Overall, I feel as if I have grown tremendously throughout this semester. I started out unsure with my writing abilities and how I perceived my writing to be, however, I have grown extremely confident with myself and turning in assignments. I have always felt a lack of interest in what I write but I have learned that enjoying writing quite literally determines how well you will do. When writing, I always imagine myself to be more professional because I believe it is what the professors are looking for, although after some heavy feedback I realized that professors want to hear your own voice and not what you think they want to hear. I started out as a non-English major but I have become more inclined to write with the structures and lessons I have learned in my writing courses. Moving forward, I will apply my confidence to all writing assignments. My future self will learn from the grades I have received this semester and apply what I might have done good and fix what I might have done wrong. Learning about the different disciplines in writing will really help me when I get into classes that have those different modes. The separate writing styles will come through throughout all of college and the classes I might take will seem easier as I have the writing inclination. I plan on being a professor and these different disciplines find themselves apparent in all classes and things similar. There is a lot of schooling tied to becoming a professor, so these disciplines will assist in the classes I have to take in the future. I trust that referencing will be apparent in all classes so it is a tremendous help to learn about them as soon as possible so I am not stuck in the future, which is what this class has helped out with. Language is another important note to have when it comes to writing, I hope that I have accumulated a ton of different language points that will amplify my writing in the future. I am really appreciative of what I have learned this semester and thankful for the confidence boost I have gained. 

This semester helped me grow as a writer. I’ve learned that writing is a process, not something you get perfect on the first try. I’m more confident now because I know how to revise with purpose and focus on clarity based on who my target audience is.

One of the biggest things I learned is that different disciplines use different structure, language, and reference styles. That was new to me. I also learned about the “They Say, I Say” format, which helped me organize my arguments more clearly. And I didn’t realize until this class that I’m actually allowed to use “normalspeak” instead of “academicspeak” all the time. I cannot use contractions and write in a way that sounds more natural, depending on the assignment. I don’t know why that never stuck in my prior school, but it made writing feel less intimidating.

Since I’m going into business and applied science, I’ll need to write clearly and professionally. This class taught me how to adjust my tone, structure, and language depending on the audience and purpose. That’s something I’ll definitely use in future classes and in my career.

One of the biggest takeaways for me is realizing that I write much better than I speak. English is my second language, and I often feel insecure when talking. I don’t always feel articulate in conversation, but writing gives me time to think and express myself clearly. That’s something I’m proud of and will continue to rely on.

If I could do anything differently, I would’ve used Notebook LM to filter out all the wordiness from the Academic Writing chapter. That would’ve helped me focus on the key points and made it easier to learn. I also would’ve read the rubrics more carefully before starting assignments. Sometimes I missed small details that could’ve helped me meet the expectations more clearly and avoid confusion.

These skills will help me in college and in my future career in forensic accounting. I’ll need to explain complex financial issues to people who may not have a technical background, and writing will be one of the best ways I can do that. This class gave me tools to communicate clearly, think critically, and write with more confidence.

This semester, I’ve grown a lot as a writer, I feel like more than I expected. At the beginning, I often second-guessed my ideas or worried about whether my writing “sounded right.” Over time, though, I learned how to trust my own voice. I’ve become more confident in my ability to organize my thoughts, explain complex ideas clearly, and revise my work with intention instead of frustration. I feel like I no longer write just to finish an assignment; I write to communicate something meaningful. My confidence has grown because I now understand that writing is a process, not something that has to come out perfect the first time. Getting more comfortable with brainstorming, outlining, and rewriting made me less afraid to take risks in my writing. I’ve also learned how to support my ideas with evidence and how to shape my writing for different audiences, which gave me a stronger sense of control and purpose in every piece I create. Moving forward, these skills will stick with me. Whether I’m writing essays for other classes, preparing research papers, or communicating professionally, I’ll use what I’ve learned about clarity, structure, and revision. I’m much better at recognizing what type of writing a situation calls for and adjusting my tone, organization, and style to fit. Learning that every discipline has its own writing expectations, its own structure, language, and reference style has also changed how I see writing in college. Instead of assuming that one type of writing works everywhere, I now think more critically about what each professor or field values. This will help me succeed across different classes because I know how to shift between analytical writing, scientific explanation, reflective writing, and more. It makes me more adaptable and aware of the conventions that shape academic communication. Looking into the future, I see this knowledge helping me in my career as well. Almost every job requires clear communication, and being able to adjust my writing for different audience will make me a more effective communicator. Overall, the growth I’ve experienced this semester is something I’ll carry with me well beyond this class.

This semester I have grown so much as a writer I think. At first just starting to write a sentence was hard for me, but now once I have an idea I can write pages consecutively without needing a break. My confidence in my writing has grown tremendously, especially when it comes to formatting of a paper. Moving forward in my next writing classes or even other classes that may have writing, I’ll be able to use my new formatting skills to integrate sources and make my writing easier for my reader to understand what I’m trying to say. Although I used some formatting in high school, we mostly used MLA formatting. So getting to college and having to learn APA was a big adjustment for myself being so used to something else. Learning about different writing disciples this semester has really been able to help me understand the context of any text I’m reading more efficiently. Just by looking at formatting and structure I am starting to be able to tell what type of writing it may be. Whether it’s humanities or even natural sciences. I will be able to use the skills I’ve learned this semester throughout my whole time here at Longwood and even after that in my career. I believe this is a perfect class for freshmen coming into college writing. College writing has been so much different then in high school and without this class I wouldn’t even know where to start. Before Writing and Rhetoric I didn’t even know about APA formatting which is crazy because that is what is used in my career. Without this I wouldn’t be prepared for future classes or even writing reports in the hospital. I’m grateful to have learned so much over the course of such a short time frame, I have grown so much as a writer but also as a person.

Throughout this semester I have been able to practice my writing skills through doing research papers. As I wrote my annotated bibliography and my SFD I improved my use of APA format. I have never used APA format before coming to this class, so having the opportunity to write two papers with that format has helped me learn a lot. Another thing I improved on throughout the semester is staying topic of each of my paragraphs. In the beginning of this class I had trouble with rambling about a topic which made my writing hard to understand. One big struggle I had when writing the papers was doing citations. After lots of practice and many trips to the writing center, I have improved my ability to make a correct citation. In this class we have done readings about SLR. I have learned how to identity each type of writing based on the format and the information within the writing. I was able to incorporate SLR in my papers used the applied science field. My papers are both share the topic of nursing. which happens to fall into the applied fields. In my papers I followed the format of IMRaD in my papers. Understanding SLR throughout college will help me better understand certain research papers for my classes and also help me set up the format for my papers when writing for a certain field. Having the ability to identify SLR in writings will help me better understand the paper and the reasoning for the format of each writing in my future career. I have learned a lot in this class, and I feel far more confident in my writing compared to when the semester started. I plan on using the skills I have learned from and incorporating them into each of my writings moving forward.

This semester, I’ve grown a lot as a writer, I feel like more than I expected. At the beginning, I often second-guessed my ideas or worried about whether my writing “sounded right.” Over time, though, I learned how to trust my own voice. I’ve become more confident in my ability to organize my thoughts, explain complex ideas clearly, and revise my work with intention instead of frustration. I feel like I no longer write just to finish an assignment; I write to communicate something meaningful. My confidence has grown because I now understand that writing is a process, not something that has to come out perfect the first time. Getting more comfortable with brainstorming, outlining, and rewriting made me less afraid to take risks in my writing. I’ve also learned how to support my ideas with evidence and how to shape my writing for different audiences, which gave me a stronger sense of control and purpose in every piece I create. Moving forward, these skills will stick with me. Whether I’m writing essays for other classes, preparing research papers, or communicating professionally, I’ll use what I’ve learned about clarity, structure, and revision. I’m much better at recognizing what type of writing a situation calls for and adjusting my tone, organization, and style to fit. Learning that every discipline has its own writing expectations, its own structure, language, and reference style has also changed how I see writing in college. Instead of assuming that one type of writing works everywhere, I now think more critically about what each professor or field values. This will help me succeed across different classes because I know how to shift between analytical writing, scientific explanation, reflective writing, and more. It makes me more adaptable and aware of the conventions that shape academic communication. Looking into the future, I see this knowledge helping me in my career as well. Almost every job requires clear communication, and being able to adjust my writing for different audience will make me a more effective communicator. Overall, the growth I’ve experienced this semester is something I’ll carry with me well beyond this class.

We have done a lot of reflecting this semester, but I firmly believe that when done correctly, reflecting can help you understand where things went wrong and help you correct things moving forward.

So take some time and reflect on your first semester here at Longwood. Nothing ever goes 100% perfect, ever, so think about what went really well for you this semester as well as things that did not:

1. What went GREAT and why
2. What went BAD and why
3. What can you do to change things moving forward

That last question is what most people fail to consider when they write reflections. Go back and look at your own reflections from this semester. Many failed to address “what they would do differently in hind sight. So do not forget to address this. Here is the final part of this: if you do NOT want me to publish the post, at the bottom write DO NOT POST and I will respect your wishes.