Juan Guzman

Professor Beadle
English 115
1 December 2016
Reflective Essay
Coming into college I had this mentality of how hard it was going to be and the obstacles
I was going to have to overcome when getting to this higher level of education. From High
School work being nothing like how college work would be it was difficult for me to adjust,
especially for reading and writing composition. English has never been my strong point in my
education because of the lack of reading I did when I was younger. It did not allow me to open
up and understand the greater vocabulary that can be useful for me in the long run, which in this
case would be college. I can say though I came a long way from not understanding the basics of
writing, to now identifying different formats that have been taught to me in the matter of one
semester and be able to write a well-organized essay.
Understanding that when I was first introduced to the English 115 class I had already a
weak mindset of how bad I was going to do. I would commonly get Cs on my essays in high
school and I know that would not be acceptable in college because everyone is in constant
competition to become the very best. Professor Beadle, the instructor for the English 115 class
that I am apart of introduced to me a new way of teaching and understanding how my writing
can be better than what it is now. Throughout the fall term he gave the class three progression
essays to fulfill with many little writing assignments building up to the essay. Getting into depth
with what was required in each of the assignments made me understand how vital it is to
brainstorm ideas before typing up an essay. I would present to Professor Beadle an essay
proposal along with an alphanumeric outline showing an overall layout of what is going to be

provided in the essay. When receiving back the assignment, he would recommend certain ideas
following by corrections that should be done in order to make my writing the best it could
possibly be. For both my progression I and II essay proposals, I was told in my introduction
paragraph to make this into a clear thesis statement, and constructing clear thesis statements is
hard for me, since I dont know when my thesis statement is clear, or if I try too hard and overdo
it. I went to get extra help at the LRC to focus on one of my weak points which happens to be
thesis constructing. Getting a better understanding of what should be put into a thesis made it
clearer in my mind on what is allowed in it. Thus putting all the help, I received into a wellconstructed thesis I no longer provided a vague statement in my introduction paragraph. I got
into depth with what I was arguing rather than what I used to do which was not giving clarity on
my topic.
Another improvement in my writing that I have accomplished would be my organization
and construction of the essay. Making it easy for the reader to comprehend on what is going on is
key to having a good essay, which I lacked a lot in. Having paragraphs that jump topics did not
make the understanding of my essay very legible. When receiving my progression one essay
back, I took a look at the grading template that is provided and notice my organization category
was at moderate level, saying This paper is fairly structured with some flaws in overall
organization. Paragraphs are somewhat organized and generally linked to the thesis. Looking
closer at the comments that were made I understand why my organization grade was where it
was. Taking it into consideration in my progression two essay I targeted my main focus on
helping the reader understand what was being said in my essay and points I was trying to come
across on. This time around when retrieving my essay, I made an improvement on my
organization status on my essay, graded which saying The paper is generally structured with

only few flaws in overall organization. Paragraphs are adequately organized and generally linked
to the argument. This was not an immense change to my writing habits, but it is a work in
progress.
I was pleased to see how my punctuation and grammar have improved in such a small
period of time. With having an improvement on the usage of wording, it allows me to be able to
not be repetitive in my essays. In which giving me the opportunity to enhance my essays to be
seen as a college level essay. Also for both progression essays, I have received the same grade
which averages out to be a 71%. It may not look like I have improved in my overall grading for
my essays, but I am understanding what Professor Beadle is trying to come across by when he
puts certain comments, as well as not viewing as many drastic errors that I would have typically
have done on my first essay. I am improving at a slower momentum then what I anticipated me
to be at, but with seeing the progress I have been making it has changed the overall concept of
how I am going to start writing essays from now till whenever I stop.
My improvement in my writing has changed the way I not only write in my English class,
but also for my other courses as well. It is a learning process that is going to take time and
determination in order to fulfill my full potential. I have noticed a great deal of changes in my
writing since the start of English 115 with Professor Beadle and hope to have improved even
more in the progression III essay and as well as this reflective essay because my goal is to be
able to reach my full potential in my writing comprehension. I just need to take the help I get and
put it in affect when it is properly needed.