Reflective Essay 3

     Before taking this course, to say I knew the basics of college writing would be generous. I was able to skip Composition I from the AP test I took my senior year of high school and was terrified to jump into my first college English course, especially at the second level. I’m sure my lack of skills was evident at first, but I slowly began to pick it up and improve. For example, on the first project when I submitted my introduction paragraph, I completely missed the point of the assignment and had to submit a whole new attempt. For the second project I was much closer to the correct approach and received a much better grade than introduction one of project one.

     The social epidemic issue I chose for the first project was one that is close to home for me, and I found myself very interested throughout all my research. Learning how to effectively express and tie together my thoughts into a well worded paper is a life skill I am happy to have gained. When I first sat down to begin project one, I became overwhelmed and realized that writing was not something that comes natural for me. Through the informative handouts, lectures, and resources provided throughout the course, I was able to grasp what proper college writing should consist of. The writing began to come a little easier, especially in project two when the format was more formulaic.

     After finishing, submitting, and receiving a positive grade back for project one I was almost excited for project two, the rhetorical analysis, despite barely knowing what either of those words meant. When I sat down to begin that one, I felt less overwhelmed and was able to dive in and complete that paper in a much smoother, and faster process. After learning how to properly plan and formulate these different types of essays, Composition II began to click for me.                    Coming from a small high school with courses that often offered the bare minimum, I had a lot of catching up to do. I had never cited anything and knew nothing about the differences between APA and MLA. Professor Hammett’s consistent use of MLA allowed for me to gain a much better understanding than I had before the course. Although I need citation corrections in nearly every assignment, I understand the difference between the two, and generally how to use them. Learning new aspects of grammar, sentence structure, and essay formatting has been so fun to me, and something I wished I was learning much earlier.

     I can see the direct impact of this class on my writing. Not only has the quality drastically improved, but the process has become much easier for me. I learned grammar rules I had not previously been taught, and despite having a lot of catching up to do I never felt like figuring it out was out of my grasp. Along with bettered grammar, I learned how to replace words and phrases with alternatives that contribute to the flow and read of a paper. I hope to further these skills throughout my academic career, and I am grateful for the foundation this course has provided me. I hope essays continue to get easier for me, and that eventually I will stop dreading them.