A Reflection of the Semester...

      Writing has always been a huge part of who I am, it’s how I portray emotion when physical words fail me. That being said, there will always be more I can learn, and learn I did while taking this class. While I have taken many English and writing classes in my years of education, none really prepared me for writing at a college level; which kind of ended up throwing me for a loop during this class of Composition II. That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy writing each assignment, and I enjoyed learning from my mistakes, especially on my rhetorical analysis essay. Through that specific essay, I was able to grab a better understanding of the proper structure when quoting, citing, and run-on sentences; each of which I struggled to understand.

 

      My rhetorical analysis essay was based on the way Kurt Vonnegut would respond to the epidemic of missing children. The first thing I will admit up front, is that I have a terrible habit of using run-on sentences. Like I previously stated, I enjoy writing a lot, and sometimes that can lead to me getting a little carried away. I am especially prone to this issue when I am emotionally invested in a topic, like the topic of missing children that I had for my essay. To be fair, I didn’t do too terribly on the argument proposal essay that was originally assigned first. However, when you add a second proponent, such as Kurt Vonnegut to an already emotional essay, I tend to ramble. The feedback I received on that specific essay really brought to my attention how frequently I actually ended up accidentally writing run-on sentences. Not only was it brought to my attention, but I was given ways to combat this issue, such as using semicolons or just straight up ending the sentence. This all being said, I do feel as though I have become slightly better at knocking out unnecessary and rambling information in my essays. 

 

      Which brings me to my next issue that this essay really brought to light; my poor ability to properly cite and quote points I was trying to make. I would like to think I am not terrible at embedding the quotes I use, but sometimes I would make claims from a source without a quote. I failed to understand that even if I did not use a sentence straight from the source used, I still needed to cite the information that I took from said cite. Due to this rhetorical essay I wrote, and the feedback given to me, I realized that a cite was still necessary, as it was not my own idea. I also realized some of my quotes had improper information in the parentheses that I also did not realize was incorrect. However, because of this specific essay I wrote, I really feel like the feedback has helped me gain a better understanding of how to properly format cites and quotes.

 

      I still have a long way to go in my academic career, and an even longer way to go when it comes to writing; but I feel as though this semester in Composition II has thoroughly enhanced my understanding of the writing process expected in college. Overall I am happy with the works I have submitted and even happier still, at the constructive feedback I received on each assignment. Especially, in my rhetorical analysis, as it has allowed me a new understanding of run-on sentences and citing quotes and sources, for which I am grateful.

Writing has always been a huge part of who I am, it’s how I portray emotion when physical words fail me. That being said, there will always be more I can learn, and learn I did while taking this class. While I have taken many English and writing classes in my years of education, none really prepared me for writing at a college level; which kind of ended up throwing me for a loop during this class of Composition II. That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy writing each assignment, and I enjoyed learning from my mistakes, especially on my rhetorical analysis essay. Through that specific essay, I was able to grab a better understanding of the proper structure when quoting, citing, and run-on sentences; each of which I struggled to understand.

 

      My rhetorical analysis essay was based on the way Kurt Vonnegut would respond to the epidemic of missing children. The first thing I will admit up front, is that I have a terrible habit of using run-on sentences. Like I previously stated, I enjoy writing a lot, and sometimes that can lead to me getting a little carried away. I am especially prone to this issue when I am emotionally invested in a topic, like the topic of missing children that I had for my essay. To be fair, I didn’t do too terribly on the argument proposal essay that was originally assigned first. However, when you add a second proponent, such as Kurt Vonnegut to an already emotional essay, I tend to ramble. The feedback I received on that specific essay really brought to my attention how frequently I actually ended up accidentally writing run-on sentences. Not only was it brought to my attention, but I was given ways to combat this issue, such as using semicolons or just straight up ending the sentence. This all being said, I do feel as though I have become slightly better at knocking out unnecessary and rambling information in my essays. 

 

      Which brings me to my next issue that this essay really brought to light; my poor ability to properly cite and quote points I was trying to make. I would like to think I am not terrible at embedding the quotes I use, but sometimes I would make claims from a source without a quote. I failed to understand that even if I did not use a sentence straight from the source used, I still needed to cite the information that I took from said cite. Due to this rhetorical essay I wrote, and the feedback given to me, I realized that a cite was still necessary, as it was not my own idea. I also realized some of my quotes had improper information in the parentheses that I also did not realize was incorrect. However, because of this specific essay I wrote, I really feel like the feedback has helped me gain a better understanding of how to properly format cites and quotes.

 

      I still have a long way to go in my academic career, and an even longer way to go when it comes to writing; but I feel as though this semester in Composition II has thoroughly enhanced my understanding of the writing process expected in college. Overall I am happy with the works I have submitted and even happier still, at the constructive feedback I received on each assignment. Especially, in my rhetorical analysis, as it has allowed me a new understanding of run-on sentences and citing quotes and sources, for which I am grateful.