DiTommaso 1

Joseph DiTommaso
Professor Jon Beadle
English 115
7 December 2016
Reflection Now, Future Later
Throughout the course of both middle school and high school, I never really knew how to
write a structurally sound essay. Whenever I was assigned an essay, I would always use evidence
straight from the internet search bar, without any contemplation of whether or not the sources I
used for my essays were reliable and valid. Essays were not necessarily my strong suit because I
was never really given the proper guidance on how to write an essay and cite proper sources for
my argument. However, this had all changed when I had reached California State University,
Northridge, and enrolled myself into an English 115 class. This class gave me the tools and the
understanding to write and defend an argument at the college level, such as additional help from
the Learning Resource Center, offered at my school for feedback on what I needed to improve on
in my essays. The knowledge I obtained from English 115 in my first semester at a university
allowed me to strengthen my skills in writing an essay by using more professional sources as
evidence to strengthen my argument, structure my sentences in a way where they would flow
evenly throughout the essay, as well as providing thoughtful analysis to support my thesis. It is
because of this that I have improved in my skills of writing a professional essay at the college
level.
The inclusion of professional sources in my writing is what has allowed me to improve
greatly to achieve standards of writing at the university level. Professional sources were key to

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use throughout the course of English 115 as we explored a modern day topic that needed
professional and credible authors in order to understand what the authors argument is and to
view at it from their perspective. This was something that was completely new to me and I did
not know how to do so until I enrolled in a university. In my English 115 class, the topic that we
were studying was gender construction in society. With a controversial topic such as this, it
would be necessary to have credible sources in order to strengthen my positions on gender
construction and gender roles in society. There would be such cases in Progression II, where I
cited text from Ericka M. Thomas, who was a, Director of Forensics in the Department of
Human Communication Studies at California State University, Fullerton(Progression II). Using
scholarly resources in order to understand construction of gender, in order to support my
argument on a visual text proved to be extremely beneficial. Not only did it allow me to
strengthen my position, which was on my visual image of the cover art for Grand Theft Auto
V displaying heightened characteristics of masculinity and femininity, it also allowed me to
understand a deeper meaning of gender roles and gender construction from the perspective of a
professor from an accredited university. Likewise, the usage of each text I incorporated into my
essays were very resourceful and beneficial towards my argument. Each text that I read and
researched on would meet a specific criteria as to what rationale point each focused on. This is
shown in my Progression I essay, as my thesis noted, The readings of Aaron Devor, Emily
Kane, and Claire Renzetti and Daniel Curran, all note of negative reinforcement displayed by
parents for gender construction, in hopes of expressing concern for an outdated gender system in
pursuance of comfort and individuality for each person(Progression I). With this thesis, each
author displayed how negative reinforcement by parents were detrimental to the construction of

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gender. Aaron Devors argument was on the mindset of gender roles being obeyed, Renzetti and
Currans argument was on the different treatment of children based on their sex, and Emily
Kanes argument was on the mindset of punishing children for committing actions that do not
fall within to their gender roles. By utilizing the argument that each author gave, I was able to
create an essay in which it accurately supported my thesis, which is why I feel that I have
improved in my writing through the semester of English 115.
Providing thoughtful and insightful analysis to support my arguments in each of the
essays that I have submitted over the course of English 115 have displayed a vast improvement
in my writing of college proficiency. Throughout high school, I was taught how to provide
analysis for each text that I presented for an argument. However, as I look back on them from
taking a university level English class, I realize that they were not insightful and they did not
fully support my claims. Yet, I was able to understand the mistakes that I made and take a new
approach in providing analysis, and it ended up in me being able to turn in a well supported
argumentative essay. One example I like to consider as one of my best would be in Progression I,
where my analysis of the text from Aaron Devor stated that, Devors claim exemplifies the
predispositioned mindset society places on families, where these gender roles must be obeyed,
insuring an assumed prophecy for everyone to partake in(Progression I). The usage of vivid
language in this sentence explains the argument that the author makes, where it also supports my
claim as well. This also flows well as it gives a smooth transition towards my personal reflection
of the essay. The usage of each sentence is to give a smooth flow of the entire essay, where it
does not go off on another tangent but almost tell a story. For example, in my revised version of
Progression II, analysis of the visual text included how, ...one of the main protagonists, Michael

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De Santa, a professional criminal, constantly at odds with his wife Amanda. Between the two,
Michael is the aggressor and Amanda is the suppressed, feeling entrapped in her marriage. The
entrapment the wife of the protagonist displays is a cry for help due to the gender role she is
placed, as being a housewife to a professional criminal.(Progression II Revised). The usage of
the backstory of the game from the visual text provides a story to how gender roles are being
placed within both sexes in the game. The backstory of the game itself structures the argument in
a way where the readers can understand what is going on and have them understand how it
relates to gender roles. With this being said, I believe it was captured very well through each
essay, something I have greatly improved on in order for me to excel in writing at the university
level.
In my first semester of attending a university, I have seen a new perspective on how to
write a formal and concise argumentative essay. I have been exposed to new approaches in how
to write an essay at the university level. With this, I have seen my approach to writing a paper
change significantly. Even with the opportunity of going to the Learning Resource Center, I was
given positive feedback on what my mistakes were in my essays and solutions to modify or even
omit errors in my essay. By also improving in key areas such as using professional sources as
well as proper sentence structure and thoughtful analysis, I personally view myself as able to
succeed in writing an essay, as well as backing up my argument at the university level, thanks to
attending English 115.