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Luis Morales

English 115

Professor Jon Beadle

December 9, 2019

A Reflection on my English 115 Class: Writing, Experience, and Improvement

Throughout my English 115 experience with Professor Beadle, I have learned that

writing is a very complicated skill to learn and that it can change over time for the better or

worse. Project Space, Text, and Media were true tests of my writing abilities and I came to learn

it the hard way at first. I have gained experience throughout the semester and I can now use skills

that I have learned these past few months that I can use for the future and write some good

essays. English 115 has allowed me to experience college level essay writing and while I have

struggled, I have learned to become better through the help of Professor Beadle and my

classmates’ advice.

For the first essay, Project Space, I believed that I was going to nail the essay because I

have always been great at writing in high school and my teachers have praised my writing.

However, I received my score back and got a 65 out of 100, which really confused me, but then I

realized why. Through the professor’s comments, I could see that I had not really used enough

evidence to back up my claims and statements as well as rebutting my phrases. I kept these

mistakes in mind and prepared for my next essay, Project Text. The prompt for this essay was

about The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I now had just one source compares to the three I has

in Space, so I believed that using the advice from my professor, as well as my classmates
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through peer review, was the answer to getting an A on the essay. I got the essay back and I had

received a score of 67 out of 100, not any better than the 65 I got on my previous essay. So, I

was now frustrated with myself and I knew that if I did not get any help then I would not get any

better for my last project, Media. The comments from the professor were like the first, so I took

them, and I had to use them heavily for my next essay. As of now, I have not gotten my grade for

Project Media, but I am confident that I will get a better grade than the previous two essays.

From these essays, I have made myself reflect on my own writing before submitting it

and I make sure to reread it or to have someone else read it before I submit it. From writing

itself, I have gotten better at looking at information from my sources and using it effectively for

my main idea or point in the essay. Also, I now have improved in relating my body paragraphs to

my thesis because this was an issue for my other essay. I would state my thesis in the

introduction clearly, but then I would disregard it in later paragraphs or change the idea overall,

which was confusing my reader as it seemed I was arguing against myself. I believe that I should

work on having better contact with my professor as I have not really remained in contact to

frequently with him.

Like I have stated, my improvement has revolved around making sure that I stick to my

thesis in all my body paragraphs and to use enough evidence from my sources to make my

essays more comprehensive and to better support my claim in the essay. English 115 was a great

start to my college life and I hope that in my future, the writing assignments that I have scored

low on will serve as motivation and as examples for any more essay. Professor Beadle is a great

assistant and he is great at teaching the material for all of us, students, to understand and make

our writing better. I will take these into consideration for further improvement.
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