Over the last 16 weeks during the second semester of my junior year of high school, I have learned more information about writing than I thought I would. Every year I think I’ve learned the most about writing that I can, but time and time again I am proven wrong. During this course I wrote an argumentative and rhetorical analysis essay, as well as other essays, such as this one. In the last 16 weeks I’ve furthered my skills, and I’ve made essays that I’m proud of during this course.

            The skill that I’ve strengthened the most is my citations in my essays. During the Project 1 argumentative essay, I completely messed up my citations, simply because I was not sure how to correctly cite my sources. I did research over MLA citations, both online and in the TCC library, to correctly fix my citations. My project 1 Essay had a score of 50/100 due to my incorrect citations. I also strengthened my research skills, as I’ve always struggled with finding reliable sources that accurately support my claims in my essays. In Project 1 I used seven different sources in my essay just to support every single argument that I wanted to make. Using these sources I made powerful arguments and connections, and with the fixed citations I received a grade of 98/100, which I am extremely proud of.

            I wrote multiple essays during this course, all strengthening a different area of my writing skills. My favorite essay that I wrote was the Literary Analysis Essay over “The Plague.” For this essay, I watched a full movie and then wrote a coherent essay over the given question of the essay. I enjoyed the movie, and writing an essay over what I thought about the characters in the story was enjoyable at the same time as helping me become a better writer. I also enjoyed the Project 1 essay, as it is probably the proudest I am of an essay. I spent a lot of time on that essay, and still turned it in on the final day that it was due, just to mess up the citations. This proved to myself that I can achieve a strong essay with supporting evidence and strong arguments that all combine together to create an impactful essay. I also enjoyed the learning process about heroin as it was very informative over an important topic.

            Overall, this 16 week course has helped me strengthen my citation and research skills, as well as giving me essays that have helped me become a better writer. I was challenged with multiple essays, even though I had plenty of time to complete them, and my skills were strengthened and appreciated by myself, and hopefully my professor. Taking this course as a high schooler was a bit of a challenge, especially with all of my other classes filling up my schedule, but I am definitely glad that I took this course as it was extremely beneficial to my writing skills and knowledge.