I have never considered myself a great writer. I always found it difficult to put my thoughts on paper and compose rhetoric reasoning for different kinds of papers for my English classes in high school. I never had the self-discipline and determination crucial for success in writing papers; it was difficult to sit still and there were so many distractions around me to take up the time in my day. Practicing my writing more often has given me the necessary practice and creating different kinds of papers have vastly improved my skills.
I’m ending the semester with a strong sense of purpose and confidence in my writing. I deserve to have B+ as my final grade because I have demonstrated a solid understanding of the required skills crucial to writing success. My work for each of my essays have been thoughtful and ambitious. I have actively participated thoughtfully and carefully in class, especially during peer review sessions when I got to interact with my classmates and get a better understanding of how human beings think as individuals with what they write about. I deserve a B+ because my writing has grown significantly and I have learned brand new skills for my future. A thorough examination of how my writing has evolved will further support my argument.
The first paper I wrote for the class was “A Young Jewish Man: The Misrepresentation of Jews.” When I originally submitted the paper I was beyond proud of it. I thought I captured all of the crucial traits and documents I needed to prove my worth and point until recently when I annotated the texts to my most recent essays. Compared to my more current essays “A Young Jewish Man” does not live up to the hype I had originally planned it out to be. The writing is very amateur and unfinished. The beginning of the paper did not give off the flow I wanted it to, especially in the last half of the first sentence of the essay. “From my Ima dairy side of the kitchen” just sounds amateurish and unfinished (“A Young Jewish Man”). The essay is populated with grammatical errors and unnecessary bolding of words and even entire paragraphs when it does not need to be. One of the grammatical errors of the paper was in the fourth paragraph when a huge run-on sentence distracted readers. “While we were are talking, a huge wind blew past us, and suddenly we saw so many pennies and nickels on the floor and all of us dropped to the floor and started wrestling over the loose change.” That’s a long sentence right there. The rest of the essay did provide the required research citations and properly format all of the in-text citations correctly. The essay itself was not a bad one in any means; it just simply needed editing and revision on my part. This was an ambitious essay because I pushed myself to write what was truly in my heart and to give my potential writing skills a chance.
The second essay I wrote for the class, “The Symbolic Complex and Percy’s The Loss of the Creature,” had a much better result than my previous essay “A Young Jewish Man.” The ideas of this essay definitely flowed much more smoothly and the points I wanted to make had a delicate, gentle frame to it. My editing skills have improved a significant amount compared to “A Young Jewish Man” since there are not as many grammatical errors and I have established my authority in discussing the effects of symbolic complex. In the third paragraph I thought the essay would be more meaningful if I incorporated personal elements of my trip to Disneyland so the readers can relate to the subject material more easily (“The Symbolic Complex and Percy’s The Loss of the Creature”). I noticed that in the concluding paragraph, there was not a strong conclusion to keep the readers wanting more of the material. This shows me that if I want to make my essays meaningful and impactful, I need to end on a powerful note.
My final, most recent, favorite essay I ever wrote was “My Car is My Baby.” This essay was very personal to me because I was deliberately pouring out my heart and soul for cars into a beautifully crafted paper. I incorporated beautiful terms and expressions that actively speak of my love and passion for cars eloquently without overdoing it. Apart from the very minor grammatical errors and the lack of page numbers in the proper academic formats it needed to be in, this paper was structured brilliantly and kept the reader hungry for more. I provided comparison and contrasts when putting in the idea that taking care of your car like it was a baby is a lot more different than taking care of your car is like it was a slave (“My Car Is My Baby”). It’s absolutely critical to use these kinds of analogies so the reader can comprehend the subject material more efficiently. That’s why I’m so proud of this essay: the essay was short and sweet but provided every element of a perfect essay.
How has my work changed throughout the course of the semester? My reading and writing strategies have improved significantly since the beginning. I have more confidence in my writing abilities and my drafts have demonstrated a working understanding of academia. I understood the powerful tool of putting in your own personal touches into your writing so that your readers can relate to the words and you the writer much more. Revisions are another valuable, critical factor in creating successful academic papers. Starting from my “A Young Jewish Man” essay I didn’t put much care and consideration into my writing and I ultimately had to accept the consequences with a poor grade.
Writing is a critical skill and valuable asset in the business world. I never realized that in the past and therefore never really cared for it. That was the case until I started college and completely understood the true value writing has on my academic career. In the beginning of the semester I was lazy and inconsistent with the flow of my work but drastically improved with my ability to reassess my work through my revisions. I deserve to have my final grade be a B+ because my papers ended up always earning their claims with vivid language and a well-reasoned argument. My papers have taught me self-discipline and how to engage my readers with vivid language and well-reasoned arguments.
- “A Young Jewish Man: The Misrepresentation of Jews.” Pg. 1, para. 4.
- “My Car is My Baby.” Pg. 3, para. 7.
- “The Symbolic Complex and Percy’s “The Loss of the Creature.” Pg. 2, para. 3.
