Russell 1

Erica Russell
Joan Robinson
ENG 101

A Walk Through my Writing

When I first walked into this class, it was the first classroom I had been in since 2004.
My nerves were running amuck and I was anticipating what the class would have to offer me
considering I had not done any academic writing in so long. The flow of this class worked very
well for me because we were given a substantial amount of time to complete all four of our
essays. I feel that I did learn how to become a better writer, although it took a lot of time,
resources, persistence and a lot of combing through my work. I felt most of my progress came
from participating in class work-shops. This gave me the chance to sit with other students and
share my writing, while taking time to read theirs as well. It was great to hear their feedback as it
taught me to welcome friendly criticism. It was also great in a sense that when they really liked a
piece of my writing, they complimented it which made me feel like I was on the right track.
Professor Robinson composed a number of journal topics for us to write about every
morning. Her topics always corresponded with the essay we were working on at that time.
Personally, I really looked forward to these journal entries as they would stimulate my mind and
make me think about my writing. For example, when we were assigned the Commercial Analysis
essay, the journal entry for the day was, Studies have shown that infants recognize jingles from
commercials their mothers watched during their favorite programs while still in the womb. We
are literally programmed from before we are born to buy and consume. Brainstorm a list of brand

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names you can remember for the next ten minutes. By doing this, I feel like it prepped my mind
for the things I would need to think about while writing my essay.
The first essay we wrote in Professor Robinsons class was a Literacy Narrative,
describing our earliest memory of reading or writing. When I look back at my rough draft and
read the work-shop comments I received, it clearly shows that my grammar and punctuation
needed a lot of re-tuning. I placed commas where I thought they should go, used contractions
is nearly every sentence and never really embellished on my thoughts but, I used great detail! I
remember feeling a little weary in regards to completing it on a level that would get me a good
grade, so I took my writing to the person in which I was writing about, My Great Aunt Marti.
She took her red pen and had a hay day with the ink! We laughed in memory of the story while
correcting all my errors, and she joked about my ability to pass the class. After some time of
tweaking my writing, I took my rough draft home and started editing. I really enjoyed this essay
because I felt like I took a precious memory and relived it with my Great Aunt! In the end it all
worked out in my favor when I received a 97/100.
The next essay, Commercial Analysis, I did not perform as well. I had some trouble with
turning a thirty second commercial into a multiple page essay. I chose to analyze an All-State
commercial in which I thought had enough criteria to analyze. In class we went over TAP: Topic,
Audience, and Purpose and we also discussed the meaning of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. All of
those terms were foreign to me until after our class discussion, but I knew that those were the
main points I needed to cover in my analysis. I did my best, although I was frustrated at trying to
pull so much information out of such a small source, but I learned how to watch a commercial
through a different perspective. I participated in work-shop sharing my rough draft, and listened
eagerly for advice on how to make it better. My revised final draft got me an 80/100. Professor

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Robinson pointed out a lot of grammatical errors and suggested I visit the writing center or
SMARThinking to help me correct some of my frequently used mistakes.
My next essay was by far the most beneficial piece of writing I produced all semester.
This essay was a Career Report. I found it extremely helpful because I conducted research on my
chosen career, Ophtomalic Dispensing. Professor Robinson provided some great on-line
resources to gather information for my report, and I took advantage of them to better educate
myself on what my future career would have to offer. One thing I did differently was; I took
more time on outlining my essay which laid out a more constructive way for me to form my
draft. Once I completed my draft, I took the helpful advice from my professor and signed up for
SMARThinking. I submitted my essay to a tutor first, for grammar and punctuation. The tutor
responded in a timely manner, fixed some of my mistakes, but left it up to me to discover the
rest. This provided me with fixed examples of my own mistakes, and then forced me to learn
from them and apply them to the rest of my writing. After I revised my draft I submitted it again,
this time for sentence structure. Not to my ultimate surprise, I had more mistakes! I read through
the tutors notes once again and applied what I learned to my paper. My all around experience
with SMARThinking was accommodating to my needs as a writer. I am very happy my professor
suggested it to me because it really did improve my skills! After combing through my essay with
a fine-tooth comb, I submitted my final copy and got full points for my writing!
The next essay I wrote was a Technology Evaluation. Although I do not know my grade
at this moment, I like to think that I submitted my best work. I chose to evaluate two
smartphones, the iPhone 6S and the Samsung Galaxy S6. Some techniques I used were those
similar compared to my Commercial Analysis and my Occupational Report. I really had to
analyze both phones and their features in order to compare them properly. I also had to use

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multiple resources to gather information so my evaluation did not become bias. This essay was
interesting and informative considering that I am planning on upgrading my smartphone in the
near future.
Now that we are closing out this semester, I have to admit that I have come a long way in
terms of my writing. Looking back on my papers from first semester compared to my most
recent papers, I can tell that there is some significant improvement! I think that my persistence
paid off along with the helpful insight I received from Professor Robinson, my peers, and
SMARThinking. Writing on an academic level is not an easy task to complete, especially when
the gap between high school and college stretches over eleven years! I may not be the best writer,
but as long as I can learn from my mistakes and make small improvements, I am bettering my
skills one essay at a time.