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Jacqueline Cuateco
Professor Haas
Writing 37
6 December 2014
Reflection Essay

This writing course has been focusing on the detective genre. We have looked at Conan
Doyles work and the rise of the detective genre during the Victorian era. I have learned that
some of the reasons of the popularity of the detective genre during the Victorian era were the
incompetence of the police and the working middle class. The literature review essay allowed me
to describe the popularity of the detective genre during the Victorian era by comparing scholarly
texts. I have learned that I should always present a genre and context with credible sources.
Throughout the course we were able to do work on our writing skills, presentation skills, and oral
skills.

One of the ways in which we worked on our writing skills was by first learning how to
analyze scholarly texts. The scholarly texts that we have read throughout the quarter have been
texts that are not easy to understand. One of the methods that helps me understand these texts is
by analyzing small chunks of texts. This helps me get a clearer idea of what Im reading. I have
learned to use my metacognitive awareness to understand the scholarly articles. This course has
taught me that it is best to read word by word and try and analyze and understand the concept or
the idea. I think I have done an intermediate job at understanding these texts. Sometimes, I do
not pay attention to the surrounding sentences when I am choosing a quote from the texts and I
misinterpret the meaning of the text. For example, in the chapter Doyle, Panek stated the

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following, As I noted at the beginning of this chapter, people, all sorts of people, willingly take
their problems, trivial ones as well as big ones, to Holmes. This is a far cry from Walter's refusal
to consult the police in The Woman in White (21). I was talking about the incompetence of the
police and the Victorian era but this quote does not have anything to do with my main idea. If I
would have wanted to talk about this quote I would have had to talk about the short story that is
being mentioned. Another quote that I misused came from the chapter Doyle and Panek states
the following, The discretion theme in Doyle carries over a century's worth of fear that the
police will not respect individual privacy (22). I tried using it to describe the incompetence of
the police but the incompetence of the police is referring to the crimes that the police couldnt
solve. Reading scholarly texts can be challenging but my curiosity to analyze them is what helps
me attempt to break the code.

Academic writing has taught me how to use scholarly articles to help create a credible
essay or presentation. It require us to be flexible so that we can answer each topic that is given to
us. The purpose is to reference correctly and in a formal tone. For example, the purpose of the
Literature Review essay was to review what scholars have written about the detective genre and
the rise in popularity during the Victorian era. In addition, in the rhetorical analysis essay, we
used modern-day texts and compared it to Conan Doyles classical convention.

Next, another way in which we were able to work on our writing skills was by writing a
literature review essay. The purpose was to use the scholarly articles and connect them to a
convention. The original phrase from my Literature Review essay is the following, It also made
readers become part of the mystery in the novel. It made people connect with the characters
because it had a sense of reality. It helped them connect with the characters and play a role in the

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novels. There could have not been a better time for the detective genre than in the Victorian era.
The revised version states the following, It made readers connect with the characters and the
novel itself. According to the scholars, there were two things that contributed to the popularity of
the detective genre, represented by Doyles Holmes stories, during the late Victorian era. I
chose this passage because it is the controlling idea of my essay. At first it was not clear but now,
I made my controlling clear. I stated the two things that I was going to be talking about in my
essay.

Furthermore, we also wrote a rhetorical analysis essay in which we had to compare a

modern day text with the classical convention and we had to describe how the context related to
the audience. The original phrase from my rhetorical analysis essay is the following, One
difference is that Sherlock mirrors the classic convention invented by Conan Doyle while
Elementary twists the classic conventions invented by Conan Doyle. The conventions used are
mostly to adapt to the audience that is being addressed. Each one has been able to adapt to the
audience that they are trying to captivate. The revised version of it is as follows, One
difference is that Sherlock mirrors the classic convention of Watson as a student while
Elementary twists the classical convention. These purpose of these conventions is to adapt to the
audience that is being addressed. I decided to revise these sentences because they were my
controlling idea. I stated the classical convention that I was talking about and I removed a
sentence that was redundant.

Peer reviews allowed us to work on our writing skills. This course has given us several
opportunities to peer review our classmates work. Peer reviewing is important because it allows
us to help improve someone elses work. In the scholarly article, It is Better to Give by Kristi

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Lundstrom and Wendy Baker, they state that when a person does peer review, it allows the
reviewer to learn how to revise their own paper (31). When I did a peer review assignment for
someone else, it was easier for me to realize the other persons mistakes. When I received peer
reviews, it made me get a clearer idea of the mistakes that I made. For example, on a review
from one of my classmates on my rhetorical analysis essay she stated the parts where I was being
redundant and the phrases that needed revision. This helped me notice the small mistakes that I
had made. This also allowed me to become a better writer because it has now helped me realize
the mistakes that I make in my essays.

The class projects helped me improve my presentation skills. For both the Victorian era
wiki and the cinematic elements wiki, I worked on a specific page. My creativity helped me tell
my group members different methods that they could use in order to make it seem organized.
Then, I got peer review to help me improve the quality of the page. The collaboration projects
were helpful because it allowed me to have easy access to peer review. Peer review was
important because it allowed my group to engage with each others ideas and it allowed us to
improve our work. Our openness allowed us to have new ideas on how to better our end work. I
learned that collaborating with people is important because it always works out when people
from the group communicate with each other. Another thing that I always kept in mind was to be
responsible because my grade was not the only one being affected. It facilitates things and it
makes the presentations flow easily. I learned that the more I communicate with my group
members, the better the quality of the project.

The connect assignments have allowed me to develop my English skills as well as my oral skills.
The topics that I found the most challenging was recognizing adverbs and recognizing

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coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. The topics that I have a good handle on are
grammar and common sentence problems, writing process, and punctuation and mechanics. The
topics that I recharged where pronouns and pronoun-antecedent agreement. I know that with
persistence, I will be able to master the ones that I have a difficulty understanding.

Writing 37 has taught me skills that will help me in the future. It has given me the
opportunity to figure out how to analyze scholarly articles and use them to describe a specific
convention. Some of the most important lessons that I learned was that it is better to give and
also, I learned that collaboration has to be taken seriously in order to succeed. Some of the things
that I need to work on is on perfecting on analyzing scholarly articles. One of the things that I
can transfer to my future is to always be persistent with everything that I do. Persistence is key in
keeping yourself focused on a task that may seem impossible to complete. All in all, this course
has allowed me to develop myself as a writer and a better presenter.