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Samantha Olin
Professor Johnson
Reflective Essay
In Univ 111 I developed a lot more skills over the semester. Unlike other classes
where basically the same effort and skill is required for assignments, in Univ 111 within
each essay assignment the expectations were raised, therefore earning that grade I wanted
required more work and effort. Since the Diagnostic Essay I wrote, over the semester I
was able to improve on many things including, analyzing contexts, create an argument,
and apply research information into my essays.
The diagnostic essay was a good introduction to the class because it got my mind
off of summer mode and back into school mode. Although the difference was now I was
in college, and I remember feeling nervous because I wasn’t confident that the skills I
learned in high school were good enough for the assignment. The grading wasn’t too
harsh, which helped ease into the class. After looking back to my diagnostic essay I
realize that it required little work and use of outside sources. It was a very general topic
over the development of technology. I did have a good amount of reason, but no evidence
to back it up.
Then there was the Unit I essay, which we were put into writing groups for. The
writing groups helped a lot because I was able to get a first draft going and then get
feedback on what to improve on. It’s hard for me to see exactly what I’m missing, or
what extra step I can take so any sort of feedback or advise I get goes a long way. The
Unit I essay required me to really think back to a time in my life where my perspective
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had changed. I found it difficult to tell a story meanwhile trying to make the reader
understand as to why my perspective had changed. After getting all the feedback I could
and then getting my final grade with all the comments, I was able to see all my errors and
improve on the next essay.
The Unit II essay was different than the previous ones. It required a scholarly
source, and for me to make connections to Salt Sugar Fat from it. I knew what I had to
improve on from the previous essays, but then I had to apply a new skill to it all. Which
was to properly pull out and synthesize information from a scholarly source, and make a
connection to my topic to prove my point. I thought it was really interesting because I
learned a lot of new information in the process of writing my essay. I had to identify the
purpose and audience of each source and then although it was two different sources, I had
to critically think about how one source can compliment the other. It helped me learn
how to use information from a source and follow my thesis to prove to the reader my
reasoning and evidence is valid.
Towards the end of the course came the final piece, the Unit III essay. A chance
to apply everything I’ve learned through the course from presentations and previous
essay feedback, and create a well-rounded essay. I learned that after each essay the
expectations to do well got higher so I tried to apply everything I learned. I also knew the
constant small errors that kept occurring in each piece, and learned to get all those little
things out of the way first to create a good first draft. I was confident that I chose a good
topic that I would be able to find multiple scholarly sources on, and luckily from learning
in class I was able to find the correct scholarly sources to match my topic. The Unit II
essay introduced how to use a scholarly source appropriately which helped in this essay
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because although it was a different topic the same concept was applied, except with more
research. By now I found it that I was able to complete a full essay and meet the
requirements. Although I know there is still much improvement to be done, this final
essay came a long way since the Diagnostic Essay.
In conclusion, over the process of each essay throughout the course I have
developed more writing skills with out even realizing it. Within each essay I learned
something new. After looking back to my Diagnostic Essay I can really see how much
I’ve improved. The Writer’s Memo also helped a lot in the reflection process, because I
can really see what are my weaknesses and strengths. Writing has never been one of my
skills, but I feel after this semester I have gained confidence in knowing I can complete
an essay properly. I went from a simple 1-page essay to a full 7-page essay that includes
sources, and appropriate research. I know there is still a lot more I can only get better at,
and expand my sense of knowledge, but in a short semester a lot of changes have
occurred skills wise.