Reflecton letter

It never came to me easily. I always received good grades for what I thought was good writing. Never acknowledging what a well written paper had to include. How was I supposed to know, the grade gave me the thought that the paper was outstanding. This is where my instructor takes part in my writing venture. I came to realize that what I once thought was remarkable writing was nothing more but nonsense. Writing 101 really shook my leg. It was difficult to recognize the flaws I had and still have. That was not the hard part though; acknowledging which were the flaws was my struggle. My ability to take criticism in a positive way and making it a learning tool was the key to making a change.

For example, the thesis statement needed to be clear and specific. Without an interesting thesis statement to capture my reader from the very beginning is going to make the paper dull. Referring back to essay #2, “Sex offenders should be categorized as a mental illness. If sex offenders commit crime due to mental illness and housing is a human right, then sex offenders should be in a mental institute”. I used that as my thesis statement but it was too broad. From the feedback I got from the peer review I was able to notice this flaw. As Kramer commented “But while reading I can't help wondering what is your standpoint on other kinds of sexual offenders? Do men who expose themselves to someone deserve a life sentence? Or what about someone who has consensual sex with an underage partner?” Which I agree it needed to be clear and specific maybe I could have said child molesters instead of sex offenders. This would have helped the reader know whom I was referring to and where my point of view stood.

In addition, making a change to where my introduction had a strong attention getter gave me the opportunity to engage the reader in my writing. In essay #2 I gave a more descriptive introduction allowing the reader to get a “feel” of what I was going to reveal next. “I was drowning in fear, waiting for someone to see the anxiety in my eyes. I was walking through a dark tunnel with no end to this nightmare”. Craig McKinney commented to that “The attention getter is SO good, and I am hooked from the opening”. It was such a relief to hear that from him because it was stressful trying to find a way to be more engaging. I truly appreciated the way the instructor graded our writing, this allowed me to focus on my writing rather than on the grade. Not to say that the grade does not matter but rather that I became interested in my own writing.

Writing 101 was in all a challenge for me this quarter. I came in not knowing what to expect but thinking it would be a piece of cake. I truly did not expect to learn a lot from this class. It helped me emphasize my strengths and learn to work on my flaws. Now I know I am not leaving here to become a professional writer but more like an interesting one. My learning does not come to an end with the conclusion of writing 101, I will continue to learn and improve my writing from now on. Taking with me the knowledge I gained in writing 101 to make an effort writing excellent papers for future classes. In addition, I am grateful for the positive feedback from the peer reviews. Especially to my instructor who planted the seed of interest in me. I’ am not trying to suck up to him; I simply want to acknowledge the impact he had on me towards writing. Oh and who can forget the unique sense of humor with the hilarious sound effects.