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Jason Diaz

Professor Ditch

English 113B

05/11/20

Reflection Essay

In the begging of the semester I knew my writing was horrible and that I made allot of

mistakes. I never really knew how to do my works cited and I always lost points on that which

should be easy points, but I forgot how to do them. Another thing that I was never really good at

in my essay were having allot of hit and runs. Some of the things I did to help myself out was go

to the LRC and get help from tutors. Getting help from the tutors was always helpful because

they helped me fix all those little mistakes I had in my essays and the tutors were always helpful

and nice. Another thing that has helped me with my essays was to invest into Grammarly which

Professor Balin has recommend to the class and I find it very helpful to use.

In the beginning of the semester I was worried that everyone in the class would be way

ahead of me and already know the material and I was scared that I would be the only one that

would be behind. I quickly realized that we were all at different levels and that I would have to

work hard if I wanted to improve my writing. So, when we started working on our first essay, I

knew I had to work hard because my writing isn’t good, and I had allot of run ons. So, when I

went to my first LRC visit the tutor had allot of suggestions on what I can do to make my essay

sound better and I did them. I feel that If I didn’t go, I wouldn’t have gotten a passing grade for

that essay and I would’ve really sucked.

Another thing that I have never been good at are starting my thesis statements or using a

having a counter argument. These two things are pretty hard for me but over time in this
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semester I feel that I have improved on this. I know that I’ve improved a little because in the past

it would always take me a while to just do the intro. With the LRC it has been a huge help

because I always ask for help on my Thesis and each time, they help me clear it up and make it

stronger. So, this is one thing I have improved on over the semester which I am proud of.

When professor Balin first introduced us to this Grammarly I though it was a waste of

money and it wouldn’t help me. But when I decided to look at it and see how it works, I was

completely wrong about it being useless. This program has helped me fixed mistakes that I

haven’t noticed in the begging and I Plan to use it every time. I only use it for grammar because

sometimes it tries to change the whole sentence and I don’t want that because I want it to be my

work and to be able to say I did it. Another reason I like to use Grammarly is that it gives you all

of these little bars on how your essay sounds or how many mistakes you have or the percent of

plagiarism you have in your essay which is a big thing. When I started on a essay I forgot to

quote the person and give them credit and I put into Grammarly and told me what was the

plagiarism I had. I quickly fixed it and gave them the credit and was glad it caught the mistake

because if not I would’ve been in trouble.

Another way I Have improved on throughout the semester is fixing my works cited. At

first, I really didn’t know how to do it on my own so I would look up one of those generators to

help me and I would use that. But then I quickly realized that what the machine was giving me

was not right at all. The Cite would come out messed up and not look right or sometimes it

would give it to me in APA when I needed it in MLA. So, when we went over the proper way on

how to do our works cited, I put close attention because I knew If I messed up I would lose

points.
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In the end the ways I have improved on with my writing is with my thesis, counter

argument, quoting someone, and my works cited. I never really knew how to do my works cited

and I always lost points on that which should be easy points, but I forgot how to do them.

Another thing that I was never really good at in my essay were having allot of hit and runs. I am

proud of myself for working hard and trying to improve my writing with all the tools and

resources I had. For my next English class, I will still work hard and go to the LRC and use other

campus resources so I can further my writing and make it better.