Chaparro 1

Marisol Chaparro

Professor Beadle

English 115

December 7, 2017

Reflection Essay

I feel as if this course and all of the exercises and projects I have been required to

complete has helped me to begin writing college level papers. I feel that this class really did

serve its purpose to help me write well-structured papers that meet the standards of my college

professors. I have learned how to write and conduct research, using databases, for a proper

research paper. I believe that my writing has improved drastically throughout the semester. You

can see my improvement simply in the scores of my papers. I received a score of 69/100 on my

first paper, a score of 73/100 on my second paper, and a score of 57/60 on my last paper. My

scores increased throughout all of the papers.

The first paper, Project Space, was my lowest scoring paper. This paper was somewhat

difficult to write because I was not accustomed to writing college level papers. This was the first

paper that introduced me to college level essay requirements. I was not used to the amount of

work that had to go in to the papers. In high school, I did not really have to put much work into

my essays, so this was an eye opener to the work that should go into college papers. Project

Space was also difficult for me because I dont use much detail when I write about something.

These exercises leading up to the paper helped me to find a way to describe the space I chose

thoroughly and completely. I think that between my draft and my final essay I was able to find a

space that was monstrous not only to me, but to others as well. I believe that the space I chose,
 Chaparro 2

the podium inside of a classroom, was a relatable monster for many of my fellow classmates. I

think that I chose a very fitting space and a very fitting monster.

The second project, Project Text, was also a challenge for me. The chosen movies of

Godzilla and Shin Godzilla did not seem as if they would be interesting to me. The movies

themselves were interesting but the paper was difficult for me to write. The research was difficult

for me because of the number of articles that were available to me about my chosen topic, fear of

nuclear war. Within the CSUN databases that I utilized there were thousands of peer reviewed

articles that were similar and offered support to my argument. Sorting through all of these

articles was a difficult task. It was hard to find articles that matched my argument exactly. I also

found it difficult to construct and support my counterargument and support for it. Once I was

able to find my counterargument, I had to figure out a refutation.

I think that my counterargument in Project Text was somewhat weak and did not have

enough support. I also know that my refutation was not very clear and it was somewhat

confusing. The counterargument and refutation requirements of the projects were the most

difficult part of the assignments. I never really had to construct a counterargument, and I

definitely never had to find sources that support, and sources that refute this argument. My first

attempt at the counterargument was very difficult because I did not include refutation. I simply

stated that the claim that I was making in the entirety of my essay was wrong and I made a claim

against it. Because I did not refute this claim, it did not flow with the essay the way it should

have. I think that in Project Media, my counterargument and refutation were clear and I was able

to find reliable sources to support all of my claims. These claims flowed with the rest of my

essay and helped me to support my original argument.

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Project Media was my best project of the three. I believe I did well because the project

was more of a creative writing piece in which I was able to choose an issue and a monster that

interested me. Personally, I really enjoy some of the crime shows I wrote about. This helped me

to really enjoy the topic and write a thorough essay. The issue I chose is one that I learned about

from my cousin who is a Graduate student at CSUN. He is also a professors assistant who has

taught many of his classes about the growing opioid addiction epidemic. He informed me that

there are many professors and faculty from every department that are trying to educate their

students about this issue. After doing research I was really interested in the topic. I was able to

find a connection between the epidemic and the popularity of crime shows.

I feel as if my writing has improved throughout the essays Ive written for this class. This

improvement is seen simply in my scores on these assignments. My scores have continuously

increased throughout the year. I also think that as the requirements for my papers continued to

get more difficult, I was able to meet the challenge and do better than the paper before. This class

did prepare me for other future college level papers that I will have to write. The class brought to

my attention some of the things that professors expect from an essay. I now know that professors

expect a counterargument and a refutation to support any claims made in an essay. I also know

that professors also expect very thorough research to be done. They also expect very reliable

sources to be used. I have definitely opened my eyes to the difficulty of some college papers. I

truly feel that my writing has improved and that I am able to construct well written and properly

constructed college level essays and papers.