Morgan Johnston
English 101
April 21, 2013
Reflection Paper
English 101 is a requirement for all freshmen students attending Bloomsburg University;
I believe this class is a great way to transition from high school writing to college writing. I believe this class better prepared me for the real world and writing beyond the infamous five paragraph essay that most students were taught in high school. Not being a very strong writer coming into this class, I feel that I really did benefit from having to take it. I now feel more confident in my ability to write formally and write towards different audiences for different purposes. Having taken this class I now feel that my writing is a lot more formal and well rounded than it was before. My professor was exceptional in creating different prompts for us to explore different types of writing and perfect each one. Each prompt we were given met each one of the five goals that must be met for the course goals of this class.
Each paper covered goal one: “Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes” in a different way. Response paper one we were writing to a certain audience; this paper prompted us to write to an “outsider” and describe in detail one of our community of practices. For this paper our purpose was to ‘open an outsider’s eyes to a group that is important to you, as well some of the linguistic and nonlinguistic features that go into defining your group identity.’ Response paper two prompted us to write to our peers’, which again was a certain, different audience than that of our first response paper. Our purpose of this paper was to ‘explore and evaluate the effects of technology on the way that members of your generation

communicate.’ In our last paper we were prompted to write to ‘ The Pennsylvania Research
Board’, ‘Mr. Joseph Galante’- president of the Glendale Science Foundation, and ‘our peers’ to help us retrieve funds and complete a research project/proposal. In this series of papers our purpose was to
‘describe your research question in a limited amount of space’, ‘to convince someone to fund your research’, and ‘to convince people to participate in your research project’.
Each piece/portion of this paper prompted us to write for different audiences and also prompted us to write for different purposes. Being able to write towards different audiences and for different purposes is such a key skill and will unquestionably help me later in life.
Each paper fulfilled goal two as well “Compose using language and conventions appropriate to genre”. Each one of these papers was designed so we would have to compose papers using a different kind of language and genre, depending on how formal the paper was, what audience you were writing to and what conventions were appropriate for that specific genre. Depending on the genre our style of writing would change dramatically. Each paper we received prompted us to write in different genres; we were prompted to write an informative paper in response paper one, we were prompted to write a persuasive piece in response paper two, and we were prompted to write a research paper in response paper three. We were also impelled to write a letter and a research proposal in our third response paper; all prompting us to be flexible and write in different genres. The informative paper and our research paper used more formal writing and more technically terms whereas the persuasive paper was not as formal as the others. Knowing how to write in different genres and use different language will definitely be beneficial and help me later in life, especially in the working world.
To fulfill goal three, “Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments”, many of the papers we have written in this course have

required us to do some sort of research. In this course we have been required to read, choose, and use evidence from other studies to support our beliefs and topics stated in the paper. Our first response paper prompted us to write from our own personal experience to formulate an argument. Our second response paper definitely demonstrated goal three because we had to do research on how technology effects our communication. We also had to conduct an interview and had to find information supporting our view point in an article, book, or legitimate website.
Being able to compare and use previous research to support our argument is a skill that I am sure we will need again.
To fulfill goal four “Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres” many of the papers we have had to write we had to incorporate print and non-print genres. Obviously in each paper we included print in the papers but we also had to incorporate pictures in many of our papers to support our writing as well. Adding pictures to our response papers helped add a visual to keep the reader interested and add something other than print to support our writing. Adding relevant pictures to our papers, we were trying to enhance our writing and again keep the reader interested. We have also had to create a flyer to advertise a research project we wished to complete, which again is another form of non-print genre. We also had to compose and carry out an oral presentation which again is a form of non-print. Being able to successfully use print and non-print genres I feel more confident that I can draw a reader in and keep them interested in my writing. I also feel more confident in my oral presenting abilities and feel that I can orally present information and my opinions, not just use print to do so.
To fulfill goal five “Describe and apply appropriate writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts” many of the papers we had to complete incorporated different types of collaborative contexts. We had to work in groups to complete peer reviews to discuss

any errors in our rough drafts, which could then be fixed in our final drafts; this was extremely helpful, receiving other viewpoints on a paper. We also had in class writing which incorporated individual contexts. We had to work in a group to complete a collaborative research project as well which required us to work well with others and combine ideas and the different writing styles that each of us had. Working individually and in collaborative contexts I think that I am now a more well rounded student and writer. I feel more secure creating papers by myself and I feel more confident that the papers I write will be constructed in a college level writing style. I also feel that I can work much better with other individuals and create quality work as well.
Taking English 101 has been a great experience and I have learned many skills that will be useful in the future and help me greatly as well. I believe that I am now a much better writer and I am now better prepared to write more quality papers in the future. Everything that I have learned this semester in English 101 will help me and I cannot wait to apply what I have learned later in life. I am looking forward to watching my writing grow more after this class as well.