English 101 Personal Reflection

The papers I have chosen demonstrate my best work from English 101. The papers are an example of how I have grown as a writer throughout the semester. The portfolio contains the required “response to an argument” paper and the “analysis of a person’s SNS” paper. These papers show my improvement in structure and in clarity. I learned how to correctly make a paper flow in such a way that makes sense and makes a strong argument. I also learned how to make my sentences and paragraphs easier to understand.

In our classes’ third essay, we had to respond to an argument. I responded to a claim made by Colleen Gillard, a writer for The Atlantic. Her claim was that the British wrote better children’s stories. I disagreed with her claim and provided
I believe this is because I understood how to structure my paper correctly. Through the paper, I made sure that the way my argument flowed made sense. I understand now that for an argumentative paper to make sense, summaries must be unbiased. I also understand now that introductions must not only explain the debate and my own reasons for disagreement or support, but must also have credentials to the author who made the initial claim and briefly state the author’s support. I was also able to make response paragraphs that had strong evidence. I gathered this evidence form critically reading the authors article, another skill I improved throughout the semester.

For my other paper in the portfolio, I choose to include the “analyzing a person’s SNS” paper. I wrote about a childhood friend who uses twitter frequently. I choose to write about him because I there are things I know about him that maybe those who follow him may not. I wrote about how he uses the social media site “Twitter” to vent his feelings and truly only writes to portray a tough exterior to those who may not know him well. I focus on the fact that he could use it to describe how he has overcome certain aspects of his life others may not