Unit Reflections

I feel that my writing/research skills did improve from this project. I noticed that unlike my very first paper, I was able to quickly conduct a solid thesis and knew exactly how I wanted my paper to be structured. I also love arguments so maybe that is why this paper flowed easier to me than any of my past papers. I usually have bad writer’s block and get stuck on one paragraph for a long time, but in this paper I knew what I needed to write.

I did notice some areas of weakness though in this project. I notice this in each of my papers and it is that i feel like i’m always struggling to reach the word count and have to start finding new information to include. I think that is just because in my high school we never had to meet a certain word count. I also always question my works cited page and am never 100% sure if it is correct because of all the MLA rules always changing.

The most stressful part of this essay was having to rewrite the entire thing and remember and try to find my original sources from the original paper. My computer glitched and completely broke down. I took it to get fixed, but they said it was unfixable. I had to order a new computer and at this point knew I would not reach the due date. I was able to get an extension from my amazing teacher. It took longer to rewrite than I though because I lost all of my sources so the paper was slightly different, but I did end up finishing it in the end. I dealt with this stress by just getting it done. It didn’t help with the stress of the presidential election always on in the background, but I just persevered and wrote as fast as possible. I would say I was successful since I finished the paper in the end.

If I could do anything differently on this paper, I would have asked someone like one of my teachers to read it so I could have a professional opinion. But I was on crunched time with my computer breaking so hopefully i will do this on my next and final paper. For my writing process, I can honestly say I would not have done it differently. I am pretty strict and repetitive when it comes to my writing process. So that answers the next part which is yes I would keep every aspect of my writing process because I felt that it worked best for me.

I felt like my writing skills did improve in project 2. Before college, I had a very hard time at writing something without getting stuck half way through. With the analysis paper, I watched my film so many times and payed such closed attention that I never got stuck in my writing. An0ther improvement was revising my paper throughout the writing process. I used to feel that I could not change my paper until I was finished, but now I feel confident in my decision to change something such as the thesis half way through my paper. I felt very prepared for this paper so everything ran smoothly; I never felt super stressed out which I have in my past papers.

This project did highlight a few areas of weakness in my writing. I noticed that when I feel super confident about a paper, and I’m writing freely, that I make careless mistakes. When I read through my rough draft, I noticed that I had many spelling errors that I missed when I was typing. I also saw punctuation errors as well that I should have fixed. Basically, I became so focused on the deeper meaning of my paper, that I completely looked over the easy components like grammar and spelling.

The most stressful part of dealing with this project was having to dig so deep into my film and constantly feeling like I was missing something. I rewatched the film too many times stressing myself out even more because I felt like I could always add something new to the paper. I successfully dealt with this stress by taking notes and making an outline on what I KNEW needed to be in the paper. I wrote the rough draft and then told myself when I was done that I could decide whether to add more. The paper ended up sounding fine to me, and I’m glad I did not add unnecessary parts of the film to my writing.

For my epilogue post, I want to remember to always check over my paper for mistakes even though I may feel confident. This is my worst habit, and I need to always remember to do it because there are so many times where I could have gotten a better grade if I would have checked for careless mistakes. I decided to check over Project 2s paper, and I am so thankful I did because I had way too many careless errors that I did not notice the first time through typing. This is an important thing I learned about my work in this unit that I want to be sure to remember.

I feel that my writing skills have improved in a few ways. When I was writing, I noticed that I was using my critical thinking skills more thoroughly. I was not just writing, but I was asking myself questions about what I was writing and the reason behind why I was typing the things in my paper. I also feel that my ability to analyze opinions and facts improved.

A few areas of weakness in my writing did stick out to me. I realized I have some trouble forming a conclusion after feeling that I have written everything I know already. This also goes in hand with my next weakness which is that I would get major writer’s block and have no clue what to write half way into my paper. I sometimes felt a sense of repetition also.

The most stressful part of my paper was trying to string it all together. I put a lot of pressure on myself which tends to make me spend too much time on each paragraph. Once I spend too much time on a paragraph, I begin to overthink about everything I have written and doubt my ability to write well. To put it simply, I over thought about each and every little word which made it hard for me to put it all together as one cohesive paper. I attempted to overcome this by taking short breaks. I would get up and walk around or work on my other homework. I have no clue if I was successful. I honestly believe nothing will ever fix my habit of overthinking. It has always been my biggest weakness in life as well. COVID-19 and online school really heightens this weakness too.

I want to remember how to use my critical thinking skills well. I feel that these not only come in handy in writing but also life. I truly believe this skill allows me to really think about what I am writing and why I am writing it. This skill will help me write an objective, honest paper.

 

For each major essay assignment, you will complete a long-form reflection about your experience writing the paper. Your teacher will provide specific instructions for these reflections.