Aaron Hernandez
February 26, 2021
English 110C
Professor Beth Backes
Reflection Essay
I signed up for English 110C the second semester of my sophomore year at ODU. I started the year feeling good about my writing skills but not completely satisfied. The prior semester I had taken a cybersecurity course that required weekly writing assignments. This was my first taste of writing at the college level. My writing skills have never been that strong but throughout this course, I have been tasked with many assignments which have helped build my skills. Throughout this paper, I will write about my strengths and weaknesses when writing prior assignments which include IMRAD, Rhetorical Analysis, Infographic, and My midterm essay.
My first assignment in this course was an IMRAD paper about taboo words. Before this course, I had never heard of a taboo word. This made this assignment more interesting because along the process of writing my paper I learned something new. At first, I was completely lost but with the help of Professor Backes, I was able to break it down and fully understand the assignment. I started with my opening paragraph which I rewrote multiple times and finally found something I liked. Throughout this paper, I struggled with smoothly transitioning paragraphs and continued to rewrite the beginning of every paragraph. An important part of this paper was going out and getting people to fill out surveys about my taboo word. This pushed me to meet new people and find new friends which I enjoyed. I enjoyed this assignment and I felt that the body of my paper was the strongest along with my conclusion. This is because I enjoy papers that involve research. After all, I love expanding my knowledge and learning something new. After getting over a few bumps I was able to complete my paper and felt satisfied with what I turned in.
Next on the list was a rhetorical analysis essay. Compared to the IMRAD paper I felt 100 times better off the start. I loved the idea of breaking down a piece of literature and dissecting it down to its foundations. I felt strong starting with my thesis, unlike my first paper. Honestly writing this paper was straightforward because of how professor Backes had broken it down. I used a lot of my time while writing this paper just making notes about the article and creating my outline. Then when it came to writing the paper itself I simply used the information from my outline and transferred it over. I honestly rarely create an outline but when this class came around I made it a regular thing. It helps me break down the assignment and not feel so overwhelmed when it comes time to write the paper. After I finished writing this paper I felt like I had written one of my best papers ever. I was very interested in the topic and that drove me to write and finish this paper quicker and better than any others.
The next major assignment was my mid-term paper. Going into this I honestly didn’t know what to expect and was a little scared. The assignment was released and it stated we were to write a paper on problems and solutions. Already I felt comfortable because I was writing about something I knew and something personal. I ended up writing about my ADHD and the ways I overcome and deal with it. I loved writing about this because throughout my life I have met amazing people who have shared their tips with me. Using what I knew I created an outline for this paper going over the basics like the thesis and what each paragraph will be about. This helped me not feel so overwhelmed. At first, I wrote the entire paper and fell short when it came to my word count. I honestly struggled throughout this whole paper with word count because I wasn’t developing my ideas enough. So when I went back through and revised my paper I did just that and expanded on my ideas and thought. I loved the body of this paper and I believe that was the strongest part. Overall I enjoyed this assignment which is rare for me because I never really enjoyed English throughout high school. But when it came to this class I was always excited for our next assignment.
My final assignment for this class was to create an infographic. While just like the other assignments I was excited to do. I hadn’t ever created an infographic but I used to create posters back in high school and I loved doing it but hadn’t done it in a while. Going deeper into this assignment we were given a choice to pick one of our pieces to create this infographic from. I ended up choosing my problem/solution essay because I believed that it would seamlessly go together. I created my infographic essay around ways people with Adhd can overcome and tips and tricks of helping deal with it. This was my favorite assignment throughout the whole year because I’m a cybersecurity major and anything on the computer I enjoy. I started this assignment from a template and went from there. I created my 6 points which came from my six tips and tricks from my problem solution essay. The only struggle I had with this assignment was cutting down the wording for my infographic. But with tips and tricks from many sources such as professor Backes and google I was able to create something I loved.
Overall I enjoyed this class and believe that Professor Backes does an amazing job at describing the assignment and giving feedback. I only had four major assignments for this class which include IMRAD, Rhetorical analysis, midterm paper, and my infographic. I believe that I started with weak transitions and struggled with wording. But through the year with the help of this class, I was able to become a better writer overall. I believe that my transitions have become better and I was able to create pieces that I am happy with throughout the year. I’m excited to continue my writing journey and hope to get better! I believe that this class can help you refine your writing skills and build on what you already have.