Reflective Essay: Course Analysis

English has never been my favorite subject in high school because I struggled with essays. When I created an essay, I knew what I wanted to say and what point I was trying to make. However, putting words down to express my ideas and using correct grammar, was very difficult. My MLA format and spelling was adequate, nevertheless I would have many grammar issues and my thesis sometimes needed improvement. My English professors focused on famous writers, their work and the consequences of plagiarism; they did not emphasize how to correctly do citations, or what a portfolio truly is. When I started English Composition One, I realized there was still much to learn. This course taught me the proper way to construct a professional portfolio and how to correctly cite my work.

Most people only think of a portfolio as a collection of the work you have done throughout a class, career or school level. However, a true professional portfolio represents what you have accomplished over the period of time, your most challenging assignments, reflection on how you have changed and what you think needs improvement. Since I have never made a portfolio, this is a chance to compare the way I wrote
Greek mythology, Shakespeare, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, etc. is what I learned with no more than a couple of essays each year throughout high school. My teachers of the literature and language did not reveal that you give your teacher a title, indent your citations if they are more than one line, and have a Works Cited as its own page. Consequently, there were a lot of MLA format errors in my essays as I slowly learned each mistake. This came as a surprise to me because I believed that I had learned all there was to know about MLA format. Thanks to this course and my instructor, I realized my teachers at my last school only scratched the