Reflective Essay

I am currently a senior in high school and last summer I took Composition I. This was my very first college class and I was apprehensive to say the least. I didn’t know what to expect and quite frankly I was lost. What do I mean by lost? I had no clue how to write or the amount of time it takes to write a well-rounded and researched paper. It was difficult for me to manage my time and I spent many hours and days working in the summer trying to sort through the different writing assignments and developing the skills necessary to pass the course. When I began Composition II, I expected it would be worse and the expectations to be more strenuous than before, however it ended up being the complete opposite. The writing assignments have not only been structured in a way that have further developed my writing skills and abilities, the topics have been interesting and enjoyable to research. I love that I have had the opportunity to write a paper, receive feedback, and then go back and improve on it. I also have greatly appreciated reading through student samples and having clear instructions on what is expected for each assignment. These have all greatly contributed to my success in Composition II and directly impacted my growth as a writer.

I have learned several new skills during Composition II. Two skills I have learned is writing a proper works cited and writing a better ending to conclude my paragraphs. I have to admit that writing a works cited page is not my favorite. In past papers, I would do the minimum about I need to properly cite and source. Typically, I would receive feedback telling me I needed to correct that works cited, but no additionally help. I have greatly appreciated specific feedback and tips on how to correct my errors. This has helped me for future works cited. When it came to ending my paragraphs properly, I didn’t even know this was something I needed to improve on. It wasn’t until feedback given to me that I even considered this. Now I make sure that I continue to tie my thesis back into the end of my paragraph. This has made my paragraphs stay on point and strengthen my paragraphs.

The assignment that I learned the most from is Rhetorical Analysis Project. I learned to say on topic, reached more effective and most importantly to think critically. Critical thinking involves both staying on topic and research. You have to use the research to figure out how to covey the authors work, works about them, and their life in all to convince the readers that they hold your stance. That is hard! Especially if you have a very narrow topic. Luckily, I had the topic of depression during Covid 19 and Alfred hickock faced depression and anxiety. He also directed the movie The Birds a social epidemic movie. Even though these apart of his life I still needed more. And this is where the researched comes in. Skimming though books and searching the for key words such as, depression, loneliness and fear. Finding quotes that fit the over all narrative. This narrative was not the solution but tell the audience that Alfred hickock would agree that depression in Covid 19 is a social epidemic. All of these correlates and pushed me to become a better writer.