Renteria 1

Miberay Renteria

Judith McCann

English 1302.213

4 May 2022

Final Reflection

Starting English 1302 was a rollercoaster I wasnt sure if I had it in me to pass this class.

Little did I know that I actually like writing if the topic is something interesting to me. I liked

writing about decluttering it was something that came to me with ease. Essay 2 was something

different I enjoyed the topic just not the prompt even though it was something very interesting

and nice to talk about. Something a lot of people want to know about. Essay 3 was easier than

the second one sinceit was my opinion. The thing that made it hard was stating my opinion

without using personal pronouns.

Some rhetorical choices are ethos, pathos, and logos. These rhetorical choices help us

relate to people. Ethos have authority, logos are logical arguments, and pathos are emotions.

These all catch peoples attention. In essay 1 I used logos because I stated facts off studies. In

essay 2 I used logos and pathos because I talked about family emotions and percentages. In essay

3 I used all three in my opinion because I talked with authority, I had percentages, and talked

about families emotions.

In my website I used ethos because I incorporated my emotions into the pictures that

went in and the design. The theme is very zen and calm. The pictures are aesthetic you can see

the organization and emotion in them. I wasnt sure if I used any of the ethos, logos, or pathos if

imbeing honest until I really payed attention to my pictures and theme that went into my design.
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"Evaluating Information Sources: What Is A Peer-Reviewed Article? and How to

recognize peer-reviewed(refereed) journals" helped me because it helped me refresh how to

identify a peer reviewed source. The library packet helped me in essay 1 because it helped me

oganize my ideas on my essay. "Searching Mechanisms and Innovations: An Analysis Across

Multiple Perspectives" helped me by giving me ways to analyze different perspectives on topics.

"Moving from Subject to Thesis Statement" allowed me to write and then choose the correct

thesis statement. Library Packet 2 helped me focus my thoughts in one place at a time.

In English 1301 I learned how to read and analyze peer-reviewed publications, how to

cite, and how to receive feedback, which I applied in this essay. For example, if it hadn't been for

1301, I would have chosen any article and risked getting my facts wrong; but, because the paper

was peer-reviewed, the facts had to be correct. I learned how to locate peer-reviewed papers and

extract content from them without plagiarizing in the first essay. It is deemed plagiarism if we do

not include in-text citations, according to anything I learned in prior classes that assisted me with

this essay. Another thing I discovered is that having everything you require is preferable to have

a large word count. I learned to evaluate both sides of a debate. Learning this will help me in

other classes because I am a better analyst. For example, we have debates in my History 1301

class, so now I can analyze both sides of the argument and then focus on my side so that when
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they try to attack us on our flaws, I'll be prepared. The annotated bibliography aided me in the

sense that I now know how to do one and will be able to do so if any future classes require one.

Learning how to peer review, do in-text citations, create a work cited page, and cite items is

something I learned that I believe will be useful in subsequent courses. In History 1301, for

example, we have to write a position paper and perform in-text citations as well as a work

referenced page to provide credit. All of the facts I gained regarding the death penalty is

something I don't believe will be useful.

The ability to compare and contrast was something that I struggled with this essay. I had

nothing to compare this essay against because I was just talking about one topic and it was an

experiment. Decluttering won't help me in other classes if we're talking about technical jargon. It

might help me keep my house tidy at home, but it won't help me in any other classes. Even

though I already knew a little about the experiment, doing some outside research helped me

identify connected details I didn't know about. All of the facts I gained regarding the death

penalty are something I don't believe will be useful. The death penalty, for example, has been in

use since the eighteenth century. That will not assist me in Anatomy and Physiology.

My written strengths include excellent thesis statements and, in general, a strong start.

Another of my assets was that I had memorized most of the annotated bibliography. My

transitioning words aren't as strong as they should be, which is one of my flaws. Another flaw is

that I use a lot of pronouns that I later removed, but they shouldn't be there in the first place.

Another one of my flaws is straying from the topic. For example, if my topic is shopping in the

middle of nowhere, I'll begin by explaining why I enjoy it. Since then, I've been attempting to

avoid making the same mistakes. Since I'm trying to change them, I'm hoping they're different.

For example, I included pronouns in draft 1 of my first essay, and you remarked and requested
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me to change them, which I haven't done yet. I was told to elaborate more in essay 2, and I'm

attempting to do so in this essay.

The most challenging aspect of creating this website was choosing what path I wanted to

take. I didn’t know if I wanted it to look cute, professional, or aesthetic. So I went with a safe

route and went with something that tied my topics together. Since I talked about decluttering and

the death penalty, decluttering is getting rid of old stuff that is unnecessary to have and the death

penalty is me talking about how I’m against it. My main topic is getting rid of these things. It's

like a cleanse vibe. So in order to match these vibes, I had to go with zen yet aesthetic pictures

that went with my topics for each essay topic. Another thing that was really challenging was

choosing a name im not really creative like that so I wasnt sure. I kept thinking and thinking but

still nothing until I was able to connect them with a theme. Plus I pasted all my essays, drafts,

feedback, brainstorming ideas, and my reflection essays. I then realized I couldnt used Scribd

Documents which is so much easier but the one thing I hate is that you cant see them in

chromebook so you have to login on a desktop. Once I did all of that I stressed out because I

went to ACE for feedback on essay 3 but my dumb self went and I did a session on my essay1 so

I started panicking and stressing out which is what I do best. After telling the SI Leader she

helped me set up an appointment today May 4th early in the morning so now I have more

feedback. The least challenging part was organizing my things. It was easy because I had a rubric

on what I had to have. I had nine pages due to them being the home page, essay 1 work, essay 2

work, essay 3 work, invention worksheets, feedback, reflection essays, and my final reflection.

Dividing it into all these pages made my work so much easier and faster. I added some buttons to

help the navigation to be easier and simple.

My identity as a writer has changed. Through every essay I struggled and fell, I lose hope

in will I finish or will my essay be good enough. After these moments of negativity, I get back up

and start to work again. In essay 1 I enjoyed my topic and I had a fun time writing it. I enjoyed

reading my sources and getting information. I grew as a person because it was a personal

experiment so I challenged myself to declutter possessions that I had in my room. In essay 2 I

had a little more trouble because I kept getting writer's block and I was stressed out. I didn't

know what to do and if id meet the deadlines. I took two days off my essay to relax and then I

continued to write I was able to meet my deadline and wrote some more and almost finished my

essay. In essay three it went better since it was the same topic as essay two. I was able to write

especially since it was my second time talking about this topic and my position on it. Writing

about how you feel about something is way easier than analyzing other people. I met every

deadline for the drafts. Writing this final reflection is easy yet hard for me since I’m not one to

express feelings.

Writing essays has never been something for me since Im not good at it but somehow

writing in these two courses: English 1301 and English 1302 have helped me improve. I know

im not always the best or wont be the best but I do enjoy it sometimes. My emotions throughout

this semester have been all over the place Ive been happy about writing, sad about it, and even

mad about it since ive felt so stressed and its gotten to the point where I even want to cry.

In English 1302 I learned how to manage my time, write lengthy essays, and submit

assignments on time. All three of these things are transferable to any other course I take. What I

did learn is that writing will help me with my future essays. By appropriately, I mean free of

grammatical, punctuation, and structure errors. Because, as I previously stated, an essay lacking

a strong framework is not an essay.

Something that really helped me concentrate on my essays was not having as many

homework assignments that just added stress for me personally which I am a person that stresses

easily. I was able to improve my work as a result of the constructive feedback I received. I

discovered that I need to work on my ability to provide more information. I didn't go into

specifics about how the dodo community could have helped, but I did mention it. When it comes

to trying, I've discovered that I'm actually a decent writer. As you can see from previous projects,

I usually just do things to get them done, but I gave it my all because I was interested in the

topic. I was also just trying to write and wasn't concerned with how I wrote in the first draft; all I

needed was my thoughts on the page so I could figure out what to do later. When someone else

reads it, they'll notice the minor errors we overlooked because we couldn't see them as quickly as

they could. When I read my article aloud, I noticed some errors and attempted to fix them. I

attempted to correct them by adding facts, removing unnecessary words, and removing off-topic

information.

While writing my final reflection I am not stressed like last semester that I waited until

last minute to do everything. I am close to finishing my reflection and I have not cried yet and I

still have hours until my final exam time. At first I was stressing thinking that I wasnt going to be

able to type 2,000 - 2,500 words because that sounds like a lot but once you get into it its like a

moment for you to rant about the semester and how you felt. Its like a free therapy session.

Like I said last semester this course also pushed us to collaborate with our classmates for

peer review feedback, which forced me to step outside of my comfort zone. I met new people

who I had never met before. This course helped me academically open my mind to new ideas

and ways of writing that I didn't think were possible. I might have hated it in the moment but

now to think of it im glad because it helped me becomea bit more social.

Ms. McCann was very understanding and very helpful. She helped me when I was having

writers block. The write- ins alsohelped alot because it was time I dedicated just to my essays

nothing else having have people around in case I needed help was good to even though

sometimes I was scared of asking for it.

Mrs. McCann was a great instructor who wasn't afraid to tell me where I made mistakes.

Mrs. Villanueva for encouraging me and Ms. Summers for hosting the Write-Ins for extra help .

I'd like to thank all three of you for encouraging me to keep going and do my best. I will be alert

to potential essays with the academic assistance of my professor, Mrs. McCann, and my support

teacher, Mrs. Villanueva.