Reflecting on my English 1040 experience, I believe I have grown as a writer. When I first started the semester, I was only concerned with completing my assignments and meeting the word count. As the semester progressed, I began to realize that writing is far more than writing words and the class helped me develop skills in research organization critical thinking and communication, skills I will use in college and in my future career in the golf industry.

One of the most useful aspects of this class was working through the short assignments that prepared me for my major paper. Each task allowed me to build a specific skill. For instance, Short Assignment 3, which was the annotated bibliography, showed me how to locate trustworthy sources and describe their relevance. Rather than simply gathering facts, I learned to link research directly to my main topic. This process made writing my major paper simpler because I already had supporting material for my ideas.

Another similar assignment that was out of my comfort zone was Short Assignment 4 in which I was comparing two different styles of writing that is used in the golf industry. I compared a research article written as a peer-reviewed journal and an article written for the PGA of America in the "career section". That assignment opened my eyes to understanding that all articles have different needs by using different appeals like logos and ethos and writers need to alter their approach based on the audience. Before this class, I always focused on what the article was saying but not so much how the article was saying it. Recognizing those small variations in texts helped me as a student to become a better thinker.

Revision was a further key area of improvement. I realized that submitting a first draft was only the first step in writing better essays; revisiting my work to make improvements to structure, transitions, and explanations made a significant impact. Reading through the brief and seeing examples of quality writing gave me a clearer picture of how my writing could improve. It also highlighted my weaknesses, mainly with the structuring of longer essays and providing more detailed explanations.

One aspect that made this class more engaging was the opportunity to relate my assignments to the golf industry. Researching a topic, I care about kept me interested and showed me how writing applies to real careers. I discovered that golf professionals rely on communication skills for emails reports customer service, and managing tournaments.

I believe that I have earned a b+ in this class.