Costanzo

Sara Costanzo

Professor Moore

ENGL 1301

1 December 2019

Reflection on English 1301

At the start of the semester I was a little worried about writing essays and especially

about having to go to a class at 8 am, and I was correct because I never went. With English being

my strong subject in high school I felt like English in college would not be that much of a

challenge. My writing is high school was nothing compared to what I wrote this semester, I have

never written an academic writing paper or had to write addressing an academic audience.

Getting rid of trash words and getting back a brightly red rough draft may have been time

consuming but helped me grow as a writer. Taking this class has set a strong base for all my

future English classes and with using proper citation, correct wording and how to reach a word

count has made me a stronger writer.

With many of my rough drafts for most of my SARs and even some essays you can see

how rushed I was to turn these assignments in, and even Professor Moore could see by the time I

was turning all these assignments in. Forgetting to fill in my last name at the top header or

another easy mistake I lost points for that I just overlooked while typing my paper at 11:30 at

night. Forgetting to cite my sources in my body paragraphs was another few points I lost. For

example, “This was the lowest recorded number of executions since 1991. Only 5 states had

carried out in the use of capital punishment in 2016 with Georgia carrying out 9 and Texas

carrying out 7.”, I failed to cite where I got this fact from. I do not know death row facts off the

top of my head, So I had to use resources online and remember to credit the site when used in my
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essay. As a writer also remembering to spell out acronym and abbreviations has helped me reach

my word count many times. All these tips and tricks has helped me grow as a writer.

When I had to write my report essay which to me was the trickiest essay of this semester ,

I found myself using the back space button a lot as I was writing as I would catch myself using

first person point of view or even shows I was bias towards the subject. Before writing this

essay, I made a pros and cons list and tried to base my research and body paragraphs based off

this. Professor Moore the writing process go more smoother with having peer reviews and

having to have the essay partly done and printed. This set a time frame for me and the window of

time I had to write the essay. Professor Moore also had conferences with me to go over the essay

and instead of making me read like the tutors did she read back to me. I feel like hearing what

you wrote being spoke to you other than reading it from your head helps you process it different

and find errors easier. Because of this feedback, I was able to improve my essay and make it

stronger before having to turn it in.

Overall, I feel like Professor Moore really helped me grow as writer and taught me many

valuable skills that I can carry on to my next English class. This class has taught me how to not

only help me reach my word count but how to credit my sources. I have also really have felt

more confinement in my writing styles with the skills I have learned in this semester. Although, I

still dreed having to write paper I feel like with the skill I have learned this semester I have a

became a stronger writer for my future classes.