Bitner 1

Victoria Bitner
Professor Collins
ENGL 1301
2 May 2017
Reflective Essay
For the spring 2017 semester, I attend English 1301 every Monday and Wednesday with

Professor Collins. The past sixteen weeks I have taken on four core classes for my new General

Studies major. Previously I chose to be a Psychology major but decided I needed more time to

think about my future plans. I knew either path I followed, English would be required, but this

way I could focus more on my basic core classes. This semester I learned ratiocination and how

to construct a thesis through the written review and the rhetorical analysis essays.

At the beginning of the semester I knew nothing about the process of ratiocination,

sixteen weeks later I feel as if I am a professional at spotting mistakes on my assignments. The

first major essay of this semester included a written review of a product, restaurant, or movie. I

felt extremely accomplished after completing my first rough draft of the semester, until I walked

into class the next day where my teacher gave the class the lesson on ratiocination. She informed

me that I should not include the words, be, been, being, am, is, are, was, and were in my paper.

Of course, after receiving that information, I decided to scan my paper in search for any of those

unnecessary words. Turns out I had over thirty of these be verbs in my essay and she told the

class most people usually have under ten. For the remainder of that day, embarrassment

overwhelmed me, so I hid my essay from her. From that point on, whenever I start to write a be

verb, I immediately delete the sentence until I can think of a more professional way to use my

words.
 Bitner 2

Through-out each major essay assignment I have slowly learned how to properly form a

thesis statement from the outlines the teacher supplies. Not until writing a rhetorical analysis for

major essay three did I completely understand the structure of a thesis statement. The first time I

attempted to write my thesis for essay three, it did not even sound like a sentence. Once my

teacher glanced at my rough draft, she instantly informed me of what I did wrong. Her positive

criticism led me to write a new, near perfect thesis statement. From the several essays assigned

during English class, I have learned that a thesis statement is basically an overview of the entire

paper.

By taking English 1301 with Professor Collins, I am now prepared for not only English

1302 but any other class that involves writing essays. I have already experienced how to organize

all of my papers with outlines, how to construct a thesis, and how to self-edit assignments with

ratiocination. The simple but multi-step process of creating an essay that I have studied the past

sixteen weeks will prepare me for the rest of college. My professors I plan to take in future

classes to come, I know will be proud to read a more professional paper. Sometimes I wonder

how my previous teachers even understood my work because my first paper needed some serious

editing!