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Nick Morales
English 114A
Professor Wafa Azeem
May 5, 2015
Reflective Narrative Essay
All throughout high school I loved to write especially when I had a lot of knowledge of the
topic. When I started this semester I was a bit intimidated because all of all the stories I had
heard about college papers. Even though I considered myself a proficient writer, I was not
convinced that I could go through the assignments with the level of writing that I was at that
time. As I progressed during the semester, I was really able to catch my petty mistakes, run on
sentences, grammatical errors, and learned where to put commas in the right place to space out
my ideas. I was very pleased that I took this class, because it is has helped me out in the long run
with other writing assignments that I will encounter in the future, and I learned a lot about how
to analyze literature that has changed the way I view things. It was very fascinating to learn how
to do an annotated bibliography, because I have never had to do one until this semester, and I
always wondered how to give a brief summary of an article that I have read and cite it correctly.
The way we analyzed literature, in a rhetorical sense I found was very intriguing, because every
time I read a piece of literature, I did not take into considerations that literature is not only to be
seen as literal but also rhetorical. Everytime I come across a piece of literature, I break it down in
order to analyze what the author is trying to get at, and what is its purpose is to get the full
understanding of why the author wrote that piece of paper.

Also, I had the experience of using blog posts and vlog posts, that has immersed me into
the digital age. I would never have known, how to use this features, available to me if I never

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took this class. Although, I am technology challenged, I am now able to advance or enhance my
work, when I am required to do these kinds of assignments. This class has developed my skills,
that will help me with the rest of my assignments, that requires any blog or vlog posts, that I will
encounter in the future. I found fascinating the word panopticism, although it is referred as a
prison, with the cells divided by concrete, with open holes, and a center tower being able to look
at all the prisoners. In literature, the idea of panopticism, is used immensely in dystopian novels,
the idea of always being watched and personal space being invaded. The intrusion, and the kind
of environment that is settled, is very interesting and I never thought of that concept until I was
pointed in the right direction. This class has shown me to really analyze what I read, and has
emphasized to read between the lines.

I was expecting to have longer essays more than 4-6 pages explaining the readings that we
were assigned. On the first day was a warm greeting, with the only thing to bring is our syllabus.
From there surely but slowly I was asked to analyze articles and give summaries of what I read
the next time we meet in class. Also, we had assigned readings to do, and we would discuss them
with the whole class, after that we would log onto moodle and write down our ideas.
Nevertheless, I had to do three essays some harder than others, but it was well worth it because
with each essay, it made me stronger as a writer, and I feel like I can take any writing assignment
that is assigned to me. I have learned a lot this semester that I hope will stay with me throughout
my whole college experience.