Clayton Clark
Professor Hammett
English Composition 2
Reflective Essay
November 29, 2023
Reflection Essay
This semester has been a very productive one in the area of being able to learn more about how to put together an academic paper. In the beginning I had no idea on how to put together an essay where I could not be personal and involve such words as “I, me, and myself”. I have also learned how to use such resources as Google Scholar and how to search for academic sources. The two essays I have put together during this course have been an amazing learning experience and honestly I have greatly enjoyed this experience.
My first essay I wrote was about the social pandemic of homelessness and how this issue could be solved. While I was putting together this piece there was a lot of new information that I had no idea was happening, such as the types of laws being enforced and some of the resources that are available to people. When I finally felt that my paper was ready I submitted it thinking that I had everything required, but alas this was not so. Turns out that I had put a lot of emotional pleading in this piece to be able to sway the readers opinion on the subject and at the time I didn’t realize that this was not allowed in academic writing. In the end I had to revise the paper and when I did I felt a lot better about what I had created. I then moved on to the next project and this one was I bit difficult for me in the sense that it contradicted my point of view.
In my rhetorical essay that I put together I had chosen Alfred Hitchcock as my person of interest because I really enjoy his type of absurdist filmwork. As I started to research my subject, I began to learn more about Hitchcock’s point of view on many different topics such as psychology, law enforcement, and how he handled situations, such as being interviewed. With all of this information literally at my fingertips I entered this assignment with the hopes that I could find that someone as influential as Alfred Hitchock would agree with my opinion on the subject of homelessness. After I collected enough information I found that even though Hitchcock came from humble beginnings he would most assuredly not agree with what I felt would be an appropriate approach to this issue. He also made statements that could cause one to assume that he is not a big believer in how mental health issues are a major factor in how someone approaches their daily lives.
Finally, after being able to learn how to piece together these two works the one last issue for me gets addressed, the reference page. With this being my second semester and having to write five other essays in the previous one I felt as if I had a pretty good understanding on how to put together a reference page but there was time when I became turned around with getting it put together. After a few corrections I was able to get everything in order. Although, the part about the types of references was new to me and having to go through them and figure out what type they were, whether they were primary, secondary, or tertiary. After a few roadblocks everything was sorted out and I felt very comfortable with how I labeled them.
All in all, this semester of English Composition II was very interesting and entertaining. I learned a great deal of information that I feel will help me with my academic career. The assignments that were given throughout this term were great. I loved the readings that were assigned, especially the birds. I had no idea that it was a short story before Hitchcock had made it into a motion picture. I feel that this class and the experiences that came along with it will always be one of my most influential moments that will have a major impact on how I approach my future writing.
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