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Reese Jovellanos
Eng 115
Professor Beadle
8 December 2020
From kindergarten to highschool, I have explored writing in almost all its forms, from
expository and descriptive, to narrative and persuasive. This is why within this semester of
English, I found the tasks assigned to me fairly straightforward; I was already familiar with
paragraph structure, formulating a thesis for an argument, and how to format an academic
paper. Though the task of writing my first college-level essay was daunting, I was confident
that I could fall back on the skills I have developed throughout highschool to guide me
through the process. Despite that, this course has opened my eyes to new discoveries on how
further develop and expand on my current skill set. From this semester alone, I was able to
rebuttals, and carry out a more sustained analysis of a specific set of quotes.
One of the things I struggled with the most was formatting. To me, despite having
previous knowledge of how academic essays are structured, the MLA 8th edition referencing
style was like an entirely different language. Though I had done my research on it, I was still
prone to making errors here and there. For instance, in my Project Space and Text essays, I
did not include a title, wrote the order of the date incorrectly, italicized words that should not
have been italicized, and formatted my works cited page imprecisely. Though these errors
seem minor in comparison to the thesis statement or analytical paragraphs, after comparing
my Project Space to my Project Media, I found that following the proper formatting style can
be just as important. In comparison to my Project Space, which did not have a title, the title
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of my Project Media essay was “Ambiguous Evil and Bigotry in V for Vendetta.” This is a
clear improvement from my previous essay, as I have not only caught the attention of the
reader, but I have also identified the main themes found in my argument. Thus, I learned that
titles are important because it allows me to further articulate my thesis to the reader in a clear
and precise manner. Paying special attention to the title made me realize that they are just as
important as the thesis in providing a strong foundation for the argument of my essay.
Looking back at my Project Media essay, which contains the appropriate formatting
elements, I can see that I have improved as incorporating the right title, works cited page
entries and date made my paper looks that much more consistent and professional.
rebuttals. In my first essay, I was skeptical of putting one in because I feared that by
expressing a view that opposed my thesis, I would risk weakening my argument. However,
after being required to implement a counterargument and rebuttal in my Project Text and
Media essays, I finally saw its value. For example, in my essay on V for Vendetta, despite my
thesis stating that there is no real hero in the comic, I also argued that “opposite could also be
said” and instead of it being counterproductive, I found that it ended up adding a persuasive
element to my essay. This is because by comparing my Project Space, Text, and Media
essays altogether, I learned that acknowledging other opinions, when done right, can be a
strong appeal to ethos and logos – this is something I also learned in my research for my
Project Space essay. This is because by bringing up an opposing opinion, I found that it gives
me the perfect opportunity to refute it and reclaim why my position is stronger. I have taken
these thoughts to heart because for my revised Project Space essay, I made sure to
rebuttal. Similarly, I made sure to further develop my refutation in my Project Text essay, as
not only was this one of the critiques I received, but also something that weakened my
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point of view. In this way, I have grown as a writer because I have discovered another way to
improve my appeals to ethos and logos, as it would allow me to be seen as fairer and more
objective.
In addition to improving my ethical and logical appeals, I have also improved in quote
selection and providing a more sustained analysis of these specific quotes. This was one of
the critiques for my Project Text essay, and this was especially true for my fourth paragraph
in which I used quotes that did not sufficiently support my claims, and in my first paragraph
in which I used too many different quotes from both primary and secondary sources.
However, for my Project Media essay, I took this into consideration and made sure to select
specific panels that were impactful and meaningful to my thesis, whilst making sure not to
jump from page to page. I also made sure to do a more sustained analysis of the evidence I
have collected, even if the evidence spoke for itself at times. For my revised Project Text
essay, I took this experience and improved it by choosing a more appropriate quote that
suited my topic sentence, and by paying special attention to the specific words used in this
quote for my analysis. From this, I was able to improve as a writer as I am now better at
thinking critically and deeply about the evidence I am presenting, which in turn has helped
Overall, this semester had surprised me because I learned many new things I had
previously thought I had a solid foundation in. For instance, I improved my ability to adapt to
a new formatting style, found another way to sound more persuasive and convincing by
including counterarguments and rebuttals, and I also enhanced my ability to select quotes and
perform a more sustained analysis. However, this was only possible due to the help I received
from the LRC lab, peers, and my professor, as their feedback were instrumental in my
improvement and growth as a writer. Though there is still room for improvement, I am proud
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of what I have achieved and learned thus far in this semester, and I look forward to expanding