Self Reflective Essay

Writing is an extremely beneficial skill, and its reward much outweighs any of the detriment writing numerous papers causes. Writing is not only on paper. Conversations and speeches are writings being spoken from the heart in front of audiences. Seeing that writing is such an integral part of daily life there is an immense need for continued growth. This semester has proved to be an eye opening experience. I have never considered myself as an immaculate writer, but an improving one at that. I feel that I made my greatest forward strides during my junior and senior years of high school. Seeing as it has been a while since taking an English course, especially one at the collegiate level, this course was a learning and refreshing experience.

During the course of the semseter I have read many other student's blogs and papers. I have read some great papers and some mediocre ones. I think that "good writing" is clear and concise. It has good organization and conventions and the word choice is advanced and appropriate for the paper. When I compare my writing to that of other students I would consider myself average. I am striving to one day be able to say that I am above average, but I don't have enough confidence in my writing just yet. However, being able to read other's blogs has demonstrated good ideas and set some examples.

English has never been my favorite subject and because of that I have not always had the most positive attitude towards the class. I have struggled with conventions and through my trials and tribulations I feel that I am getting a better grasp on this component of writing. In addition, my writing in previous years was much like a conversation and lacked tone. I feel that I have better control of that today because of this class. I would also like to focus on being able to develop a more perfected thesis. I have a tendency to write the first thing that comes to mind and not be too willing to change it.

Before this class I had never done any writing for a blog. Since the main component of this class was posting and commenting on blogs I now feel much more confident and proficient with blog usage. Also during the course of the semester I was subjected to different styles of writing which have proved helpful in my other classes at UCD. This class can definitely be accredited for the writing success this semester in my other courses.

Next, my writing has changed over the course of the semester. In the beginning of the semester my blog entries were not very confident or very well written.

When making a comparison between the Comcast page and the newspaper one may think that they are very different. In some aspects they are different, but in many they are very similar. The newspaper can offer a lot of the same news information but in order to find it one must look through the pages to find that particular article.

This was an example from the first post of the semester. I was really unsure of myself as a writer and the median of blog entries was a foreign concept for me. In this next piece I feel that my voice is strong and my writing is confident well articulated.

There was a faint rhythm in the background that could be recognized as Mexican music, entertaining the employees as they worked. I also heard chopping that was most likely associated with the butcher's block in the back dissembling the chicken into desired portions. Beyond the music and rhythmic fall of the blade on the chopping board the hushed conversations of the few customers flowed through the restaurant.

Overall I believe that my writing has much improved over the last semester. I still want to dedicate time to expanding my vocabulary in order to enrich my writing and conversations, as well as work on proper conventional use and strengthening my thesis statement. I feel that my papers have a stong voice and I am proud of that. Nothing is worse than reading a dull paper that involves no emotion.