While I have taken a few college-level writing courses, most with a higher volume of papers than what is assigned in this class, LHSP 125.002: Writing and Seeing has presented me with some of the biggest writing challenges I have had to face in my education thus far. While not the most challenging, essay one was scary at first. As my first actual college essay, there were a lot of uncertainties as to how eloquent my language should be, how much I should focus on the formatting, and if I was actually correctly addressing the prompt. However, I found myself genuinely enjoying the writing and editing process, and although I fell short in a couple areas of my essay, I still consider it to be one of the best pieces of writing I have created.
Being a bit dissatisfied with the outcome of my first essay, I knew I needed to do better on paper two. The entire process of creating the second paper was fun and exciting, from learning about graffiti to actually seeing it in Detroit. I found that the more I wrote about and examined my piece, the more I had to say about it. I am very proud of my second essay and regard as my best work in this class and one of my greatest accomplishments this semester.
The tasks presented in this third essay are undoubtedly a bit daunting. While it was easy to find three advertisements I could connect and interpret, when it came down to actually writing the paper, I'm not sure I did my best. I feel I was too general, and not detailed enough in my descriptions. While this paper reminds me of the second one in some of its missions, I am still struggling to create strong and valid connections between the advertisements and social identity. Hopefully, this upcoming peer review will help to improve my writing.
I would definitely say that this essay is the most challenging; however, the topics we are covering in it are interesting and important, and I fully expect to come out of this experience with a more complete understanding of advertisements and their effect and commentary on social identity. This class has already developed my writing skills dramatically, and I am excited to see how much more I can improve this semester alone.
I completely agree with you, Brooks! I found the first essay to be the scariest, even though it was not the most challenging essay. I also loved the second essay for the same reasons as you; it was fun to write and it was great to visit the many graffiti locations in Detroit. I, as well, believe my second essay is my best work so far. And, yes, I also believe this third essay is the most challenging. It's not necessarily the length of the paper that is difficult, rather it's trying to effectively keep the paper focused. Argumentative papers are not easy, and I can relate to how you're feeling. I know my writing skills have improved in this class and I cannot wait to improve even more as we move into our final essay.
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