Final Semester Reflection

Brandon Hope

Brandonhope@mycwi.cc

ENG 102-035W

Final Reflection

December 9, 2012

Writing Without Boundaries

            As this semester began I was full of apprehension and even almost declared defeat before the arrival of homework had even begun.  I was feeling overwhelmed from the looming shadow of full time school.  This was a clear lapse of judgment in my English 102 class with Leslie Jewkes.  Her clear and concise efforts into the direction of discussion and materials we covered made the essays and writings we had a much easier task.  I thought English 102 was going to be full of procrastinating and lowering expectations, but in reality, it has been the complete opposite. I have learned many things that I know that are going to prepare me for the professional world.

            From the rather in depth research we were assigned on our first local essay, I remember being flustered with the amount of homework I was tasked. I felt as though I was being asked to do something I already knew.  I also felt as though I was doing the same task over and over again.  To my surprise though the annotated bibliography helped me realize that my main part of 'work' on these types of argumentative one sided essays came from the research on these assignments.  It seems that the more research or sources you would have helped solidify your writings in its entirety. I remember saying at one point on discussions online "Oh, I see now" in reference to the fact that my film analysis essay was so much easier to write after doing proper research. 

            One thing that I dreaded doing coming into this class was using citations in my work. James Murray even once said in his wisdom that, "Quotations will tell the full measure of meaning, if you have enough of them"(www.quotegarden.com 2012).  You see, I already knew this and I had been lazy in my learning of using proper citations in my work beforehand.  This slowed me down from using the most amount of sources that would be beneficial to my essays.  I changed this in the Film Essay and really got down to using appropriate quotes and citation by setting up writing workshops in the tutor lab.

            I honestly can say I feel like the idea of having English 102 online was a good idea of a full time student.  More and more we are communicating via email and forum as we did in this class.  Messaging in some form or manner is more common place than any time before.  The discussion boards was a great example of working thought and input from the students with each other.  The dialogue was interesting and sometimes critical, but always said with the upmost of intentions.  This helped solidify my writing/working relationships with my fellow students/coworkers.  This class did a marvelous job of showing the average English student what should be expected of them in a professional level when it comes time to serve in the real world and I feel ready for any professional career I handle.

Works Cited

Murray, James . "Quotes about Quotations, Proverbs, Sayings, Aphorisms, Etc." The         Quote Garden - Quotes, Sayings, Quotations, Verses. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec.             2012. <http://www.quotegarden.com/quotations.h