Reflecting on My Writing Experiences

1. Before starting my first year composition courses, I assumed I would be learning the basics of writing such as how to outline an essay, write a thesis, how to use correct citations and much more. My assumptions were correct because I have learned how to do all of these things and much more in my ENGL 101 and 102 classes. 
2. As a reader and writer,  some of the most important lessons I have learned include-- how to identify the main arguments or claims in a text, how to analyze a paper, identifying my audiences in my works and their values/beliefs. 
3. In this course, I found it helpful to use a cluster to help brainstorm my main points and ideas in my writing because all of my thoughts were organized. The link to one of my clusters is: Cluster... Researching different questions about a specific topic has helped narrow down the topic I want to use in my assignments. Gathering information on my main claims and writing several versions of thesis statements have helped me write well-written thesis statements. 
4. While peer reviewing my classmate's assignments, I offer suggestions on how to improve their work. For example, I have made suggestions on how to restructure or rewrite sentences. My peers have given me great suggestions on how to improve my introductions, explanations on quotes/citations, and how to conclude my works. For example, one peer suggested "There were also a couple of claims you stated that need evidence to back them up, such as the claim that children can lose weight by interacting with other children online."
5. My instructor offered feedback on several of my assignments which have helped me understand and correct my mistakes in my final drafts. One way my instructor communicated with me was by posting her suggestions on my blog. Here is an example of what she would suggest "I think that each one of them could be revised into a broader project. I would maybe make your second thesis a little less specific in terms of listing every one of the tools (sentences, paragraphs, etc.)." 
6. I often asked my sister and friends to read my assignments and make suggestions on how to improve my works because I value their opinions. I view them as part of my audiences for my papers, and knowing what my audience wants and needs to understand helps me write better papers. 
7. Before revising my final pieces, I often went back and read over my peers' comments and suggestions in order to get a sense of what I needed to fix in my assignments. Then, I fixed my errors and improved my work with the suggestions from my classmates and instructor. I also looked through different chapters of my English books to help revise my final drafts. 
8. Before this class, I often wrote essays all the time for writing assignments because I did not know how to organize other genres of text; however after learning about the different genres I could write in, I began understanding how to write in different genres. 
9. If I were to take first year composition courses over again, I would procrastinate less and focus on organizing my assignments more. I think if I did that I would have received better grades by spending more time on assignments as well.  
10. College is a very important part of my life now because I am focusing on getting an education for the future. Nowadays it is so much harder to get a well-paying job with good benefits without having at least a Bachelor's Degree. I want to do what makes me happy and make a decent amount of money to have peace of mind, and college will help me achieve this goal. 
11. From the semester as a whole, I have learned that writing is not only important for school, it is important throughout your entire life. I have learned how to make my own public arguments as well as how to analyze other arguments and people's works.
12. Some of the writing experiences I had reinforced my idea on the writer I thought I was. I know that I can procrastinate during assignments, but I also know that I like to write down as much information on a topic as I can in order to organize my thoughts and make an outline for my assignments. 
13. If I did not gain as much from a specific assignment, it was probably because I was not focusing as much time as I should have been on that assignment. Next time I would definitely focus more of my time on the particular project in order to gain more from it. 
14. Think about the course objectives listed on your syllabus as you consider your success in the  class. What course objectives did you meet? What objectives are you still looking on? Some of the course objectives I met during this session include-- how to read texts to assess how writers achieve their purposes with their intended audience, coming up with writing strategies suitable for different rhetorical situations, developing an argument with persuasive appeals to my audience, locating and analyzing evidence to develop an argument, and revising my work based on feedback from readers. Some objectives I am still looking on include-- using conventions of scholarly research, analysis, and documentation, and using conventions of academic writing, including clear, convincing prose.