Over the course of this semester, I learned that I need to look from a reader’s perspective and not a writer’s perspective when I am writing my essay. I have to make sure that my readers are entertained and not bored of my writing. I need to start of my essays with a hook to capture the reader’s attention and not throw them off. When I used to write essays, I never really introduced the sources I used, but know I know how to. From assignment to assignment, I learned to analyze better, go more in-depth with the readings, and articulate an important claim. Most important of all, I learned how to use the “They Say/ I Say” method to start a conversation between the paragraphs, so the reader sees a connection between each and every paragraph written in the essay. In this class, what I also learned was how to make use of the “Little Red Schoolhouse” problem statement model. With that, I was able to talk about my perspectives about my topic in a new way. When I look back to these three assignments as a writer, I feel that my writing has gotten better throughout the semester. I’ve been able to make use of many different techniques that I’ve learned in this class. Using the reverse outline method to get a sense of what I am talking about in each and every one of my paragraphs definitely helped me make better revisions in my essay because it showed me what I needed to add in order to get my message across. I learn how to write from research essays to analysis essays.

In the future, I want to continue to use the reverse outline method and also continue to use the “They Say/ I Say” method in order for me to improve my writing. I want to also continue using the “Little Red Schoolhouse” method because I feel like that can help enhance my writing as well. While doing these projects, I also had to ask myself many “Why” questions because draft after draft, I realized that I didn’t really expand on my points that much. I also see that in the comments I get on my drafts. You don’t necessarily have to write a whole bunch to get your point across because it is the quality of your work and not much of the quantity. You don’t want to write a lot of nonsense or else the reader is just going to think that your work is repetitive.  you justYou just have to get  straight to the point. I think what was really useful to me was also the use of in-text citation. I learned to properly cite a block quote because if I cited it wrong, that would be plagiarism and I certainly didn’t want that. If it wasn’t for this class, then I would never know how to do the new MLA format.

Looking back at the goals I’ve made in the beginning of the semester till now, it seems like I have been doing fairly well. One of my weaknesses in writing was making my paper smoothly transition from one paragraph to another. My goal was to improve on my writing skills just like how the major course goals was to improve our writing skills too and I can say that my knowledge in writing has definitely deepened. I wanted to make my essay transition smoothly. Writing blog posts really helped reflect on what I read and also improved my writing because I am practicing everyday. Having the proper materials and books we needed to succeed on our projects definitely helped me throughout the process. Having an intellectual problem really helped me come up with an important claim to help me start writing my papers. The “Topic to Question” reading really helped make my essay flow better. It made my essay overall more coherent. I also learned to use stronger vocabulary to make my writing sound better and also figured out how organize my paragraphs in order to make the whole paper flow. Not only did I help myself in this class, but I also felt like we all helped each other out in this class because I learned to give critical feedback during the peer review session. Because of this class, I realized that the most important step in the process of writing is revision.  You can’t possibly write an essay and expected to come out perfect. You have to take time to edit and revise your essay. The more time you spend on revising your essay, the better it will become. You don’t have to be a perfectionist in writing in order to have the best written paper, but you just have to have an outline and amazing revision.

Before taking this class, I thought writing had so many rules and formats that we had to follow, but that wasn’t true. Many of these essays didn’t have to have the same structure. You didn’t have to follow a particular structure in order to get your point across.  You can write an essay in different formats and also be able to convey your message to your audience. I learn to create voice in my own paper.  I learned to create my own style in writing. I also didn’t know how to properly paraphrase and didn’t know what was considered as plagiarism,  but you gave us a a reading to help us out. I thought that it was very helpful. The things we did in class really gave me a clear understanding of how writing works. Another thing that I liked about this class was that there were many group discussions.  I stated in my email that another one of my goals was to talk more in class and I think that the group discussions really helped me communicate well with my fellow classmates. They made me less of a shy person. I was able to ask many questions related to my project. The answers I got gave me an idea of what I should write in my essays. Although I wasn’t the most talkative person in class, I believe that I am improved a lot in this class and was able to meet my goals.