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Chloe Huxtable
1B English 1010
Self-Reflection Paper
Looking through some of my daily writing assignments for English 1010,
three that I thought were helpful were, the in class free write essay where we got
into groups of three and picked a picture, we chose a character from the picture and
wrote from their point of view. It was very interesting to write from another
person’s perspective and to create a dialogue with my classmates. Another
assignment I found helpful was the personal narrative. We chose a childhood
picture and told the story behind it, it was a very personal piece that showed the
importance of writing strategies. The last one was the “Me as a writer” essay. It was
a creative piece on you as a writer. I got to share a personal story about my struggles
with reading and how I have grown and worked hard. Throughout all of these
assignments I have learned something new about writing and it each one has helped
me with the next assignment whether it was focusing on different perspectives or
on different strategies.
The two strategies I used to complete this response essay were my outline of
the essay and the PowerPoint Morgan and I presented to the class. They were close
to the same thing but the outline was used more as notes. Working on the outline
and the PowerPoint with a classmate really helped me better understand Edward
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Wilsons essay, it prepared me to write the response paper. It helped me keep in
mind his main ideas as well as the audience, purpose, writing styles and genre.
One of the most difficult parts for me was blending in the audience, writing
style and tone of Mr. Wilson. I tried to challenge myself by putting them throughout
the essay. I couldn’t find the right opportunity to share those details in the body
paragraphs of the essay. I wasn’t very successful in solving this problem because I
just stopped trying and made them into a separate paragraph.
The most significant strengths about this essay were the things I agreed on
with Wilson and the most significant weaknesses about this essay were the things I
didn’t agree with him. I couldn’t find any disagreeing factors between Wilsons and I.
I agreed with his ideas and statements but disagreed with the way he chose to share
them, not giving me a very strong argument. I learned that I am not very good at
analyzing others writing. I would way rather be writing a narrative or a creative
piece.
Throughout writing my response to “Is Humanity Suicidal” written by
Edward O. Wilson, I did not find very many tensions between my ideas/ experiences
and the ideas/ experience of the author or of others who have read the article. I feel
as if the essay is pretty self-explanatory and there is nothing to really disagree on.
The author, Edward O. Wilson is very open about his opinion but uses strong logos
to back it up. He is vey detailed and blunt. I did not come to see anything different
after writing this paper. I knew that Humanity was not suicidal and that we cannot
always rely upon technology. I knew that ecosystems were being destroyed and that
we were responsible for the large impact we have on them. Writing this analysis
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paper helped me start to notice details about the author and his writing style. It was
easier to pick out things that could help me better understand what I was reading,
like the tone, voice, audience, etc.
When writing my response essay I was writing to the new generation.
Edward O. Wilson is a very hard writer to follow as he writes to his educated
audience, who have background information and fully understand what he is really
talking about. As the new generation reads my analysis essay, I want them to get a
better understanding of the article and better understand Wilson as a writer.
How I would describe my voice in this paper is formal and descriptive. The
rhetorical strategies I relied upon most while writing this paper were audience and
purpose. For me Wilson was difficult to follow but then after realizing his audience
is probably 25 to 60 year olds who read the New York Time magazine and are well
educated it was easier to understand why Edward Wilson has a complicated
vocabulary and uses mature logos. He gives complicated scenarios and makes the
reader really thing about the ecosystem around him. For example he very detailed
while he is explaining the differences between the two schools, Exemptionalism and
Environmentalism. I did not take any risks in writing this paper. It was difficult for
me to write because I felt that I agreed with everything about Wilsons article except
for some of his writing styles, so I just tried to do what the notes outlined and what
you told me.