes and learned a lot more of myself from being a writer. All in all, in my reflection, I will explain and explore the projects I have chosen, the overall struggles and accomplishments I have faced in this semester, and the overall future goals I have planned in improving myself as a writer.
In my portfolio, I will showcase two essays from “Project Text” and “Project Space”. My essay from Project Space, which was about the Tiny House Movement showcases my development in writing a well thought and organized literature review and writing in a professional manner when requesting funds for a tiny house project. The Tiny House Movement is a movement in which small houses are built and the great benefits they have. These benefits include using space effectively, being economical and being eco-friendly. In this proposal, I have improved in writing professionally, argumentatively, and analytically. This essay was a good last essay for me because of the accomplishment I felt in showing the type of writer I am. In my second essay, Project Text, which involved the play Next to Normal, showcases my ability to compare and contrast, two similar but different texts. I compared Next to Normal with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by finding parallel ideas and comparing and contrasting them to show how these texts show similarity in different ways. Both of these texts include a mentally ill person that share similar experience in how they go about living their life. This project really helped me as a writer in improving analysis between characters, symbols, and motifs in these two different texts.
In addition to having my struggles in writing, I have learned a lot in this semester of English such as citing sources without using the web, testing sources with the CRAAP test, and learning how organization in an essay can impact how a reader views and reads an essay. In general, learning the skills and lessons from class and doing these “projects” really helped me to further develop my skills as a writer.
As the semester ends and I begin to sign up for other classes, I could definitely use the skills I learned from this semester in my future classes as well as writing résumés for jobs and other applications. For example, I can use what I’ve learned in organization to make a thorough job application and use organization when writing for my other future classes such as French. Overall, I do see myself using the skills I have learned this semester in the future and in other areas of my life.
Creating new goals is the first step into what I want to work on in writing. My new goals would be to write longer essays while also retaining coherency, brainstorming, and increasing my level in vocabulary. I have struggled in writing developing essays because I tend to go off track. Also, I should do more brainstorming because I would sometimes just write on the top of my head without setting a clear path in my essay. Lastly, I would want to have a better level of sophistication in writing because I believe that it would be beneficial especially in writing literature reviews, proposals, and arguments. Overall, I have taken a lot from this semester from both my professor and peers, and hopefully in the future I will be able to use these skills to further improve myself and accomplish my goals as a writer.
Word Count: 712.
In my portfolio, I will showcase two essays from “Project Text” and “Project Space”. My essay from Project Space, which was about the Tiny House Movement showcases my development in writing a well thought and organized literature review and writing in a professional manner when requesting funds for a tiny house project. The Tiny House Movement is a movement in which small houses are built and the great benefits they have. These benefits include using space effectively, being economical and being eco-friendly. In this proposal, I have improved in writing professionally, argumentatively, and analytically. This essay was a good last essay for me because of the accomplishment I felt in showing the type of writer I am. In my second essay, Project Text, which involved the play Next to Normal, showcases my ability to compare and contrast, two similar but different texts. I compared Next to Normal with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by finding parallel ideas and comparing and contrasting them to show how these texts show similarity in different ways. Both of these texts include a mentally ill person that share similar experience in how they go about living their life. This project really helped me as a writer in improving analysis between characters, symbols, and motifs in these two different texts.
In addition to having my struggles in writing, I have learned a lot in this semester of English such as citing sources without using the web, testing sources with the CRAAP test, and learning how organization in an essay can impact how a reader views and reads an essay. In general, learning the skills and lessons from class and doing these “projects” really helped me to further develop my skills as a writer.
As the semester ends and I begin to sign up for other classes, I could definitely use the skills I learned from this semester in my future classes as well as writing résumés for jobs and other applications. For example, I can use what I’ve learned in organization to make a thorough job application and use organization when writing for my other future classes such as French. Overall, I do see myself using the skills I have learned this semester in the future and in other areas of my life.
Creating new goals is the first step into what I want to work on in writing. My new goals would be to write longer essays while also retaining coherency, brainstorming, and increasing my level in vocabulary. I have struggled in writing developing essays because I tend to go off track. Also, I should do more brainstorming because I would sometimes just write on the top of my head without setting a clear path in my essay. Lastly, I would want to have a better level of sophistication in writing because I believe that it would be beneficial especially in writing literature reviews, proposals, and arguments. Overall, I have taken a lot from this semester from both my professor and peers, and hopefully in the future I will be able to use these skills to further improve myself and accomplish my goals as a writer.
Word Count: 712.