Self Reflection Letter

Bradford Nicholl
August 8, 2013

Reflection Letter to Myself

Today is the last day of my English 1B course. I have now taken it 3 times, but I think I have succeeded this time, applying my brain to accept the knowledge coming in. Compared to the other two quarters, I have actually learned a great amount this quarter. In my opinion, I believe that the concept of PIE was the most helpful in my writing. PIE stands for Point, Information, & Explaination. To me, PIE is a set of instructions that helps me form any argument I am presenting in my writing. It forms those arguments clearly and makes it easy for the reader to understand my argument, and see the logic in my argument.

During the In Class Essay #2, I learned how to discover fallacies in the arguments of others. These fallacies weaken their argument, jumping to a conclusion that may not be appropriately supported by the evidence. Since I have the various fallacies, I often catch fallacies given off on TV, especially the news channels. They will do anything to get viewers attention, even if it means improperly supporting a conclusion with the evidence given. Understanding fallacies will help me detect arguments in writing, especially those in which I disagree with, that are poorly supported and jump to an incorrect, or indefinite, conclusion.

I became familiar with the poetry analysis terms called fiction diction during the Out of Class Essay #2. I never used to read poetry. In fact, I never actually paid attention to the lyrics in a song, I just tended to the beat and underlying music. However, understanding fiction diction has enabled me to interpret songs and poetry, allowing me to see the beauty in their words. Being able to use fiction diction, I am better able to interpret the meaning of songs and the message the artists are trying to convey.

Another area I improved in is topic sentences. These sentences are the transition between paragraphs and introduce what the paragraph will be about. I have realized that without topic sentences, the reader has no idea what the writer will be talking about and may easily get confused in the reading. It is important to make sure your topic sentences are relevant, and that everything you will talk about in the paragraph relates back to that topic sentence.

In addition, I improved my sentence level development to make my sentences more interesting and flow better. I specifically like the sentence level activity for the Out of Class Essay #2 in which verbal phrases were used. In my opinion, it makes a great way to combine clauses or sentences and have them come together smoothly. I also feel that verbal phrases cause the sentence to sound more in the moment than looking back and recalling actions.

I learned a great amount in the English 1B class. Overall, my writing capabilities improved severely. In the future, I should be able to review this letter to myself, and re-cap on some of these great concepts on writing an essay to maintain good writing skills. You never know, I may have to write many more essays to come.