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Dear Professor Johnson,

Writing has always been difficult for me. For as long as I can remember, I have doubted

my writing ability and struggled with producing excellent essays. Due to myself doubt, I become

insecure when my peers edit my papers, which is terrible when trying to receive as much

feedback as possible. Being an insecure writer is something I have been working on since the

beginning of the quarter. From our first peer review session to our last, I am able to confirm that

I have become not only a better writer but a more confident one as well. At our last peer review

session, I was much more at ease and felt that I was at the same level as all the other students

around me. I believe that I have grown as a writer in this area. Since my increase of confidence, I

have been able to create essays that are worth As. Throughout the quarter I have gained reading

and writing skills that I have contributed to my growth as a writer. I gained these skills through

assigned reading, class discussions, and assigned writing projects. An assigned reading that

helped me in reading was How to Read Like a Writer by Mike Bunn. Mr. Bunn taught me to

not just read for the information but to observe how things are written and to think about why it

is done and why it is important. How to Read like a Writer assisted my reading techniques by

teaching how to read in a more productive matter.

Through the assigned readings, class discussions, and writing projects, I have received

plenty of practice in writing leading me to understand writing as a whole. Before this quarter I

had a difficult time breaking up paragraphs, creating a thesis, and starting essays; I did not fully

understand how to do these successfully. Now that I understand writing and the factors that go

into creating successful writing, such as structure, diction, and audience, it is easier to write great

papers. My understanding of writing can be seen in my use of diction; for example, audience is a
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significant factor in writing and depending on who I am writing my essay for, my diction will

change. When reading Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis by Laura

Bolin Carroll, I learned that diction has the ability to persuade readers and is very important in

media usage because of the way one used language, diction, to persuade; this can also be called

rhetoric.

Although I have learned a lot throughout the quarter, I have both strengths and

weaknesses in my writing. A strength that I have gained throughout the quarter is recognizing

who my audience is; writing an essay is easier once one knows who the targeted audience is. For

instance, when translating the film 21 Jump Street into a song, it was important to know who the

original audience was and who the new audience would be. The new audience would determine

the outcome of the translation; in my case it was a song targeted at a broad audience that could

relate to friendship. To make my translation effective I had to consider and learn about clarity in

my writing. In Writing with Pictures Scott McCloud explains that Clarity is key in making

your audience care enough to make them stay and read what you have to say. Clarity consists of:

moment, frame, image, word, and flow; learning these elements contributed to my effective

genre translation. A weakness in my writing is being able to create an amazing thesis. The

current thesis that I create are decent but I desire to create amazing ones that let my readers

understand what exactly will occur in my essay. This is something that I intend to work on and

continue to improve in, especially because thesis are the roadmaps to every essay/paper. Due to

my poor thesis skills every time we have peer review sessions someone will give me tips and

suggestions to improve my thesis.

Last but not least I would like to say thank you. Thank you for caring Professor Johnson,

it has been a complete pleasure being your student. In your hands I have grown as student and
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especially a writer. I am absolutely more confident in my writing abilities and I have learned so

much this quarter. Although I do admit my comma skills are rusty and need some work, I have

over all improved and am satisfied with my abilities. Thank you!!!!! I hope you enjoyed my

essays and this reflective letter. Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

Erica Lopez

Works Cited

Bunn, Mike. "How to Read Like a Writer." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 2 (2011): n. pag. Web.

14 June 2017.

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis." (2010): 45-57.

Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

Mcloud, Scott. "Writing with Pictures." (2006): 1-8. Web. 16 May 2017.