English 1105: The Writing Process

English 1105 has been an important learning experience for me and my writing processes. After a response paper, discussion boards, and formal essays, my writing style and process has changed drastically from how it was prior to this class. Each assignment that was required has shaped me as a writer. The response paper helped me to analyze the content of an argumentative work and put into words how I felt about each aspect. Although not time consuming assignments, the discussion boards have provided opportunities to discuss issues with classmates openly and argumentatively. After writing just two formal essays, I feel exhausted but accomplished by what I have learned thus far. I realize things I need to improve upon for future essays and even …show more content…
The first formal paper was an argumentative causal analysis. I chose to write about what causes criminals’ minds to develop. I do not regret the topic that I chose but what I do regret is not doing more research. A major factor as to why I struggled with this paper is because I did not realize that it would not be as easy as English 1101 when I could write a paper in about two hours and have the rest of the week to edit and make corrections. I got extremely frustrated with this paper because it was taking me so long and I felt overwhelmed with all the restrictions and guidelines. Also, I was unsure how to incorporate a quote rather than just leaving it stand alone. Rather than attempting to make the quote work in the sentence or paraphrasing, I used semicolons which broke up the flow of the sentences that contained quotes. For example, I wrote, “Clarence Jeffery records some results of the criminologists’ study of crime: “Bentham placed emphasis on the crime, not on the criminal.” Also, I limited myself on research. At the start of my process I simply took links from the library databases and forced myself to use them in some way, whether relevant or not. I now know that I should spend more time on my research to be more comfortable with material. Lastly, I wish I had been more careful when proofreading to avoid repetitively using the same words. This first formal paper taught me that I need to have more patience with myself and …show more content…
After choosing a video, I sat down to start my research on the library databases. I looked up multiple different search strings and more thoroughly read through the sources that I was choosing. Next, I picked important and relevant quotes that I wanted to base parts of my paper around. That was easy and fun until the intimidation set in that I was about to start my very first APA style paper. After writing my introduction, I felt slightly more comfortable about it and ended up truly enjoying the technique and organization of the APA style. What I wish I had done differently is referenced the video more considering it was an analysis of a TED Talk. While being an evaluation of a video, I was also supposed to explain how the speaker incorporated ethos, logos, and pathos but I feel as though I did not mention those factors enough. An example of my lacking mention of the rhetorical appeals is when I say, “Notes were taken of discovered that supported the claims made by Robinson and how that knowledge will play a role in ethos, logos, and pathos.” There is not much that I would change about this paper except a few subtle things. I integrated personal changes in my methods of writing this particular paper such as, taking my time on developing the content and resources. For my first time writing in APA styling, I can say I enjoyed