Reflection

Reflection

Part 1:

My first piece was a story about the first day i got my dog, Goose. This story, i wrote it in a memoir. A memoir is like a memory from the past. You use very descriptive words in a memoir. Which was one of the things i learned while writing this. I also learned to used an active voice, that is making the subject of the sentence do the action of the sentence. In using active voice you must also try to eliminate being verbs, some examples of these are: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been. It was very difficult to not use these words, I even had to go back through my paper many times, because I kept using these words. Even though it was hard to not use these words in my paper, after correcting, I went back and read my paper, it sound a lot better and more well written.
The second piece I wrote was an essay about the Scarlett Letter. This piece was about how the characters in the book change. I wrote about Proctor and Pearl, and how they change. I explained how Proctor had changed for the worse, and how Pearl had changed for the good. I also explained how there changing character, went with the theme of the novel. Something I learned while writing this essay was about thesis statements and transitions. I learned to make good transitions from one thought to the next, and some good ways to do that. A thesis statement should be interest catching, once someone reads it, they should be into the paper, and want to read it. In reading the Scarlett Letter, I also learned out dark Romanticism. Dark romantics where people who viewed life as colorful, and they recognized the evil in man. Hawthorne, the author of the novel, did this also, when he recognized the evil in man; as with Chillingworth and Pearl. I have learned a lot from writing papers in this class, however some of the most helpful things i have learned is writing with an active voice, and with that eliminating being verbs. Also learning how to transition my thoughts, it has helped me transition my thoughts more clearly. Lastly i have learned about writing thesis statements, and with that it is making my essays more eye catching and interesting.



Part 2:

In both my pieces, the Scarlett letter essay, and memoir I had to revise. There were many new ways I revised. One of the major things i revised for was the commas. There were many occasions when i had to put commas where I didn't know before where they went. We went over in class one day about where commas should go and semicolons, that helped me understand where in my paper i should put a comma or perhaps a semicolon. Also in my memoir I revised on cutting down on my "being" verbs. There were a couple occasions i didn't even know i was using one, but i was. One example of when i revised was, I said in my memoir, "He was asleep like no other dog." I used a "being" verb there, was. I went back and changed the sentence to, "This one like no other dog, was asleep." I took out the "was", and rearranged the sentence. Eliminating the "being" verbs in my memoir made it sound a lot better. I also revised my Scarlett letter essay, I went a little off topic and wasn't concentrating on how the characters changing contributed to the theme of the novel. In realizing this i added to my paper this sentence, "With Roger Chillingworth becoming evil and Pearl having been evil, them changing reflects one of the themes of the novel, sin." This helped "tie in" how Chillingworth and Pearl's changing character reflected the theme of the novel, sin. Also in my Scarlett letter essay I don't make somethings really clearer, an example of this is when i am talking about Chillingworth, I don't really make it clear that Hester is Chillingworth's wife, so i added this sentence to help, "Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne was his wife, who when they got separated, lost her. Nobody knows, in the beginning of the novel, that he was the husband of Hester, he keeps it a secret throughout the novel." In revising my thoughts and making it more clearer, it helped my paper sound more well written and easier to understand.


Part 3:

From reading through of a couple of my classmates' portfolios i found a couple of things that are important to me. In reading Meredith's portfolio (http://meredith92.blogspot.com/). I learned how to refer back to the text better. In her nature essay she refers to the text so well, and the quote she uses conveys to what she is trying to say. That is very important because in almost every paper you write you should refer to something that you have read. I should try now, to pick a quote that refers a little more to what i am trying to convey, then i have before. I also read Amanda's portfolio (http://amandacmoore.blogspot.com/). I read her Scarlet Letter essay and in it I saw that she added the page number of the quote at the end. I never thought to do this, I wish I would have done it in my essay, but from now on i will remember to make sure to put the page number. Lastly I read Brooke's portfolio (http://brookeworks.blogspot.com/). In his essay I realized that using similes and metaphors, are easier to put in your paper than i thought. I tried to go back through my papers and put a couple.
Just from reading Meredith's, Amanda's, and Brooke's papers, I learned alot. Also incorporating these couple things that I learned to my paper, made my paper a lot better, and come to life.