My Reflective Essay (FINAL)

Writing 101 helped me determine where I was with my writing in so many ways. It made me realize my downsides and upsides in writing. Writing is a key part of my life in so many ways. Throughout these nine weeks, I have learned how to write more effectively. I use writing everyday, whether it’s a research paper or a simple email. Before taking this class, I thought writing was boring, and it was never going to help me in my life. Although, after taking this class, I am realizing how important writing actually is. Writing is a great means of communication, and it allows the writer to express his feelings freely.

In Writing 101, I found out a lot of good and interesting things on how to improve my writing. On top of that, this class made me realize my weaknesses in writing, and how I can improve them. The choice of words I use in my essays were not that effective. I wasn’t able to get my point across. For an example, in my rough draft of essay number two, I had written, “The best way to prevent sex offenders to strike again is to greater the punishment.” Although with the help of my teacher and my peers, I was able to realize my mistake and for my final essay I had written, “The best way to prevent sex offenders to strike again is to maximize their punishment.” I also had the same Problem in essay number one. The choice of words that the writer uses enables the reader to follow with what the writer is trying to say or point out. This is a key part in writing. If a writer is his writing easy to read with good usage of words, the reader will most likely enjoy the work. I may have struggled with the choice of words I used, but I am trying each and every time I write to improve my writing.

When I finished essay number one, my peers, as well as my teacher had commented me on my introduction. My introduction was extremely boring and it was just informative. For instance, in essay number one, I had written, “Child prostitution is a child’s nightmare, yet there is one place where any teen prostitute can go and call a home for herself. The Children of the Night, which is an excellent shelter for teenage prostitutes, was founded by Louis Lee.” After realizing where I went wrong, I went to go get help. My teacher, Craig Mckenny, helped me out in so many ways. For an example, he taught me how to write an attention grabber, and grab the readers interest right off the bat. So for my introduction in essay number two, I had written, "At the age of 13, Alexia Rubio, a teenage girl, was walking back from the park to her house by herself. On the way, a man jumped out in front of her and sexually assaulted her... Housing is a privilege, and it is a human right until the privilege is lost by committing a sex crime, especially against a helpless minor.” This introduction starts off with a story, which is my attention grabber. Also my thesis is well developed, and is very arguable. I believe I have improved drastically on how to develop my introduction.

Ever since I started writing my first essay, I realized my organization and sentence structure was good. I had stated a thought or an idea and I had supported it with a fact or a statement. For an example in essay number one, I had written, "Currently, the housing prices are dropping significantly from the past year, and the interest rate seems to be lowering. In an article from CNN.com, Ben Rooney, who covers most of the money related stories for the news channel writes, 'The report showed that the national median existing-home price for all housing types fell 6.3%'.” During this class, I learned that by supporting my thoughts or ideas, it enables the reader to comprehend what you are trying to say better. It also adds wisdom to your essay. This is important for the writer because it allows the reader to have some kind of knowledge on the subject.

Writing 101 was an excellent class for me because of many reasons. It helped me how to develop well supported paragraphs, how to add the "I" and "They" say effectively into an essay, develop a good introduction, and good usage of grammar. It taught me the basic fundamentals to good writing, which was the main purpose for me to take the class. I got a lot out of that class, and I look forward to applying that information to my life. Writing is all about you and your creativeness. Also, I learned how to think outside the box, and add the view of the reader in all aspects, whether it is negative or positive. Writing 101 was at first a little hard on me, but as time went by I grabbed on to some key things in order for me to be a successful writer.