Final Course Reflection

Daniil Tatsenko Nargiza Matyakubova

May 22nd, 2020         ENG-201

Final Reflection

For the past two semesters I have seen my growth not only as a writer, but as a researcher, and as a presenter of my thoughts. I have seen the difficulty I faced when tasked with finding a topic to research in my first semester of college. I was unable to come up with a topic, but most importantly—I struggled to find the correct way to phrase my question on the topic. A question must be researchable, it should be rhetorical, not black-and-white. Come the second semester, I saw that it was much easier for me to pick up a topic and correspond it with a researchable question. 

In my first semester of college, my writing was very haphazard—there was not much planning going on before I started a paper. I did not organize my ideas, and so it resulted in the drafts or even the finished product to be all over the place. This semester, for my final paper, I organized my final research paper into a clear, cohesive, flowing essay. I liked to put as many ideas and talking points I could on paper before I started considering taking my time building an exoskeleton for an essay. This time around, I took time to think of a structure my essay should follow in order to be a solid piece of rhetoric.

This semester, although a rough one for us all, still taught me a few things. I learned what is a memorandum, and how to write a successful memorandum myself. I learned the 4 Greek devices of rhetoric and how to use each one in order to present a successful argument. I have improved in the traditional areas of writing, and skills like presentation of my ideas and in the aggregation of meaningful research.