Reflective Essay: How I Become A Better Writer

Throughout this semester I have received a lot of input and criticism on my essays from my TA, my professor and fellow students. This semester I was fortunate to receive quick, fairly reliable, built in feedback. From the feedback that I have received by taking this class I believe that I have become a better writer as it was beneficial for the most part. Feedback that I received from my fellow students was occasionally helpful. It typically varied from week to week. One week I would write a paper and get a ton of markings and criticism on it which was helpful because I was able to see what I did wrong and I would rarely have to get it proof read another time. Other times I would turn in a paper and it would come back with few markings and comments. This felt almost like a waste of time because I knew that I had more mistakes that I did not catch earlier. Because of this I would have to go out of my way and someone else would have to go out of their way to get it proof read again, or I would risk handing in the good copy with mistakes. One thing that I appreciated from peer evaluation days was that was able to see what worked in my paper, what did not and what I need to improve on.
I found my TA sessions helpful. I typically found them more helpful than in class peer
evaluation days, mostly because it was one on one and when I made a mistake in a paper my TA could catch it, explain to me what was wrong and why it was wrong. I also appreciated having a TA because I could get him to help me go over other English papers or different essays for other classes. I also appreciated getting feedback from my Professor because he could catch mistakes that I, nor my classmates or my TA could catch. For example, on a few papers I had some issues with comma splices that no one really caught, except for Professor Hawley. Because he caught this issue I was able to try and correct myself and improve my writing skills.
One habit that I have definitely improved on because of proof reading is how I write papers.
I think that now I write papers more structured and organized rather than throwing all of my ideas down on the paper. In the future, I think that I will seek feedback by asking a friend to proof read my work or by going to the ask center for help after I have read it aloud several times. If I need more feedback I could talk to my professor and see what his expectations are and what I can improve on. Overall, the experience that I had with all of my proof reading and feedback resources was positive. I think that I have learned more about my habits, which have helped me improve my writing skills in
essays.