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Adeline Nzeribe

Professor Collins

ENGL 1301

19 March 2017

Reflective Essay

This spring in 2017, I took English Composition 1 with Professor Haley Collins, the funniest

English professor I have ever known. I learned that writing is not easy at all but, taking this class

has made me understand the true meaning of writing an essay and what my teacher expects from

me. I took three classes including this class while working a full time job as well as being a wife

and a mom to my husband and son. This class quickly made me realized that writing in British

English is quite different from writing in American English. This was a challenge. I have always

been a thinker, but throughout this class I have improved my ability to research effectively, write

a report while remaining unbiased, establish credibility, and most importantly increasing my

ability to analyze. Writing is not one of my strengths, but I took on this challenge courageously

and I have continued to persevere because my ultimate goal for this class is to make a good

grade. This semester, I learned the importance of diction, establishing credibility, reporting while

remaining unbiased, and effective research through the library orientation and study guides for

my textbook given to me.

The importance of diction is a lesson I learned in this class. Diction is a crucial part of content

writing. Choosing the right words helped me increase the impact of and explain the controversial

topic I was reporting on in essay two to the reader. It also helped create a vivid picture in the

readers mind and appeal to their senses. Finding synonyms that are dynamic helped uncovered

other words that I may not have considered. My ability to choose the right words has improved
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immensely and it helped in my essay two writing.

This class taught me how to establish credibility and its overall importance to my essay

writing. Establishing credibility is giving credit to someones work that may have been

referenced while writing. It portrays to the reader that I have researched my topic and how I

came to know about the information that I reported on in essay two. Establishing credibility is

important in avoiding plagiarism which is important in any writing especially content writing.

Professor Collins taught me how to report while remaining unbiased this semester. Reporting

without bias is setting my opinions aside while I assess and weigh the facts collected without

misinterpreting or suppressing another groups opinion even when it does not suit a preconceived

stance. Reporting on the controversial topic I had written on in essay 2 involved facts while my

views on the topic was set aside. I also understand that this type of reporting takes practice but

my skill at reporting without bias or prejudice has greatly improved and this can be seen in my

grade in essay two.

This class taught me the importance of effective research by scheduling a session with Mr.

Roger Bell, the technical services librarian. Effective research built my knowledge on the essay

two topic I had chosen, expanded my viewpoints, created room for more facts, and provided

different ways of understanding my topic. I learned how to properly research my essay two topic

using the schools library database.

Importance of diction , establishing credibility , reporting without bias, and effective research

helped with the essays I wrote in other classes and it will help me be successful in future reports

I may write as I continue on my degree path.