Caroline Gorham

Professor Hammett

Comparative Essay

11 May 2023

Word Count: 515

 

Self-Reflection

            Taking a college level English course as a junior in high school had its challenges. Despite my concerns about the intensity of this class, it has helped improve my writing skills tremendously, which translates into my other classes and my future endeavors. Throughout composition two, I researched the effects and solutions of sleep deprivation. My research was integrated into an argument and rhetorical analysis essay, which furthered my understanding of how to properly incorporate sources into a paper, expanding my vocabulary, explore different writing methods, and more.

            Throughout my life, English has always been one of my strongest subjects- it just clicked. When I enrolled in this course, my main goal was to increase the maturity level of my writing style. Before this course, I struggled to collect reliable research and properly and cohesively use it in a paper. In my previous English classes, I would only write research papers. Composition two challenged me by taking that research and using critical thinking skills to write a variety of essay styles, like the rhetorical analysis paper. That project pushed me out of my comfort zone of high school level writing. This class exposed me to many new things; how to properly format citations, new types of essays, and different authors of absurd fiction. The introduction of absurd fiction helped me think outside of the box and give me a different perspective when analyzing the meaning of different books or stories. Altogether, composition two gave me a new perspective on creativity within writing and introduced me to different writing styles.

The portion of the class I struggled with the most was the argument essay. It was unlike any argument essay I had done before. Instead of arguing the validity of my side, I had to argue how my given solutions fixed the social epidemic (sleep deprivation) and how those solutions can be implemented into everyday life. This concept was new to me, and it turned out to be something I struggled with for a while. Like I previously stated, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to think on a higher level than I had in the past.

Overall, I think the class was helpful for me to achieve my academic goals. While this course challenged me, the long term positive effects far outweigh the short term negatives. In the moment, finding time to write four essays was stressful. However, in the end, the writing practice helped improve my critical thinking skills and overall writing skills. I now have a better understanding of how to properly cite my resources at the end of an essay. I also was taught when it was appropriate to incorporate different types of quotes, in particular block quotes. I learned that to use a block quote, the information that is being quoted needs to be a certain length- which I had not been aware of in the past. All in all, the course set students up for success. Professor Hammett was always willing to help her students in any way possible, while also pushing them to be their best.