Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Course

You know the feeling, the teacher announces out of nowhere that there will be an essay due on the topic you are discussing. You groan and only come up with one sentence on the subject, feeling as if you have no idea else there is to say. Conversely, when you hear the proclamation you already know exactly what you want to say and may already be writing the conclusion in your head. Many inexperienced writers feel intimidated at the thought of writing a paper while seasoned writers can find, at least, some, if not great, enjoyment while writing. Before I started this course I fell into the same camp as the groaners because I felt unconfident in my ability to write. However, this course has made me more confident about writing. This confidence was offered to me through a better understanding of punctuation, the structure of an essay, the APA style guidelines and identifying weaknesses in my writing.
Before I started this course advanced punctuation was somewhat of a shot in the dark. For example, I didn’t always know that you needed commas before transition words such as ‘however’ when they appear in the middle of a sentence. This led me to make many punctuation mistakes that I didn’t even know I was making. However, through this course’s use of noredink I have started to see improvement in my punctuation skills, allowing me to feel less
Throughout writing our first paper, a personal narrative, I found that an essay can be written in the personal style, using words such as ‘you’ and ‘me’, instead of the impersonal. This revelation has freed me during the writing process, making it more enjoyable and less cumbersome. Another structural concept I learned was academic paragraphs may be longer than regular paragraphs, allowing you to group related thoughts together. This has helped me to convey the ideas I want to my reader while keeping the essay better organized, making my points