Lanehart 1

Jacob Lanehart
Professor Bowers
English 1101-102
Reflective Essay
18 December 2015

As someone who took a writing course during my final semester of high school, I
knew I would be ready to express my knowledge of writing in English 1101. I always
enjoy writing because I can put my skills to the test while expressing my thoughts and
emotions. Now that this class has come to a close, I can reflect on my strengths that
helped me finish strong this semester.
In my history of writing, one of my most significant strengths was sentence
fluency. When drafting essays, my sentences usually lacked fluency. However, when I
would look over and edit them, I would take out words and sentence fragments that didnt
fit well. This worked out smoothly, especially when I wrote my profile essay. In this
essay, I wrote about my dad, a hardworking individual who is dedicated to both his job
and his family. In my profile sketch, the very first sentence said, Prior to moving into
northern Illinois, Harry Lanehart was living in Monterey, Louisiana. He spent all of his
childhood with his five other siblings. I felt that these two sentences seemed a little
choppy, so I decided fit them both in one. I changed them to, Prior to moving into
northern Illinois, Harry Lanehart was living in Monterey, Louisiana, where he spent all of
his childhood with his five other siblings.

Lanehart 2
During the middle of this semester, I found out that more of my strengths in
writing were found in my review essay. I was most excited about writing this essay
because it gave me the opportunity to express my opposition towards Googles
development of their self-driving car. I covered many reasons why I opposed Googles
self-driving car project and why many other people would as well. One of my strongest
reasons pertained to roadway traffic. Many people who are unable to drive due to their
age or disability may own their own self-driving cars and be on the road more often.
The idea will benefit those that cant drive, but wont benefit those who are running late
for work. When I made this point about roadway traffic, it was something that most
people would agree on.
Another one of my writing strengths is the ability to effectively persuade. Since I
have strong opinions about smartphone addiction in college students, I felt the need to
write about it in my persuasive essay. I included my personal experience in the paper to
show how my smartphone addiction has kept me from engaging in other hobbies. I also
talked about how my smartphone distracts me from the work in front of me. I knew that
including my personal experience with smartphone addiction would be the most effective
way of persuading because readers of my essay would relate to me.
Even though I have a good chunk of experience in writing, taking this course
helped me identify my strengths in composition. The class was very organized and help
was always willingly available. Now that I finished this course strong, I feel confident
moving into English 1102.