Jennifer Hernandez

Katya Lopatko

Writing 2

6/10/23

Reflection Essay

Writing 2 has been a class that has pushed me out of my writing comfort zone.

Since before this class, the only knowledge I had about writing was from high school.

Where we had strict rules, it had to be more formal and it had to follow a certain format.

Whereas in this Writing 2 class, we had more freedom on how we could write. We had

fewer limitations on the structure and on what kind of pronouns we could use. This class

helped me develop as a better writer, who learned how to take corrections and apply

them to her work. I hoped that when going through my portfolio, it is shown how I have

improved in my writing. Through reading my first and final drafts and throughout this

letter itself. Writing 2 has greatly improved my knowledge of writing and has helped me

improve my writing as well.

Now that I reviewing my writing works, and read the comments that my

classmates and instructor left. Joseph Harris's advice, “The aim of revising is to rethink

the ideas and examples that drive your thinking in an essay; the aim of editing is to

improve the flow and design of your document.”(Harris) Helped me through the revision

of these writing works. In the comments left, I noticed that there seemed to be a trend in

where it seems to my fellow commenters that I at times lack explanations in my writing.

And there also seemed to be areas in my writing where it would have been better to
explain the situation first and then go on and talk about the main topic. The comments

that were very specific about what areas lacked an explanation were the most helpful to

me. Since I got to see where it would be confusing for another reader to read. The

specific comments also helped bring a different perspective on the structure of my

writing and how I should switch some areas around so that my essay could flow better

with the explanations. So as Harris suggested I did rethink my ideas and examples of

how I could expand them so that the readers will not get confused. And as I was editing

I made sure to thoroughly improve the writing flow and the overall structure of what

goes where in my writing.

One thing about my writings, that I noticed when I was rereading my writing

works, is that I failed at times the execution of how I want my writing to go. For example,

when I am writing, get manage to get more ideas about the writing topic that I would like

to fit into my paper. But I end up just briefly mentioning it and that's all I do with it. I

forget to go back to further elaborate on it, and make it seem like an important detail. To

try and fix this I tried to apply E. Shelley Ried's technique of stating “clear points early so

that your audience can spot your expertise or passion right from the start.”(E. Shelley

Ried pg 4) This seemed to help me since it help me keep more organized and also help

me to expand on the ideas surrounding the early points.

Other than my writing improving from taking this class, I have also learned how to

use websites to get research articles about topics I am researching. I have also learned

how to read academic articles in a way that is easier for me to understand and

annotate. I have also learned to accept that writing projects can be written formally or

informally. I never would have thought of me submitting an essay with the word “I”.
Since in high school, my teachers frowned upon the usage of the word “I”. To me using

the word “I” was informal writing, I felt like I was breaking the rules. But this class has

helped me see that they are multiple writing genres that can fit any assignment. Also

learning about the audience, especially the audience that you are trying to appeal was

the most beneficial lesson I have learned. Since “The better we know our audience,

purpose, and genre, the more likely we are to select effective “verbal” apps. When we

are less confident, we reign in our figurative imagination, choose to play it

straight.”(William T. Fitzgerald pg 57) In other words, the more we know about our

audience the more convincing we can be. Since we know how to appeal to the audience

and get their attention so that they can grasp the main ideas of the writing.

As you have noticed all my quotes are from the readings because they are so

helpful and the reading helped me better understand writing techniques that I could

apply in my works. Especially the reading that I am quoting from, they have helped me a

lot through this course. At the beginning of this class, I would say that some of my

strengths would be unique topics and I can get my points across the board. Some of my

weaknesses are not further explaining my points, and briefly mentioning topics. For

example,” I would like to explain to everyone listening that an FT group is a group of

people that were having the writing therapy program.” You would think that I put this

before talking about FT groups, but I did not, I put it after talking about FT groups. To fix

this I put on the mindset that the people who I am writing to will not understand any

psychology terminology.

In conclusion, writing 2 has greatly helped me improve my writing and my

knowledge about writing. It has also helped me get closer to my writing goal of getting
better at explaining topics consistently. Although I feel that I have not reached my goal I

do feel close to accomplishing it. I will just have to keep on writing and revising to catch

my small mistakes and work on improving them. I do hope that I can reach my goal of

having a nice flow of explanations.

 Citations here

Joseph Harris, “Rewriting: How to Do Things with Texts”, Revise, Utah State

University Press, 1st edition,2006, pg 98-121

E. Shelley Ried, “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for

College Writing Student”, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, 2011, pg

3-23

William T. Fitzgerald, “Writing with Force and Flair”, Writing Spaces: Readings on

Writing, Volume 3, 2020. Pg 52-64