Final Reflection II

 

Jesus Arevalo Merino

Deanna Nall

Composition II

27 April 2021

Final Reflection

The first major assignment I wrote was the academic success proposal essay. The title of my essay was "How Practice Will Help You Succeed in Math." My thesis statement was: "Last semester, I had a math teacher who I understood completely. He is probably the best math teacher I have had so far. I passed that class with an A. However, I have a new math teacher this semester and I am having the same issues I had back in high school." My thesis explains what I was going through at the beginning of the semester; I was adjusting to a new math teacher and couldn’t understand her very well. It also states the fact I struggled with math in high school. In my essay, I talked about how I’ve always struggled with math. I also identified solutions that helped me with the said subject and supported my points with evidence. Before writing the paper, I looked for sources that supported my argument and recommended solutions to improve math skills. First, I introduced the subject I struggle with, math. Then I used evidence to show that most eighth-graders are not proficient in math. I decided to use that piece of evidence after my thesis to show that most eighth-graders will most likely struggle with math when they go on to higher education, which means the majority of students consider math a hard subject. After discussing evidence that showed I am not the only one having issues with math, I started writing about solutions that will help people with their math skills. I also supported my points with evidence from credible sources to let the readers know that the methods I talked about in my paper have been proven to work. Finally, I cited my sources on the works cited page. It took me a long time to finish this paper. I edited this essay many times until I finally liked the final result.

The second major assignment I completed in Composition II was the annotated bibliography and abstract. For this assignment, I had to look for credible sources that supported my argument, which was that Emily Dickinson used literary devices at the time she wrote “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” I also had to create MLA citations for the sources, annotate each source, and write an abstract at the end of my paper. I chose to write about the use of literary devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” because I found the poem simple, yet very intriguing. I saw a lot of potential in this poem. My thesis statement was: Although the poem “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is interpreted in many ways, one thing we know for sure is that Dickinson used literary devices such as allusion, alliteration, enjambment, personification, and symbolism when she wrote this poem. My thesis argues that literary devices are present in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson. I was intimidated by this project because I had never created an annotated bibliography or abstract before. I was also worried I was going to have issues finding credible sources. However, I was able to find most of my sources using the databases provided by my instructor. Before I started writing, I looked for articles about my topic on scholarly databases. After reading each article, I chose the ones that supported my argument. After collecting all my sources and writing MLA citations for all of them, I annotated each one of them; my instructor provided a template that was very helpful and provided all information each annotation should have. After annotating each citation, I wrote an abstract, which explained what I was going to write about in my poetry explication paper and what I had done so far to meet that goal. It also included the thesis statement I was planning to use in the poetry explication paper. This assignment was meant to prepare us to write the third assignment.

The third major assignment I wrote in Composition II was the poetry explication paper. The title of my paper was: The Use of Literary Devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” In this essay, I wrote about how Emily Dickinson incorporated literary devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” I also wrote about each literary device present in the poem, gave examples of all literary devices, and supported my points with evidence. My thesis statement was: The poem has been subject to many conflicting interpretations; however, the use of literary devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” is very evident. My thesis argues that most readers can identify at least a couple of literary devices when reading “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” Before writing this assignment, I checked the sources I collected for assignment two again just to make sure they still worked for this assignment. I also read the poem multiple times. I started by writing the introduction which was followed by the thesis. I thought my first thesis was long, so I replaced it with a simpler version. Then, I explained each literary device present in the poem, gave examples of all of them, and supported my points with the credible sources I collected in assignment two. I also explained a couple of hypotheses surrounding the poem. I decided to mention those hypotheses because I wanted readers to know that the writers who came up with them, use literary devices to support them; which means literary devices are obvious to all readers no matter the hypothesis they support. Lastly, I wrote a conclusion and ended the essay with a paraphrased version of my thesis statement to reinforce the point of my essay. After I was done with this assignment, I cited my sources in MLA format on my works cited page. Since this essay was a little long, I started it two weeks before it was due and challenged myself to write at least a hundred words per day. That plan worked perfectly because it gave me enough time to write the essay and revise it with care. I absolutely loved the way this assignment turned out.

Learning Outcomes:

·       I learned to appropriately respond to various rhetorical situations, purposes, and audiences. The academic success proposal essay and the poetry explication paper are very different assignments; however, I received a good grade on both and positive feedback from my instructor, which means I was able to appropriately respond to different rhetorical situations. I was able to talk about ways to improve math skills in the academic success proposal assignment and write about literary devices in the poetry explication paper, which means I am capable of responding to various purposes. I received positive feedback from my peers and my instructor, which proves that I responded to various audiences.

·       I learned to use writing and reading for inquiry, learning, thinking, and communicating. I was able to communicate ways to improve math skills through my academic success proposal essay. I learned information about the use of literary devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson by reading scholarly articles. I was also able to think of a way to write my poetry explication essay so that people would stay engaged and understand my argument.

·       I learned to integrate original ideas with those of others. In my academic success proposal essay, I wrote about a personal method that helped a lot with my math skills until I got to high school. After writing about that method, I talked about the methods I found in my credible sources. Therefore, I integrated my original ideas with those of others.

·       I learned to develop flexible strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading. I proofread my papers by reading them multiple times. After proofreading them, I edit words that don’t seem to be spelled correctly or rephrase sentences that do not make much sense. After editing, I revise them by reading them again to make sure I feel comfortable with the final result.

·       I learned to use collaborative writing processes. Some writing processes I use all the time are revising, editing, and proofreading. I also use the TREX model is also very helpful when writing an essay.

·       I have demonstrated knowledge of structure, paragraphing, tone, mechanics, syntax, grammar, and documentation. My academic success proposal essay received a 20 out of 20 on clarity and organization and a 13 out of 15 on grammar and mechanics. I make sure I research and find credible sources before I start writing. I have learned to keep a neutral tone in my essays; that way, my opinion does not influence my readers’ thoughts.

Strengths and Challenges:

·       My biggest strength is my writing process. My writing process made me successful because I start the process at least two weeks before the assignment is due; which gives me enough to write the paper and revise it as many times as needed until I am comfortable with the final result. By the time I turn in my essays, I am confident I will get a good grade.

·       When I was writing my academic success proposal, it was challenging for me to choose words and phrases that sounded well but not repetitive. I changed and replaced phrases many times, which slowed down the writing process. However, after all my attempts, I was able to create an essay I felt confident with and I was able to turn it in on time.

Overall Benefit

This class definitely helped me improve my writing skills. The academic success proposal I wrote for this class even helped me with my math class. I also created an annotated bibliography and abstract for the first time, which are two things I am sure I will be writing again at some point. I analyzed a poem piece by piece which was a fun experience. Writing is something I do every day and all the skills I learned in this class will help me a lot.