Abbigail Elder
English 1302
Professor Hammett
Reflective Essay
29 April 2024
Word Count: 512
Reflective Essay
I began this course during the second semester of my senior year. My previous class, while it was an Advanced Placement course, did not challenge me as much as I had desired. Because of this, I decided to begin concurrent enrollment with Tulsa Community College to gain early credit for my Composition II requirements. At the start of the course, I had some doubts about the level of my writing. The first few weeks went by relatively smoothly, however as it came time to begin drafting essays, I realized how much additional effort and time was needed to craft a scholarly piece. With the theme surrounding depression, I learned the importance of finding credible sources and reliable information. Through workshopping and practice assignments, I was able to enhance my writing abilities and will be better prepared for my future collegiate classes in the fall.
At the beginning of the course, many practice assignments were provided to better strengthen the class's abilities in areas such as formatting an essay and constructing a proper works cited page. One example of this is a review assignment centered around the concepts of formatting. While I completed the assignment thoroughly, I neglected to meet several formatting requirements. One professor comment I received on this assignment asserted that I only “[had] 2 sources on the WC page, so be sure all sources appear in the essay or remove those not within the text portion” (Professor Hammett “Formatting and Skills Review”). While I knew the basic technique and skill that was required for the proper formatting of an essay, I failed to apply them in the correct place. Instances like these helped better prepare me for later essay writing. On my later “Argument Proposal Essay,” I was more diligent about inserting in-text citations because of the previous feedback I had received. The skills I acquired as a result of these practice assignments gave me the ability to construct collegiate level writings and interpretations.
As I completed my first two major essays for the course, I was required to participate in corresponding workshopping appointments. Through workshopping, I received helpful feedback and commentary that allowed me to make corrections to my essays before submission. One example of commentary I received addressed that I needed to review my placement of commas at the beginning of sentences (Faith Liston “Rhetorical Analysis Essay” Workshopping). Minor fixes like these heightened my attention to seemingly minuscule details. Workshopping one-on-one allowed me to recognize and analyze the skills where I needed to apply more attention, but also heightened my confidence overall. Positive commentary, such as, “Excellent content! Well researched and good use of quotes to prove claims. Lots of simple errors, but still a nice job on it overall”, helped boost my confidence to spark new and creative ideas (Professor Hammett “Rhetorical Analysis Essay” commentary).
Through practice and workshopping assignments, over my time in this course, I was able to enhance my writing composition skills and gain true collegiate feedback. Because of this Composition II course, I am now better prepared for my pursuit in higher education.
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