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Reilly Leibow

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115

15 December 2020

Reflection Essay

Many challenges have definitely occurred when it came to my writing this semester. As a

first-year college student I didn’t know what to expect, but college writing is definitely a lot

different than high school writing. Even though I had some struggles, I do believe that my

writing has gotten better over the semester through my analysis, quotes, and the quality of my

thesis statement.

Throughout the course of the semester, my essays have fluctuated with how well I

succeeded. I know that is due to the different types of writing we were doing. But one thing that I

think was consistently growing throughout the three essays was my implementation of analysis.

When I started the semester my idea of analysis was just agreeing or disagreeing with the topic,

but I believe now I have a greater understanding of what it means to analyze a quote or my

stance on the topic. For example, I received a comment after submitting my Project Space Final

Essay expressing that I should not discuss the contents of the quote because that turns out to be a

summary instead of an analysis of the quote. I believe in the assignment Project Text Final Essay

I had a better understanding how to analyze the text instead of summarizing. I am well aware that

my analysis certainly wasn’t anywhere near perfect, but I do believe that there were some

noticeable improvements within the work.

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I believe that one of the most constant comments I got on my essays was about my

quotes. At the beginning of the semester, I wasn’t aware on how to appropriately pick out the

best possible information that could help aid my argument. In my essays I kept adding block

quotes because I wanted every amount of information to be included, but after the many

comments I realized that it is definitely quality over quantity when it comes to quotes. All I need

was a good strong piece of evidence to help my argument instead of a big paragraph that took

away from my analysis and my points of view on the topic. In my last essay, Project Media, I

picked quotes that I thought would have the most value to the piece even if it was three words

like “Anyone can cook.” I know a lot of work still needs to be done to make my quotes better,

but I think that I have made good progress with moving a couple steps closer to a better essay.

I believe this is the most important lesson that I have gotten closer to learning, the quality

of my thesis. I know at the beginning of the semester my thesis could have used a lot of work,

now it could still use work, but I believe it is definitely a better technique than when I started.

For example, in the assignment Project Text Final Essay I received a comment stating that I

needed to connect the primary texts to the main topic in the thesis and then in the body

paragraphs explaining them in detail and then keep referring back to the thesis. I believe that I

have improved this a little bit. In Project Media Final Essay, I believe that I presented my

argument effectively and presented some evidence and referred back to it later in the body

paragraphs. Just like the other areas that I believe I improved, there is still a lot of room for

continuous improvement and I know that I will definitely keep working on them in the future.

The thesis is what sets up the entire essay and prepares the reader for what they are about to read
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and in this class, I have learned that if anything, make sure that the thesis expresses your

argument clearly and effectively.

Although there are definitely many things that I can work on, I do believe that even these

little areas of improvement are important towards my future writing in college and in life. My

analysis, quotes, and quality of my thesis have been the things that I struggled with the most this

semester and I am glad to see that overall improved this semester and used this opportunity to

become a better writer and student.