English 102 Self Reflection

English 102 Self Reflection
Writing has never been a strength I have possessed. English 102 has been difficult and challenging for me because I have had to move past the high school level of a basic book report or a five paragraph paper that has narrowed my ideas of writing for many years. Putting on paper what my thoughts are in a way that is logical and accurate for what the assignment is asking has been hard for me this semester. My ideas are now more involved because I have learned through English 102 how to develop my writing skills in different formats, for example, in an annotated bibliography and a research paper. English 102 has taught me many things about writing like locating sources from the library and on line as well as continuing

to apply the writing skills I learned in English 101 although I need to continue working on citing sources correctly.
Locating appropriate sources in the University of Alabama library and on line is a course outline I have mastered. In the Module 2, Annotated Bibliography assignment, I was required to find popular and scholarly sources for my chosen topic.

I failed to find any scholarly sources for this assignment. Ms. Schwartz said, “You MUST include some scholarly, academic sources for your research to achieve the desired ethos (ethos represents credibility)”. With the reminder Ms. Schwartz gave me I was able to go back to the UA library database and look for scholarly sources to support my research topic. As I looked ahead to Module 3 and began to work on future assignments I was able to correct this problem. For example, in the Module 3 assignment, The Exploratory Essay, I used a mixture of both popular and scholarly sources. I am now able to locate sources for other assignments from the library and feel confident going forth that I will be able to use this knowledge in other classes I take.
Another course outcome I have mastered in English 102 is continuing to apply the writing skills covered in English 101. One of the course objectives in English 101 was to compose essays with appropriate content development, organization and style by practicing the steps of the

writing process (pre writing, drafting, and revising). At first it seemed like a lot of extra work to be done when I could just start writing. But now I see that these steps, the pre writing, drafting, and revising are all necessary steps to a finished paper. If you start with the pre writing stage and get an organizational plan the rest of the paper seems to be easier to tackle. Having to do a revision before submitting the final essay was helpful as well. As part of the assignments requirements I had to do a peer review for two classmates and then answer the same questions about my own paper. Having specific questions to answer concerning my essay made me look at my essay differently. I had to identify strengths with in the essay. I also had to suggest places with in the essay that improvements could be made. Looking at my thesis statement I had to make sure it summarized the essay’s purpose, direction, and primary claim or argument. If the thesis did not then I had to look at a way to improve the thesis. I had to look at the body of the essay as well. Each paragraph needed a topic sentence. I had to evaluate if I stayed on track throughout the paragraph. I had to provide evidence, support and explanations with in each paragraph to help support the claim I was making. One of the hardest things I had to do with in the revision stage was to make sure each quotation was integrated in my own words and was thoroughly explained. All citations I used had to be attributed to the correct source. I would also read my essay aloud while I concentrated on whether or not there was an easy flow of words with in the essay. The Rhetorical Analysis Module 1 assignment I made a 90/100 for the final grade. This score shows I applied appropriate content development, organization and style by practicing the steps of the writing process (pre writing, drafting, and revision).
One area I need to continue working on is employing at least one system of citation correctly. Citation and the works cited page have been extremely difficult for me throughout the semester. I knew from the beginning of the class I would struggle in this area. I tend to get confused when using in text citations. For example, in the Module 3 assignment I used “incorrect citation” when I cited a source. I typed (Tester, Keith. 2014). Ms. Schwartz pointed this out to me. After referring to the Writers Reference book, MLA – 4a, I am learning how to incorporate quotes within all my papers and to correctly cite these quotes. I also had many problems on the works cited page. I used bold print to say, “Works Cited”. Ms. Schwartz commented and said, “No bold print for the title”. I have reviewed the sample works cited in the handbook and will use this as a guideline and reference for future papers.
In my summer English 102 class I have grown as a writer.

Weak skills that I began the class with have become strong and my strong skills have become stronger. Having the opportunity to write a variety of different essay styles has challenged me greatly to improve my writing techniques. Each essay I was required to write brought its own struggles for me. I had to draw on the information that was presented through the class as well as look to the textbook for guidance. To ensure I did well on each essay I thought about my topic, researched the topic, then began to outline what I wanted to write about. Finally, I would write the essay and submit a rough draft. English 102 has given me the skills and training I need to move on to other classes next semester that will require writing essays. I now have a confidence in my writing abilities that this class has given

me.