Reflection Essay Three

The writing process may sometimes feel long and extensive, with numerous counts of repetition. It takes time and practice to become a good writer. The University 150 course is designed to help students become better writers through a series of essays, presentations, textbook quizzes, and editing checklists. In this final reflection paper, I will be discussing my progress in meeting the University 150 course goals from weeks 11 through 15. This is a reflection of my writing at the end of the semester, including other aspects of my progress towards understanding essay structure, content, sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and mechanics. Additionally, I will discuss my overall wellbeing in the class, including task completion, the transition to online schooling, and time management skills.

When writing an essay, it is essential to understand the structure of an essay to enable the reader to understand the flow and cognitive process executed by the author. In my work, I believe I have grown significantly in the areas of essay structure and proper formatting. Since we have transitioned to online, I have completed many essay assignments in MLA, APA, and ASA format styles. So, when moving from a style to style, I can properly structure the essay to the guidelines of each format. This knowledge has assisted me in writing several types of essays, including argumentative, cause and effect, literary, narrative, and research. My progress with sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and mechanics have also grown. With the feedback given concerning the text, I can adequately take part in drawing close attention to my mistakes and applying lessons learned to future works. Between essay one and essay three, I have grown from receiving a 2 for purpose, loose sequence, and excluding the use of standard development patterns to a four, which shows tremendous improvement. In the third essay, I had more issues with sentence structure errors and conventions. My essay included improper use of word forms, informal abbreviations, and a few sentence fragments. However, in my first essay, I had only minor errors.

Time management has consistently presented challenges for me. I often succumb to procrastination, feeling that particular work is not a current priority, and I can finish at a later time. Sometimes later becomes too late or never and leaves me with missing assignments and struggling at the end of the semester. I understand this is a bad habit to possess in college because it can lead to feeling overwhelmed and exhausted and create self-doubt. Unfortunately, I have allowed myself to retreat to my old ways and have procrastinated in this course. It started with not keeping updated on the course and assignments through Blackboard. At the beginning of the semester, I was going strong but had slowly fallen to late assignments and poorly written journals. Procrastination caused me to miss out on the full experience of the class. However, in the end, I have tried to improve my communication skills with my professor. I have taken more time to revise and read through my work so that I fully trust and agree with what I produce. Since I have been catching up on the class, I have been able to reevaluate my techniques and style to improve my writing for my higher-level classes.

An essay’s primary goal is to examine, speculate, analyze, or interpret. I have focused on achieving this goal throughout the course in my writing abilities. In conclusion, the University 150 course has helped prepare me for English 110. I feel that as a rising junior, I have obtained the necessary skills of essay writing to support me through my education and set me up for success in my future career. I practice writing skills in journals to strengthen my sentence structuring and mechanics with the online grammar practice test and creating and maintaining my WordPress site. I have shown efforts in learning and comprehending strategies for reading, taking notes, adjusting to different lecture styles, and planning for success in my daily college course load. Along the way, I discovered that I enjoy the written word.

Journals (6-10)

6. What are your dreams for the future? Write a paragraph about what you hope to accomplish by going to college.

My dreams for the future are endless. I do not believe everyone must follow one path their entire lives. In order to successfully fulfill the entirety of your life, it is essential to experience multiple things and follow different routes of life. My current top goals are first to get my dream internship for a clinical psychologist,  finish undergrad, then attend an APA accredited graduate program, and hopefully find a job as a Forensic Psychologists in the Juvenile Justice System. I know that by graduating from college, it can help further me in my desired career and life. 

7. What is one thing you would change about yourself?

If I could change one thing about myself, it would be my attitude and way of seeing the world. People tell me that I can be a very judgemental person, and I have shown my emotions through my facial expressions. I think the main reason for being judgemental is because of my family and upbringing. Both of my parents are business workers and were well-known athletes in their childhood. They have big aspirations for my sister and me, and we endure judgment throughout our lives to become the “ideal daughter.” It forces me to hold others to such high standards as well.

8. write a 200 word reflection post that relates a TED talk to our world in crisis today.

Karen Thompson Walker’s 2012 TED Talk on “what fear can teach us” sheds light on how humans are optimists and how we see our fears as something we must fight, rather than as a story or something fictitious. Her point of view on fear is closely related to storytelling and imagination. She describes the components that stories and fears share as characters, readers, plots, and imagery. Each of which helps us decide what will happen next and allow us to think about the future. Today we are in a pandemic, which is a disease epidemic that conquers people all over the world. With COVID-19 rapidly spreading, the world is in fear; without a cure, everyone is afraid during these hard times. What will happen next? is the big question asked in terms of a novel and fears. The thought of the future can often be a reason for why something does or doesn’t happen. Walker explains how the way we sometimes read into our fears can be a reason for our actions. People are scared right now because they have little information on the virus, and the government is forcing everyone into quarantine. Few are reacting accordingly because they are reading into their fear and opening their minds to other options, and others are in a panic because they aren’t focused on understanding their fears. I feel like everyone needs to take a breathe and focus, allow this time to be to our advantage. 

9. What was your childhood dream and why? What happened to that dream and why?

My childhood dream was to become an actress. I was very animated and outgoing as a child. I could make instant connections with everyone, and you could tell I loved life. My parents would enroll me in acting classes as a place to exert my comical personality. After taking the classes, I know I wanted to be an actress. Seeing the shows on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon made me want to pursue a job in the acting business. Although I took acting classes, my parents told me education was more important than becoming an actress, and when I finish school, I can pursue that dream. Nevertheless, that dream is still installed in me but as a random thought.

10. Introduce yourself, who are you?

My name is Kennedy Troutman, and I am a sophomore. I am majoring in Criminal Justice and minor in Psychology. I was born in Fairfax, Virginia, and I have lived in northern VA for most of my life. In 7th grade, I lived in San Deigo for a bit but moved back to VA that same year. I’m very athletic. I love sports and working out. I was a gymnast and cheerleader up until my senior year of high school. After that, I started running with my mom, and I’ve been completing races since then. I ran my first 1/2 marathon at 15 and a full marathon at 17. After odu, I plan to become a forensic psychologist in juvenile court. I want to attend graduate school for clinical psychology, hopefully somewhere out of state. I enjoy listening to music whenever I get the chance and watching movies and youtube. I love to travel. My mom lived in Italy all her life, and I have been three times, and I fall in love with it more each time. My step-dad is from Puerto Rico, and I visited over winter break. I’ve been to mostly Europe, such as Greece, Amsterdam, England, and France.