Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Course

I began this class with a deep love for writing; a love that has followed me throughout my life. This class helped to define my love for writing, as well as add structure and definition to my writing. It challenged me, and made me a better writer. I feel prepared to take on writing challenges throughout the rest of my college career, as well as my life career that is to come.

The first big challenge and new element for me was the APA format. It was completely foreign to me, as I am used to the MLA format. It posed an immense challenge for me in the beginning because it felt tedious, and so different than any format I had used before. The citations tutorial, and format tutorial videos were constant help during this course. I would constantly …show more content…
Once again, learning the APA style and the correct formatting of sources within a paragraph was a lesson, but also simply learning to research and find valuable sources was a lesson. Using the UMUC library, and learning the different search tools to get accurate and pinpointed information for the topics I was researching was an incredible learning curve. Add to that the concept of scholarly journals, and it was a like a whole new world was opened up to me. The simple details that make an essay wonderful were coming to life for me week after week through this …show more content…
Challenging as they seemed at times, they helped me to become a better writer. They presented topics that weren’t simple, but made me research ideas and concepts I didn’t yet know about. This allowed me not only to learn new ways of researching and finding information, but it also allowed me to learn about new ideas and form new opinions as I wrote. This course challenged me to have a voice, and with the essay topics, a guided voice. A concept very new to my free spirited self. The guidelines and structure of this class taught me how I can write well even when told what to write about, not just when I am feeling inspired and can write anything I want on a piece of paper. This class took me out of my comfort zone, and expanded my vocabulary, my grammar skills, my research skills, and my formatting skills. I feel far more prepared to take classes that will call upon me to use these various skills in the future. I feel confident in what I’ve learned, and know I will continue to learn more and evolve more as a writer, as I keep practicing the techniques and concepts given to me in this