A Self-Reflection on Writing Papers

Looking back on my English class progress overall for the past three years, I have come to conclude that there has been progress. Starting freshman year I felt like I was swimming in shark-infested waters, floundering in a sea of ungraspable concepts like “thesis” or “transitions.” Sophomore year was the hardest time for me, as I had to spend the whole year, refining and polishing my writing. However, I began to notice my grades for papers start to shine like a diamond.

Finally, now that I look back at junior year, I had felt that everything I’ve done and the papers I wrote this were the epitome of all the work I had labored into making a good paper. After finally taking hold of the mechanics/structure of a paper, I focused more on the building and the originality of the paper. And I realize now that for some I had none.

When it comes to process/expository writing, I feel that I more able to create an analysis based on specific quotes from a novel supported by facts and opinion.

Thesis statements came along easier, although they are still in basic form—This is this because of this, this, and this. I was not satisfied with my thesis statements, such as the one in my “A Sound of Thunder” essay. On a different note, I must say I made progress with being able to create a paper comfortably, as how writing three or four page papers come a lot easier now.

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However, what really agitates me is my lack of originality. I feel I have no sense of being able to find themes or symbols by myself and heavily relied on material from the class. That is what partially made up my “The Crucible” essay and all of my “A Sound of Thunder” essay. I didn’t mean to write almost exactly as we did in class, but when I started writing those papers, I noticed their similarities to class input and wasn’t sure whether that was plagiarism or not. I didn’t cheat or anything, but I wish I could feel more comfortable making critical analyses independently. Working under pressure always seemed to take the best out of me, knowing how much needs to be completed in a certain amount of time.