English 2: Critical College Writing Skills by Reese

English 2: Critical College Writing Skills by Reese - January 2022 Scholarship Essay

Was it fate to undergo a second round of monotone, dry, academic writing? Reflecting back on my past semester of college English, I went into my first class prepared to advance as a writer, yet I also held doubts as to whether college writing would be so glorious.

Now looking back, I am glad to report that this semester did indeed exceed my expectations in that I found my writing voice and am able to use evidence in an effective manner in order to present complex arguments. Through the use of peer review exercises, feedback given by my professors, and my first critical essay, I developed my skill of critical thinking in order to launch my college writing career and a new understanding of the basic essay.

The first movie we critically reviewed as a class was Jordan Peele’s Get Out where we critiqued what Jordan Peele was saying about how we currently live. Though my professor had said we were just to write down the meaning of this film, I still did not know what feedback to expect or what my professor was looking for in this discussion post. After posting my thoughts to the discussion board and reading other classmates’ perspectives, our professor linked Get Out to Bell Hook’s writings and real life events that portrayed the same idea. We specifically focused on Hook’s statement on how “television and mass media were the other great neo-colonial weapons.” So, when time came to write our first critical essay I was eager to put what we learned onto paper and receive feedback on my writing.

To my surprise, I was not given the score I expected and it was then that I realized that it was because I was not using my own voice to write. What I mean is that, I had been researching so much about the topic that I had ended up using other sources’ ideas and too much of their wording to the point where what I considered my writing, sounded like another general essay.

I rebounded from my defeat and poured my energy into our next essay: “Representation of Policing in Zootopia.” Before and after watching the movie, I listened carefully to my professor’s lecture on the context of the film and representations of different aspects of the film in other writings and history. This time I made sure to not research anything on my own and only used the trusted sources I had gathered from class. I also reflected and learned a lot from the peer review exercises in which we gave constructive criticism and suggestions to each other as it helped to see my paper from another perspective.

In the end, I reviewed and analysed the movie Zootopia and how the directors touched on mass incarceration, politically induced racial fears, and policing. I remember the moment I turned my essay in, I was very pleased with how far I had come since the first essay: I made good use of the evidence, was able to pursue the topic I wanted, and even included some intertextuality. But, above all, this was my first interaction speaking with my true writer’s voice in a piece of academic writing. This reflected well as I got my first A for a piece of writing in English and was inspired to make the most of my time with this English course.

However, not only did the process of analysing apply toward my English course, but also to my business and theater classes. Though I did not realize it at first, my critical thinking skills were beginning to benefit my business papers, presentations, and even discussions in my theater class. My papers had voice and conveyed specific, detailed thoughts that showed my professors I was invested in their teachings and had something to contribute to the class. This led to improvements in the relationships between my professors and I, productive discussions, and higher scores throughout my courses.

Over the course of this semester, I learned that there are many parts of writing that go into creating a well written piece of analysis. One needs to have good organization of their paragraphs and main points, a focus and arguable assertion for the thesis, credible evidence, and commentary and analysis to complement the combination of these elements. In addition to the many peer reviews, discussions, practice, and handful of essays, I can also say that there is a process to creating a good essay: gathering background context, connecting the first look to a deeper understanding, explaining your thoughts in straightforward and concise wording, revising your thoughts, adding evidence, and polishing this onto paper.

Though I cannot express a whole semester of learning into this reflection, I definitely learned about how to critically write well and am looking forward to my continuous improvement in future courses.