Project 2 Reflection: Improvement

     Our second project in English 101 came with many challenges but also many improvements. Through every step of the process, my goal was to improve on my abysmal performance on the first paper. The professor's comments on my paper revealed to me that I had a crucial weakness in my writing which was stating a clear thesis that clearly defines my position on the topic. On this project, I feel that my thesis states my opinion and leaves no doubt to what I will be writing about in the rest of the paper.
     On the contrary, a wrench or two worked their way into my plans. As I wrote my initial draft, I chose to write 3 annotations so I could use a more focused approach and get a feel for what it would take to write a quality annotation. As it turned out, this put me at a disadvantage because I was unable to use information to build off of when writing my final draft.
     Now that I am a somewhat seasoned college student, I find that it is strategic to view everything as a learning experience. From this project, I learned the importance of having evidence to back up claims. Research is a crucial aspect of literature and for research work to be respected there has to be factual, supporting information. From now on, I will remember to think every time I make a claim if I have enough to prove it.
     I feel that if I can be optimistic about anything on my essay, it is the strength of my evaluation. It was indeed simple, merely stating that being forced to live in dorms has a negative effect on students. I decided on three criteria to determine whether my thesis was applicable and then explained why they proved my theory. I tried to use the most basic process possible to make sure I was not neglecting the point of my essay in light of some more flashy techniques.
     Without question, the experience has real world implications. Off the top of my noggin, I immediately see how it applies to something as normal as a friendly argument. Now, it would be easy to use common knowledge or assumptions to back up your argument but it is much more effective to use descriptive criteria for why the opinion could me more correct. Obviously, this is just one anecdote but the uses for being factual are limitless.
     I can only hope that my dedication to staying true to what was assigned will pay off in the grade book. If anything, I know inside my heart that I am back on track to what good writing entails.