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Yesha Patel
Professor Lynda Hass
Writing 39B
29 August 2014
I cant make bricks without clay.
The very renowned Sherlock Holmes utters, You know my method, it is found upon the
observation of trifles. I wouldnt be able to aim at making these bricks [an noteworthy writer]
without the knowledge I have gained from this class [clay]. Throughout this period of time, I
have not only understood the importance of critical reading and rhetorical writing, but also the
value of the habits of mind. At the beginning of this class, I developed curiosity related to the
Sherlock Holmes theme of power of observation and science of deduction. As I progressed, I
have enhanced the significance of detective genre in respect to Curiosity, Openness,
Engagement, Creativity, Persistence, Responsibility, Flexibility, and Metacognition. I was afraid
at first, but I felt more confident after writing the Literature Review Paper, Rhetorical Analysis
Paper, and the Wiki Pages. I have improvised in these categories to be a suitable writer and a
critical scholar in these specific works.
Through Connect assignments, I have enhanced my grammar skills. Being an
international student, the format of writing and critical analysis in this manner was an innovative
style of writing. Connect helped me through parallelism, wordiness, and many other aspects
which held great importance towards my academic essays. British English being different from
the United States MLA format was a new learning experience as I established firm grounds to
integrate sources and cite them as required. I achieved a sense of Openness towards the various
but impressive styles of writing discovering the distinction among the classes of writing and
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mistakes I have been repeating so far. The information on punctuations, paraphrasing,
summarization, subject-verb agreement have been a substantial help leading towards me
becoming a better writer.
I have acquired a sense of engagement as I read scholarly texts every week and watched
miscellaneous series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes. Quizzes held at the
end of every week, just helped me apprehend the trifles, which are of utmost importance. This
created a sense of responsibility, as it was on us to analyze and deduce the key issue of critics
provided in the texts. Writing blogs at intervals of time about Reflection alleviated the stress and
fear of work presented during the week as I expressed Metacognition with my works. I have
been a persistent student ever since the class started.
The Literature Review Paper seemed to be a complex task as I chose to express my
thoughts of the Victorian Era in Sherlock Holmes. It included not only the over- powering rule of
British among the Indians, but also the thought process of the Police Department and the
Victorian citizens in those times. I chose to improvise my introduction from this essay as I felt
that it was weak in my first draft. Introduction is a vital element for fine essays as it helps in
making the reader decide whether to read the paper. The other essay based on Sherlock Holmes:
A Superhero, co-relates the cinematic elements like Cross-Cutting, Crane-Shot, and Dcor to
the mystery genre. The effects bring about the relevance of shots and specific minor details
shown in series and texts. I chose to revise this essay as I had received many disapproving
comments. Making this my challenge, I wished to improve and analyze every statement to
provide an effective essay, changing the reviews in the mind of readers. I wanted to work on the
weak points, making both these papers strong and impactful. This shows Persistency, as I
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reviewed my essays many a times to present an effective paper for my readers to read. These
revisions helped me enhance my writing skills in numerous ways.
The group assignments on wiki pages of Victorian and Cinematic Elements brought a
sense of Flexibility. We collaborated our work as we wrote on distinct topics. After receiving the
peer reviews, not only did we collude on the information provided on the Victorian Gender
Roles, but also tried to format the pages in a way that they are similar and impactful. We all
showed equal input in the first wiki assignment. However, the second wiki page lacked some
teamwork. Despite the obstacles in this path, we as a group managed to represent our work
efficiently. It was a fun learning experience as a group, helping each other to progress in our
respective works.
Peer reviewing has not only enlightened me to approach several other ways to improvise
my essay but has also helped me understand the clich mistakes that I have been making since
the beginning. Criticism helped me develop an effective essay. I would be using my Rhetorical
Analysis Essay, even after several revisions, as I believe it is the weakest. I would like to
enhance this essay by the comments received by my fellow mates and teacher. The objective of
taking a class is To learn and improvise. Keeping this in mind, I accept the critics offered
openly to advance in this path of writing. I would be using a paragraph from the Literature
Review Essay to show the improvement I have acquired in this 10-week class. I always feared
writing, but I am convinced after this class to write and cite subjects, if offered in my path. The
minute trifles are critical as they are the building blocks towards being a great writer, just like
this class, Writing 39B.
Our generous teacher, Ms. Haas gave us an opportunity of achieving a higher score by
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attempting extra credit questions. During this week, I attained a sense of responsibility as it held
importance towards the grade I would receive according to the efforts I would invest. I had to be
persistent with the work allocated individually. I invested hours in writing and wiki pages
improvising them to be the finest. As we started creating our very own websites, the sense of
creativity seeped inside. ePortfolio being the final assignment, held utmost importance as it
combined all of the works written and updated during the period of 10-weeks. The responsibility
instilled in me made me work for hours to generate an impressive and profound ePortfolio.
Establishing the aim of attaining these habits during these 10-weeks has instilled further curiosity
for the classes ahead and achieving a higher level of writing.
I have shown engagement throughout this course to show my interest in Sherlock Holmes
as well as the cinematic elements. I have gained an extensive knowledge about Sherlock via the
texts and series. The two medias enabled me to spot the differences between the two versions of
Sherlock. After this class, I feel I am ready to step higher and gain experiences from other
sources in order to polish my writing skills.