Reflection Essay - How my Writing

Ability has Changed for the Better Under

EN 101
Seth Chandler
EN 101
4/27/19

Since the embarkation of my academic career in the University of Alabama, my writing

ability has improved greatly largely due to the education received in my EN 101 class.
Throughout my first semester as a University freshman, not only has my penmanship
received professional nurturing, but my writing identity has received a stronger personality
through the work displayed on my ePortfolio.

My growth as a writer germinated under the instruction and guidance of my EN 101

professor, Kevin Waltman. The time spent in Waltman’s EN 101 class covered the do’s and
don’ts of writing analytical summary and responses, memoirs, and profiles, and furthermore
established the norm of collegiate-level writing and how it was to be executed. Whether it
was to insert descriptive imagery in memoirs to convey a mental illustration, or shaping an
angle for the targeted audience in a profile, the implications of writing a proper essay or paper
were made apparent in EN 101, which in turn influenced my approach to writing before I
typed a single keystroke. In addition to lessons provided by Waltman, Waltman would assign
the reading of literary examples of profiles, memoirs, and whatever concepts that he
envisioned for the environment in EN 101. These readings served as models to learn from,
and channel into not only just my in-class writings and my assigned essays, but every essay
and paper that I would write for my University classes throughout the semester. Reading
examples of, say, how to properly sculpt a summary of an author’s work and write a
compelling response, set a sturdy foundation in my brain of what the ideal summary and
response essay entailed, and gave me a concise general idea of how to properly pursue it.
Possibly the most underrated factor of EN 101 that I would happily give credit to is in-class
writing assignments. Though these writing assignments weren’t exactly steeped in substance
or even in proper grammar, they nonetheless honed my writing ability and shaped my writing
ability into the college level standard.

Furthermore, Waltman’s comments concerning my rough drafts and final drafts were pivotal
in my writing development. One glaring issue in my rough drafts and final drafts that I
eventually rectified was my inappropriate usage of high diction. I have always had a penchant
 for using such intellectual phrasing because I believe that it is vital to the literary integrity of
whatever it is that I’m writing. However, my folly was that I would use a word or phrase that
didn’t help clarify my points and arguments but rather muddied them instead, which resulted
in a stilted and imprecise effort. Thankfully, this issue had become minimalized by my
memoir, and nonexistent by my profile writing. Another issue that I faced when writing my
drafts for EN 101 was not being initially aware of what to write as my material for the
assigned essays, which directly leads to my biggest issue for me as a writer - I tend to
second-guess whatever I write. It could be a song, an in-class writing assignment, or an essay,
whatever it may be I will usually put too much thought into writing and be overly analytical
before I type a single thing. Have I perhaps thought about just letting my fingers do their
work and let my brain follow? Could it be that whatever I end up writing isn’t conventionally
good in the first draft, but can always be improved upon review? I understand that revision
should be the next step after writing, and that it’s never wrong to write bad material and then
correct it later, but I have yet to overcome this literary cripple.

With this in mind, I can safely say that my memoir essay continues to stand as the finest work
I have written this semester. Whereas writing substantial logical work has been challenging
for me, writing a descriptive narrative in something like a memoir is facile for me because I
think in imagery. Being naturally metaphorical, it is not difficult for me to write something
that is so deep-rooted in imagery that it can ultimately portray the colors and shapes that my
memoir intends to convey. Likewise, if I have the opportunity to weave from my own
memories and experiences, I can concoct a portrait that can spur images into the minds of my
audience. In turn, writing in this style for a memoir essay or profile has to an extent helped
free me from the shackles of this literary debilitation this semester. Despite writing a
descriptive narrative or anything with a lot of imagery, do I still question my direction and
the substance of the paper before I even actually begin work? I still do, but I’ve found from
EN 101 that as long as whatever I write transitions smoothly from paragraph to paragraph
and write with a purpose, I can write a solid paper (other than what needs to be rectified from
professor/peer review). While I may be able to achieve that pillar of achievement of writing a
solid paper by the final draft or even the rough draft, there is always room for improvement. I
took advantage of this opportunity with revising my memoir essay. Given that I gave my
absolute best on my memoir, it still fell short of perfection. The revision for this final gave
me one final opportunity to correct whatever blemishes were prevalent in my essay, and click
it all together as the best possible effort.

Another tool that undeniably helped me on my literary journey in EN 101 was working on the
ePortfolio through Weebly. Even though I was learning the ropes of college-level writing
through classwork in EN 101, nothing added more depth and personality to my writer’s
résumé than my ePortfolio. Having my life story on my Weebly “About Me” page, and how
it related to my growth as a writer throughout my own childhood and teen years definitely
gave some humanity to my ePortfolio and to myself as a writer, and indicated that I was not
just University Student #939546, but Seth Chandler, an optimistic author who has his own
 creative disposition that he channels into everything that he writes. However, this creativity
of mine, as genuine and original as it is to me, would be lacking if I did not have the passion
or the enthusiasm for writing. This passion in question stems from my love of books,
particularly the ones that shape me as a writer. That being said, with the presentation of my
reading log, I have revealed what novels and nonfiction works are important to me as a
writer, and how they mould me in my approach to writing. For example, I believe that if I had
not read ​Still Counting the Dead b​ y Frances Harrison this semester (as listed in my reading
log), its grave angle would have never inspired me to replicate something similar for my
memoir, which is rooted in tragedy much like Harrison’s book. Finally, displaying my
assigned essays on my ePortfolio is enriching to my writing soul because not only do they
give an insight to my writing ability, but it demonstrates the tremendous change that is
apparent throughout the first essay to the very last.

In conclusion, I cannot give enough credit to Waltman, the EN 101, and the English
Department in general for their role in my maturation as a college-level writer. EN 101 was
the first stepping stone of the path that I am headed towards becoming not just a writer for
college-level English or for the sake of my other classes in my college experience, but the
path headed towards becoming a professional writer. I am forever grateful that each essay
was tailored to address all of the characteristics of what it means to be a writer - whether it
was illustrating intricate, descriptive details in a memoir, writing a compelling and
convincing angle in a profile to convince a particular audience, or summarizing another
author's work and giving a mindful, well-thought response. I cherish the knowledge obtained
from seemingly trivial in-class activities, whether they be assigned readings or in-class
writing assignments, because they helped bolster my college writing. The ePortfolio in
particular gave me the gilded chance to reinvent my writer’s persona on the Internet so that
many professionals can observe from my life as a writer, and high schoolers or incoming
freshmen can learn about what it means to be a writer in college from my website,
particularly from my posted essays. Every question or concept concerning proper literary
protocol that only lingered in the mind at the beginning of the semester was brought to full
fruition by the end of the semester, to which I am very grateful.