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Caroline Greineder
Ms. Buckless
Writing 104 H
2 June 2016
Reflective Essay
Writing is similar to anything else in life; it is a process. Throughout the course of this
semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer and begun to understand the writing processes for
several different types of papers. There were many different occasions within this course when I
was asked to write a type of essay that I had never created before, therefore challenging me to
expand my variety of writing.
Throughout this class, we wrote several different papers , each reflecting a unique writing
style. While I enjoyed aspects of each essay, the essay that I enjoyed the most was the Memoir,
as I felt very passionate about the subject of my paper. The writing process, allowed me to
reflect on memories to which I was emotionally connected, adding to the enjoyment of writing
this paper. While I enjoyed working on each assignment, and feel that I grew as a writer by
completing each assignment the assignment that I enjoyed the least was the rhetorical analysis,
as I was unable to add creativity into this paper. Rhetorical analyses are factual papers based on
an interpretation of a certain picture, article, or advertisement, thus, there is no room for
creativity. Although I had both a favorite and least favorite assignment I am happy that I had the
opportunity to work on a diverse assortment of essays.
While the opportunity to experience different writing types has many positives, it can
also amount in difficulties along the way. The first essay that I wrote in this course was a Mad 40
on the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Being the first essay that I wrote in a few months, I found

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myself struggling with a few formatting issues. For example, when I would mention the authors
name, I would write Alex Haley, which is wrong because it is unnecessary to underline the
author's name. Along with formatting, I also had difficulty with my conclusion. Due to the
limited time left, I had difficulty coming up with a powerful final thought that would leave my
reader thinking.
Next, we wrote the rhetorical analysis. This was difficult to write as I had never written
this type of paper before. I struggled with determining a thesis, because it did not have to be a
standard x,y,z format, and I had never created a thesis in any other style. Not only was this
difficult, but, I also struggled with describing how the authors formal language added
credibility. The next paper that was assigned was the memoir. The one difficulty that I had with
this paper was starting it. Normally, writers may experience writers block during the middle of
their paper, however, I had difficulty in the beginning. Starting this paper proved to be the
biggest difficulty for me, because I had trouble deciding which experiences to expand upon in
the paper. I found that it was hard to form my ideas into a paper, because I felt as if I just had too
many.
Next was the profile paper, in which we had to pick a person that seemed interesting to us
and then interview him or her. Throughout the course of writing this paper, I had difficulty trying
to figuring out which part of my interviewee I should focus on. After I began organizing my
ideas and writing my paper, I also had difficulty trying to show not tell. I found this to be
difficult because I was unsure how to explain some of her characteristics without explicitly
telling my reader. For example, one characteristic that I struggled with was showing her
positivity. While this was difficult, I think that after focusing on showing not telling, I was able
to add enough detail and allow the reader to interpret what I was saying rather than directly

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telling them. Our next assignment was the Critical Analysis, which required us to work with a
group and decide on a topic that we wanted to critique. During the process of writing this paper, I
thought the most difficult part was working collaboratively. Working in a group was difficult for
this assignment because it was challenging to determine how to have the paper flow smoothly
with several different voices. While this was challenging, I think that it was important to have
this experience, because it helped me understand how to work collaboratively on a paper, which
is a skill I will need in college. Our last essay that we wrote in this class was the Position
Argument. I found that the most challenging part of this essay was creating the counterargument;
it was a challenge to find a source that disagreed with my argument that there is too much stress
on high school students. In addition, I also found that formatting this paper was challenging
because I had to use APA, which was a format that I have never implemented before.
Due to the rigor of this course and the difficulties that I faced, I was able to grow as a
writer over the course of this semester. Throughout this class, I was able to improve my
introductions and hooks to my papers. For example, in the inclass essay about the Autobiography
of Malcolm X my hook was : Malcolm X is a man of our past. He is someone we read about in
both history and english classes. While my hook for my next essay began: Imagine being out
on the blacktop and hearing the giggling of classmates or the bouncing of basketballs.
Elementary school used to be filled with this during recess. In my Profile essay I also proved
my growth, beginning: I used to line up my teddy bears on the couch and play school with
them. After comparing my introductions on several different essays, it is evident that
throughout the course my hooks became more interesting as I set a creative scenario, or started
with an interesting quote.

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While I grew as a writer in this course, there are skills that I can continue to work on.
One skill that is important for me to work on is my grammar skills. One grammar point that I
need to work on is my placement of commas. For example, in my memoir I had a comma splice
due to the placement of a comma in the wrong area. Also, in my position paper, I put a comma in
the wrong area, placing it before the word have when it should go after.
As a student taking a URI course, it is deemed necessary to meet several of their learning
standards. Throughout this course, I was able to meet the first learning outcome, which requires
that students recognize that different rhetorical situations (audiences, purposes, contexts) call
for different types of writing. I fulfilled this requirement by analyzing the assignments we
discussed in class, as well as, using different voices in my own writing based on who the
audience was, and the context that I was writing in. For example, in my memoir I introduced my
essay by stating, the lights were dim. My grandmother was lying in the hospital bed, and my
family was surrounding her with lots of love. This was a drama oriented introduction because
the context of the essay was sad. While, when I wrote my rhetorical analysis I began my essay
with a more exciting hook as I wanted to draw the reader into the interesting argument of the
article I analized. For example, I wrote, Imagine being out on the blacktop and hearing the
giggling of classmates or the bouncing of basketballs. Elementary school used to be filled with
this during recess. In addition, I was also able to meet the following learning outcome :
students practice different types of writing appropriate to different rhetorical situations(audience,
purposes, contexts). I met this learning outcome by completing several different writing styles,
in which many of them had a different purpose and audience. For example, when I was writing
my Rhetorical Analysis, my paper was directed towards faculty in a school system, or parents
that would be able to force change; however, when I was writing my memoir, my audience

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would be anyone that wanted to understand my grandmother and her life. Both of these
assignments also had different purposes. The Rhetorical Analysis for example, attempted to
explain an article describing an issue that needed change, while the memoir had the purpose of
giving information about my grandmother and the impact she had on me. Throughout this
semester, I was also able to meet standard number four ,which stated: students recognize
differences between revision and editing. Within this course, I met this standard throughout our
peer editing sessions. While peer editing, I would read my partner's essay, inspect the writing for
issues with grammar or punctuation, and I note where these edits should be made.Throughout
their paper, I would also keep my eye out for areas that were confusing or parts that did not
sound quite right; I would then leave a comment explaining that they should revise these areas.
In addition, I was also able to meet standard number three, which stated: students reflect upon
and explain the appropriateness of their choices for the rhetorical situation. I was able to meet
this standard because in each of the essays that I wrote, I understood the rhetorical situation. For
example, when I wrote my position paper, I used ethos throughout the paper in order to gain
credibility from the audience. When I wrote my Rhetorical Analysis, I used formal language in
order to critique the article. During this semester, I was also met learning outcome number
nine,which states: students revise and edit their work to produce polished texts that meet the
demands of the rhetorical situation. I was able to meet this standard, through peer revisions, as I
would determine which comments seemed helpful. Once I did this, I was able to understand what
issues my paper had, and then edit and revise my work from there.
Throughout the course of this class, it is evident that I was able to grow as a writer and a
learner. Fortunately, there were many writing pieces which allowed me to experience new styles
of writing that I had not yet dealt with in my education. As a student in this class, I was able to

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meet several of the learning outcomes, which also allows me to thoroughly measure my success
in this class. While I did grow as a writer, there is always room for improvement, and I look
forward to continuing to grow as I continue into higher education.