Final English Reflection
When I started this English course I did not had an strong base of how to write an effective English formal essay, or even a reflective writing. Certainly, this course helped me effectively to achieve my goal of learning how to write a well-structured essay. However, I struggled in some parts, such as writing an introduction, grammar, and conclusion. These three parts were the most difficult to write during this process. In addition since English is not my first language it was even more complex for writing an essay in a different language. Nevertheless, I can say that I am ready for English 1001. I achieved my goals this semester, I learned how to write a formal essay, and a reflective writing. Also learned the differences between audiences, and to differentiate between the traditional and rogerian arguments, also I improved in writing with an excellent MLA format, which is something highly important because this format will be necessary for future classes I will take. In order to write these 4 essays, I passed through different kinds of processes and all of them were full of learning. In these essays, I reflect and describe their rhetorical choices and writing processes. In essay one, I learned how to differentiate the audiences, I learned how to make my introduction, body paragraph and conclusion stronger. For essay 2 I learned to differentiate between Ethos, Pathos and Logos for different audiences. In essay 3 I learned how to do a Rogerian argument, which it is basically composed by the introduction, two different points of view, and the common ground. In other words the common ground is the solution, this is a "everyone- wins" essay. For the last essay, which was Essay 4, I used a traditional argument, which consists in an Introduction, evidence, argument, rebuttal, and conclusion. This is a " I am right, you are wrong and here is why you are wrong" essay.This semester was certainly not easy. It was full of challenges. However, I learned a lot of different things, and for every mistake I made, now I am able to write effective essays. As a result I am ready for English 1001.
In essay number one, I learned how to differentiate between a adopt voice, tone, and level of formality appropriate to task, purpose and audiences. For this essay I referred to two audiences, one was for parents and the other one was for students. Certainly, it is not the same way one as a writer would write for parents and students. Each audience have different points of view and different ways of see life because each one of them is passing through different stages in life. For parents the tone was more formal, the purpose had to be different as the one for students, and the word to refer to parents had to be more realistic in a certain way. In the parent's essay I talked more about tuition, feelings towards their son/daughter, and the way their child can be helped. For the students essay, the tone had to be more comprehensive, since I am a student I can understand how others student must feel about college life. I talked about all the feelings one as student pass through, and how the student can deal with it. I also talked about social life, and tuition. However, the tone, and the formality were different for each one of these audiences in order to make this essay effective.
For essay number two I identified, and described the elements of rhetorical situations. This essay was about Chipotle. In this essay I used Ethos, Pathos and logos. The purpose of using Ethos is to make sure that the writer sounds credible and trustworthy. Therefore, the audience will effectively believe in what the author is saying, and as a result will follow and will agree with what the author is arguing. The purpose of Pathos is that, whereas the author knows his or her audience, he/ she will appeal through emotions, values, and interests. This is certainly a effective way of persuading the different audiences. In addition, we have Logos. These parts of the essay consist more in academics purposes, thesis-based, researched, factual. Consequently, following these steps in a appropriate and correctly way, the writer will certainly persuade his/her audiences in a effective way.
In order to write the two last essays, which are essay three and essay four. I analyzed and described the relationships among the writer, text and audiences. In this case for essay number three, I used the rogerian argument, which it basically consists in two or more given points of view, introduction, and in common ground, which is the solution one as a writer must bring at the end. In this case I talked about feminism, one perspective was about whether or not it is correct to be a feminist. The other point of view was about whether or not being a NFL referee and a mother was ethic, but in this case, the media disagree with the fact of being a NFL referee and a mother. I came up with a common ground at the end of tis essay, and it consisted in defending my perspective of the pros and cons of being a feminist and the way this can end up effectively. In essay number 4 I talked, the main ideas of this essay was about mental health disorders such as PTSD. In order to write this essay I used a traditional argument. This type of argument is structured in a easy way to understand. First goes the introduction, you give the opposite perspective, you give your argument and you prove why you are right. This is a “I win” essay.
Therefore, I can argue that I can differentiate when it is a traditional or a rogerian argument. In addition talking now about the audiences, quotes introduction, paraphrasing, summarizing, citing sources accurately, locating and evaluating print and electronic sources. I can say that I learned effectively how to use these resources. I can differentiate between audiences because for each essay the audience was different. Therefore, the appeal had to be different. Introducing the quotes was one of the most fun parts of learning in this course. Certainly, every time one as a writer will introduce a quote, there must be an introduction before, and an explanation after the quote is placed, this is called paraphrasing, otherwise if these simple steps were not followed, the quote would not be introduced properly. In addition, the quote must be cited at the end of the work. Definitely, this is something that I did for all my four essays; also the quotes must be organized in alphabetical order. Learning of how to use and to evaluate print and electronic sources will be certainly points in your favor. It is fundamental for students to know how to manage these resources. I used both, print and electronic resources. Every time I had to write an essay it was more helpful to print the article and highlight the main ideas. However, electronic sources are helpful if the situation requires making the use of different resources at the same time, also there is a lot of valid information you can get from the Internet.
All my essays were followed of different processes. In and out side the class a lot of factors were involved in order to improve my writings; the drafts, and therefore, the final essay. During class time, I learned to generate new ideas for my following essay. The professor also taught us how to do a peer review correctly. For every essay we as a group did an effective peer review. It basically consisted in revising other’s writings. The goal here is to tell what you think about his/her essay, whether or not it is effective, whether or not there is the need of correcting grammar mistakes. Also, we must write positive comments. This way will effectively engage the writer, and will know he/she did a good job. Outside of the class, my professor provided me feedback. The first step was to do a draft; once it is done the professor will revise it and she will mention all the improvements I can make. In order to increase the quality of an essay, after the feedback is given, then it comes the editing part, which consists in correcting the mistakes and if it is necessary, making an stronger introduction, argument or conclusion will raise the grade.
The formation for each essay, reflections, and free writings is well structured, in a way that it can be well understood and with the appropriate MLA format. As I mentioned before, the MLA format will be useful for other future classes that require it. I can say that I have the ability to make an effective and a correct MLA format. It implies margins, double spaced, and works cited at the end of the page. Also, over time, writing different kinds of essay for different purposes helped me to reflect an improvement for the following essays. In addition, I can demonstrate a high improvement in the paragraphs structure, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling. As I mentioned previously, one of my main goals for this course was to improve my writings, making use of different words, adding more formal words to my vocabulary. However, I can say that each essay is well structured and easy to understand.
The technology of this portfolio has helped me with my writing process in a positive way. Now that I have a portfolio where I can save and publish my writings, it is easier for me to not to loose them. Also, it helped me to always keep in mind that the goal of doing this is to improve my writings. Therefore, every time I log in I remember that I have a goal to achieve and also it allows me to see my improvement, which it is helpful because I can see my mistakes. And as a result I will not make them again.
The other technologies such as the database, Quizlet, OWL, MLA handbook, online textbook, and the online feedback in Black Board were highly helpful. Thanks to all these technologies now I can say that I know how to do a research on the database, I know where to find articles, journals, online books,etc. Learning how to manage it, now I am able to do better writing assignments for my other classes that require a lot to write.In the beginning of the semester we had to memorize around 80 word,s and for me, Quizlet was very helpful because every class the first thing we did was to complete a quiz, which was about these words. Therefore, this strategy made me to study these words everyday. For OWL and MLA handbook, I definitely can say that I am glad to know how to use these formats because as I mentioned before I need this knowledge for all my other classes. Black Board and the feedback are very helpful as well. For Blackboard, now I know how to use it, and the feedback my professor gives me after finishing an essay helps me to see all my mistakes and I have the opportunity to correct them before the final draft is due.
I am a student who took English 1000 and now I can argue that I am ready for English 1001.All the essays, reflective writings, free-writings, reflections, feedbacks, helped me in a impressively way to improve my English and my writing skills. I must admit that indeed, I struggled a lot during these processes, I made a lot of grammar mistakes as well as spelling. Also, at first the structuration of my firsts essays were not as correct as they supposed to. However, I showed a valid improvement during this course. A lot of professors, students and people in general can argue that since all these mistakes were committed I am not capable for the next level. However, I insist that thanks to all those mistakes a made, now I am a student with more skills, and with the ability to write more complex essay for the next class. I can say that I am ready for English 1001, and I will give my best to learn as much as I can and to get a excellent grade.
To conclude this final reflection I must say that this course has been one of the most wonderful courses I have ever taken. English 1000 was highly helpful in a way that now, I have the knowledge of how to write an effective essay with the structure it requires. All the processes I passed through were full of new learning, which is something I appreciate the most. Now, I am able and ready for the next lever, which is English 1001.
When I started this English course I did not had an strong base of how to write an effective English formal essay, or even a reflective writing. Certainly, this course helped me effectively to achieve my goal of learning how to write a well-structured essay. However, I struggled in some parts, such as writing an introduction, grammar, and conclusion. These three parts were the most difficult to write during this process. In addition since English is not my first language it was even more complex for writing an essay in a different language. Nevertheless, I can say that I am ready for English 1001. I achieved my goals this semester, I learned how to write a formal essay, and a reflective writing. Also learned the differences between audiences, and to differentiate between the traditional and rogerian arguments, also I improved in writing with an excellent MLA format, which is something highly important because this format will be necessary for future classes I will take. In order to write these 4 essays, I passed through different kinds of processes and all of them were full of learning. In these essays, I reflect and describe their rhetorical choices and writing processes. In essay one, I learned how to differentiate the audiences, I learned how to make my introduction, body paragraph and conclusion stronger. For essay 2 I learned to differentiate between Ethos, Pathos and Logos for different audiences. In essay 3 I learned how to do a Rogerian argument, which it is basically composed by the introduction, two different points of view, and the common ground. In other words the common ground is the solution, this is a "everyone- wins" essay. For the last essay, which was Essay 4, I used a traditional argument, which consists in an Introduction, evidence, argument, rebuttal, and conclusion. This is a " I am right, you are wrong and here is why you are wrong" essay.This semester was certainly not easy. It was full of challenges. However, I learned a lot of different things, and for every mistake I made, now I am able to write effective essays. As a result I am ready for English 1001.
In essay number one, I learned how to differentiate between a adopt voice, tone, and level of formality appropriate to task, purpose and audiences. For this essay I referred to two audiences, one was for parents and the other one was for students. Certainly, it is not the same way one as a writer would write for parents and students. Each audience have different points of view and different ways of see life because each one of them is passing through different stages in life. For parents the tone was more formal, the purpose had to be different as the one for students, and the word to refer to parents had to be more realistic in a certain way. In the parent's essay I talked more about tuition, feelings towards their son/daughter, and the way their child can be helped. For the students essay, the tone had to be more comprehensive, since I am a student I can understand how others student must feel about college life. I talked about all the feelings one as student pass through, and how the student can deal with it. I also talked about social life, and tuition. However, the tone, and the formality were different for each one of these audiences in order to make this essay effective.
For essay number two I identified, and described the elements of rhetorical situations. This essay was about Chipotle. In this essay I used Ethos, Pathos and logos. The purpose of using Ethos is to make sure that the writer sounds credible and trustworthy. Therefore, the audience will effectively believe in what the author is saying, and as a result will follow and will agree with what the author is arguing. The purpose of Pathos is that, whereas the author knows his or her audience, he/ she will appeal through emotions, values, and interests. This is certainly a effective way of persuading the different audiences. In addition, we have Logos. These parts of the essay consist more in academics purposes, thesis-based, researched, factual. Consequently, following these steps in a appropriate and correctly way, the writer will certainly persuade his/her audiences in a effective way.
In order to write the two last essays, which are essay three and essay four. I analyzed and described the relationships among the writer, text and audiences. In this case for essay number three, I used the rogerian argument, which it basically consists in two or more given points of view, introduction, and in common ground, which is the solution one as a writer must bring at the end. In this case I talked about feminism, one perspective was about whether or not it is correct to be a feminist. The other point of view was about whether or not being a NFL referee and a mother was ethic, but in this case, the media disagree with the fact of being a NFL referee and a mother. I came up with a common ground at the end of tis essay, and it consisted in defending my perspective of the pros and cons of being a feminist and the way this can end up effectively. In essay number 4 I talked, the main ideas of this essay was about mental health disorders such as PTSD. In order to write this essay I used a traditional argument. This type of argument is structured in a easy way to understand. First goes the introduction, you give the opposite perspective, you give your argument and you prove why you are right. This is a “I win” essay.
Therefore, I can argue that I can differentiate when it is a traditional or a rogerian argument. In addition talking now about the audiences, quotes introduction, paraphrasing, summarizing, citing sources accurately, locating and evaluating print and electronic sources. I can say that I learned effectively how to use these resources. I can differentiate between audiences because for each essay the audience was different. Therefore, the appeal had to be different. Introducing the quotes was one of the most fun parts of learning in this course. Certainly, every time one as a writer will introduce a quote, there must be an introduction before, and an explanation after the quote is placed, this is called paraphrasing, otherwise if these simple steps were not followed, the quote would not be introduced properly. In addition, the quote must be cited at the end of the work. Definitely, this is something that I did for all my four essays; also the quotes must be organized in alphabetical order. Learning of how to use and to evaluate print and electronic sources will be certainly points in your favor. It is fundamental for students to know how to manage these resources. I used both, print and electronic resources. Every time I had to write an essay it was more helpful to print the article and highlight the main ideas. However, electronic sources are helpful if the situation requires making the use of different resources at the same time, also there is a lot of valid information you can get from the Internet.
All my essays were followed of different processes. In and out side the class a lot of factors were involved in order to improve my writings; the drafts, and therefore, the final essay. During class time, I learned to generate new ideas for my following essay. The professor also taught us how to do a peer review correctly. For every essay we as a group did an effective peer review. It basically consisted in revising other’s writings. The goal here is to tell what you think about his/her essay, whether or not it is effective, whether or not there is the need of correcting grammar mistakes. Also, we must write positive comments. This way will effectively engage the writer, and will know he/she did a good job. Outside of the class, my professor provided me feedback. The first step was to do a draft; once it is done the professor will revise it and she will mention all the improvements I can make. In order to increase the quality of an essay, after the feedback is given, then it comes the editing part, which consists in correcting the mistakes and if it is necessary, making an stronger introduction, argument or conclusion will raise the grade.
The formation for each essay, reflections, and free writings is well structured, in a way that it can be well understood and with the appropriate MLA format. As I mentioned before, the MLA format will be useful for other future classes that require it. I can say that I have the ability to make an effective and a correct MLA format. It implies margins, double spaced, and works cited at the end of the page. Also, over time, writing different kinds of essay for different purposes helped me to reflect an improvement for the following essays. In addition, I can demonstrate a high improvement in the paragraphs structure, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling. As I mentioned previously, one of my main goals for this course was to improve my writings, making use of different words, adding more formal words to my vocabulary. However, I can say that each essay is well structured and easy to understand.
The technology of this portfolio has helped me with my writing process in a positive way. Now that I have a portfolio where I can save and publish my writings, it is easier for me to not to loose them. Also, it helped me to always keep in mind that the goal of doing this is to improve my writings. Therefore, every time I log in I remember that I have a goal to achieve and also it allows me to see my improvement, which it is helpful because I can see my mistakes. And as a result I will not make them again.
The other technologies such as the database, Quizlet, OWL, MLA handbook, online textbook, and the online feedback in Black Board were highly helpful. Thanks to all these technologies now I can say that I know how to do a research on the database, I know where to find articles, journals, online books,etc. Learning how to manage it, now I am able to do better writing assignments for my other classes that require a lot to write.In the beginning of the semester we had to memorize around 80 word,s and for me, Quizlet was very helpful because every class the first thing we did was to complete a quiz, which was about these words. Therefore, this strategy made me to study these words everyday. For OWL and MLA handbook, I definitely can say that I am glad to know how to use these formats because as I mentioned before I need this knowledge for all my other classes. Black Board and the feedback are very helpful as well. For Blackboard, now I know how to use it, and the feedback my professor gives me after finishing an essay helps me to see all my mistakes and I have the opportunity to correct them before the final draft is due.
I am a student who took English 1000 and now I can argue that I am ready for English 1001.All the essays, reflective writings, free-writings, reflections, feedbacks, helped me in a impressively way to improve my English and my writing skills. I must admit that indeed, I struggled a lot during these processes, I made a lot of grammar mistakes as well as spelling. Also, at first the structuration of my firsts essays were not as correct as they supposed to. However, I showed a valid improvement during this course. A lot of professors, students and people in general can argue that since all these mistakes were committed I am not capable for the next level. However, I insist that thanks to all those mistakes a made, now I am a student with more skills, and with the ability to write more complex essay for the next class. I can say that I am ready for English 1001, and I will give my best to learn as much as I can and to get a excellent grade.
To conclude this final reflection I must say that this course has been one of the most wonderful courses I have ever taken. English 1000 was highly helpful in a way that now, I have the knowledge of how to write an effective essay with the structure it requires. All the processes I passed through were full of new learning, which is something I appreciate the most. Now, I am able and ready for the next lever, which is English 1001.