Reflective Cover Letter

Rebecca Bobesku
Profesor Devon Adams
ENG 102 Sec. 2513
21st November 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

There were a lot of things I needed to overcome in this course. When I originally signed up for this class I was quite a bit apprehensive. This was because it wasn’t the only time I’ve taken English 102. I took the course before, but I had to drop the class. That class left a bad taste in my mouth as far as English goes, so I wasn’t sure how I would do in this class. When I first began the class I was pretty intimidated by the syllabus. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to accomplish everything in it! To my relief, I was able to understand and execute all the assignments required. Looking back I see that I’ve made a lot of progress in several areas of writing. Some of these areas include: planning, citation, and grammatical structure. Although they are a basic part of any writing assignment, these are some issues that I have always struggled with.

The area in writing that I needed to work on most was citing. I have always been horrible at figuring out how to properly cite my sources. It has always been a confusing process for me, I’ve never been able to properly figure out where to put all the periods and commas. However, after writing annotated bibliographies over and over again, I finally starting to see how it worked. Here is an example of the first annotated bibliography I did: (http://rebeccaann1285.blogspot.com/2007/09/d6-h4.html)

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa. New York: First Vintage Books Edition, 2000.

In my final essay I was able to fix this citation so that it looked like this:

Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa New York: Vintage Books, 2000.

In my first attempt to cite this source I didn’t cite the Publisher correctly. It is little things like this that I have gotten used to paying more attention to. Every time I did a bibliography for class, it seemed to get a little bit easier, and little less frightening. I think that is a normal process that everyone goes through, no matter what they are trying to get better at. The more I practiced, the more I saw improvement.

Another major obstacle that I have tried to overcome this semester is abusing pronouns. In all of my writings, I have always succumbed to writing: “I think….,” or “When you….” This is such a horrible writing habit! I didn’t realize how bad it was till this semester. I discovered this problem early on in the semester with the first writing project; the proposal. I used so much, “I think…,” “I believe…,” and “This why we…” However with my final draft I was able to get this completely under control. I don’t think I put an “I” anywhere in the entire essay. I was really excited about that. Now I try not to abuse pronouns in everything that I write about. (However I don’t know if that is something I should worry about in this essay, since the entire subject is about the progress I’ve made over the semester. I don’t see how could get away without saying “I…” or “I think…”)

Another issue that I have always had a hard time with is mapping out how I am going to achieve a set standard in a writing assignment. In the past I have always tried to have a structured plan, but I was never able to figure out one that worked for me. Time after time I would have an idea of what I wanted to say, but I didn’t have a plan to help me achieve this. I think that all of the preliminary exercises that I had to do before I actually got to writing the draft helped me out a lot. Working through all of those exercises helped me think up a game plan, and put my thoughts into a logical order. I think that this issue is something that I got better at as the semester went on. However, I still know that this is something that I need to work on. It’s really hard for me to sit and think step by step about how I am going to write something. I am the kind of person that just likes to sit down and start writing. While this may work for some writers, it definitely doesn’t work for me. I know now that if I don’t plan out what I am going to write, my paper will usually come out jumbled and unclear. One exercise that really helped involved me considering the types of roles that I would potentially be adopting in my writing project. When I had a clear idea of the role(s) I would be playing in my research paper, I had a clearer idea of the information I needed to attain, and also how to format it. One exercise that helped me out the most was the Toulman exercise. I had to put a lot of thought and time into this exercise, but it was well worth the effort. (http://rebeccaann1285.blogspot.com/2007/10/d9-h4.html)

Along with mapping out a plan of attack, I also had to work on making paragraphs flow from one to the other. Usually I don’t have too much trouble doing that, but at times it can be difficult. Making paragraphs flow better usually comes after I revise a piece. When critically reading an essay, I can usually tell when a paragraph seems to be out of order, or lacks fluidity. However, even critical reading is something that I need to work on. I’ve become a lot better at it this semester, but there is always room for improvement. Critical reading and revising is something that I think I need to spend more time on. It is hard for me to spend time doing these essential things. For me, once I finally summon all my energy to put together a thoughtful essay, I don’t really have any extra energy left to revise it. I know that is not a proper excuse, and that is something that I have really tried to fix this semester.

Looking back, I see that there were a lot of things that I knew I needed to change to in order to succeed at meeting the course objectives. I think that I have accomplished this. I’ve become a lot better at citations, and I am lot more confident in my abilities to write a clear and informative essay. Through this writing experience I have been able to grow more than I thought I would as a writer.