Brion Gregerson Mr.

Ludlow-Mattson English 114 December 19, 2013 Final Reflective Statement After my first semester of English, I would say that I am beginning to approach the way I write essays differently; I am more flexible and versatile in a variety of academic writing styles, compared to before I took this English course. One main element of writing that I have gained through this course is open-mindedness, such that I am not conforming to the exact specifications of essay prompts. To further clarify this statement, I mean that that I do follow the instructions given to me in a prompt, but put a kind of individual twist that in my opinion, makes the essay more compelling and entertaining. The key word that I brought up was open-mindedness, as I found that this is not a quality that all students have, but instead, must work at it to achieve this. I believe that being open minded allows for greater self-expression, rather than being bland and too comparable to work from other students. Additionally, it allows writers to view subjects from a wide variety of perspectives, instead of simply looking at a subject the way a teacher designed it to be. Furthermore, I would say that this course will help me in the future English courses that I have taken, as it has given me a strong foundation of academic writing at a collegiate level. Following up on what I have already said, I would say that my greatest strength in academic writing is being open-minded to the topics that I write about. One prime example would be my I-search paper; I used a topic that actually intrigued and mattered to me, and because of this, I was able to express my true thoughts. This I-search paper was probably the piece of writing that I took most pride in throughout the year, as it truly displayed my thoughts and emotions. On the other hand, one instance where I wasnt particularly open-minded was at the start of writing the argumentative essay. At first, I thought that it was a relatively boring topic, but when I brought myself to give it a chance, I found that it was a very interesting topic to rite about. Often, all people have to do is give a topic a fair amount of attention and not judge it on the first day that it is assigned. The other essay that I would like to discuss would be the critical essay, as it was, in my opinion, the most strictly academic piece of writing that I wrote throughout the semester. This essay gave me a glimpse into the structure of future academic writings that I am going to write in classes down the line. Overall, I think that I have reinforced my writing strengths throughout the year, and it will do me a great benefit in the classes that I will take during my years of college. Another paper that served as a key to my progress this semester was the literacy narrative. When I look back at it, I could see the progression that I have made throughout the year. It was our first main essay that we wrote for the course, and when I compare it to papers like the I-search paper and the critical essay, I could see that my writing has improved greatly. While I am not saying that my literacy essay was bad, it mainly gave me a baseline reading of my writing skill at the start of the semester, and I was able to gauge my improvement by comparing the essays that ensued after the literacy narrative. I feel as if the writing that I had done built up to the I-search paper at the end of the semester, and I was able to translate that into what was, in my opinion, m best piece of

writing in the semester. I was able to use techniques that I learned throughout the semester and apply it to the I-search paper. Lastly, I would say that I really enjoyed my first semester of English, and that I skills that I will be able to use in my academic life for years to come.