Trevor Smith Prof. Presnell English 1103 9 October 2013 Reflection My essay is 2,075 words long.

It is a double-spaced paper in MLA format, split up into 6 paragraphs that stretch over six pages on my Microsoft Word. It is typed in Times New Roman 12 point font. The paragraphs are split up in chronological order. The first draft was bad for me. It was really the first time I had written an essay that really talks about my alternative literacy. Besides all the grammatical errors, my zero draft was unorganized and unprofessional. I almost felt that it was sort of a list, instead of an organized multi-paragraph paper. I felt that in my zero draft I couldnt get my brain wrapped around what I truly wanted to say. With the first draft, I thought that there was a lot of improvement. With the inputs of my piers, I corrected most of the grammatical errors and was able to organize it the way I wanted to. I liked how my piers told me to explain the aviation related stuff in a way that people would understand. My first draft, I believe, was the first time I really appreciated and enjoyed what I was writing. My piers forced me to open up my heart and let the ideas flow, and thats exactly what I did. The length of the paper extended and the ideas and paragraphs started to form. With even more input from my piers, my

final draft really represented what I felt. They really helped me expand on some ideas, like what my roadblocks were. They also helped me cut down on the extra words that created bs.

I will be the first one to admit that I am not a good writer. I guess I never realized until this year that I put a lot of bullshit in my paper. Dont even let me get started on staying on topic. I always ramble, and never find one central idea to focus one. That was definitely a big struggle while writing this paper. I felt confused on how to address the audience. I wanted to be able to find that one sentence at the beginning of the essay to draw them in. I believe that I got so caught up in trying to find the perfect sentence; my first drafts were not up to par. Besides, can anybody actually write an absolute perfect sentence?

After writing this essay, I feel a lot more confident in my ability to write well, organized, and professional papers. I guess all the talent that I had was hidden by the self-doubt. This essay has really helped me express who I am. I felt myself come out in the essay. I feel that once an audience reads my essay, they will understand what brings joy to my life. This essay represented success to me in that people can work together and effectively create exceptional essays. To clarify, the group editing we did in this paper, I really enjoyed. I thought I would

feel offended by the criticism of my group members when they read my essay. It turns out that I was very open and receptive. I agreed with everything that they had to say, from fixing the grammatical errors, expanding on ideas, cutting down on words, and explaining the technical stuff better that non-aviation lovers wouldnt understand. Im happy to say that my perfect essay is just not a product of what I was thinking; its also a product of what my group members were thinking. I found the stuff that I was commenting or suggesting on their papers, like organization, I was changing the same things on mine. I got great inspiration reading their essays. I loved how their essays came from the heart; it didnt feel forced. I was able to do the same thing, write from the heart.

Ive never liked writing, ever. I always wanted the word essay to be banned from the dictionary. When I was younger, I would moan at the sound of the word essay. I felt that writing essays was a way by the educators to force something onto the paper by the student, which wasnt always something that the student believed in. Like my professor addressed earlier in the semester, I believe putting a word count, or a paragraph amount inhibits the students ability to write. The first couple of paragraphs might be effective in capturing the attention of the intended audience, but as the paper progresses, it loses its touch. It is because the writer, or in this case, the student,

knows that they are approaching the required paragraph length. This causes them to write a bunch of bullshit to achieve the mark. Ive even noticed professionally written and published books have bullshit in them. Ive learned that I shouldnt be worried about word count and page length. I just need to say what is on my mind, and when Im done, Im really done. No fluff necessary.

At the beginning of the semester, I entered the class in what I thought of as a crappy background in writing. Most of my English classes over my grade school years put heavy emphases on reading, and understanding the literature from different cultures. The writing portion of the class seemed crammed in somewhere in the middle. There wasnt a whole lot of instruction, and I never had a chance to really improve my paper. There typically wasnt a first draft. It quickly went from the idea, to turning in the final paper the next day. Since the beginning of my first semester in college, I have seen the quality of my paper enhance. I still dont like the word essay, but when I write, I enjoy it now. I can really input emotion. I can put what I want to say, the way I want to say it, and not have to worry about the extra bullshit. That is probably the most significant change Ive noticed since the start of the semester. Until my professor drew my attention to it, I never realized how much bullshit I was putting into my papers. I was so focused on reaching that minimum word count by the teacher; I didnt

care if it made sense. I see now, that my papers have structure. When I read over my paper, I agree with every word written. The paper accurately reflects me. Before when I would read over my papers, it sounded like a robot talking. Meaning unorganized, unstructured, and this doesnt make sense. I would never have a solid topic to write about. I would go so far off-course in my writing, because I never understood what I was writing about. Now, I feel confident in my topic. To me, it all starts with one good idea. In my case, that one good idea was aviation. Its something that means so much and something I have so many memories about that it was much easier to write a paper without going off-topic.

The revising and critiquing process helped me a whole lot more than I initially thought. I thought that I would be offended or hurt by the comments of my group members editing my essay, but it turns out that it was very effective. I think the fact that they point out good points in the essay in addition to the parts that need fixing makes it easier for me. I loved my group. I think we worked very coherently together. They were all very open and receptive. I really appreciate that they took the time to better my essay, even though that they had their own essay to worry about. The suggestions they gave me to expand on my thoughts were the most helpful. This whole process of group editing was new to me. I was able to give them suggestions to

make their paper make sense without totally bashing it. I have grown to love it and appreciate how it can affect my paper. I hope that I get the opportunity to do this again in the second half of the semester.

In the second half of the semester, I only hope to grow and enrich my knowledge and appreciation of writing. I know with the lack of background that I entered with, I have a lot to learn. I want to be able to enjoy writing an essay. Instead of the word essay being banned from the dictionary, I want it to be re-instated. I want to achieve my goal of writing a thank you letter to my parents. I dont think Ive told them how much I love them and appreciate all the sacrifices and everything that they have done for me. I believe a nice letter with the skills I learn from this class to write a letter from the heart will mean more to them than anything in the world.