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Marisol Tello

ENGL 1302-231

Professor Sharity Nelson

1 May 2024

Final Reflection Essay: English Portfolio 1302

For this course, my work or essays focused primarily on analyzing and creating a

researched position for my main topic, covering the discrimination faced in the workplace. This

course is English 1302-231, an English composition course that I am currently taking in the

second semester of my freshman year as a part of my core classes. Through this

course, I have learned the necessary steps needed to complete a thorough research position essay

on the topic of discussion, as well as other tools needed for research papers that may be

applied in other courses that require a written portion or project.

At the beginning of this course, we learned from the resources supplied to us by Professor

Nelson the necessary method by which we are to cite and paraphrase information from peer-

reviewed articles and incorporate it into our essays. For the first essay, we were introduced to the

topic or format of a bibliography that would be the basis for our future essays and a more easily

accessible form of peer-reviewed articles. This primarily provided me as a student with a format

in which to search for peer-reviewed articles that are related to the topic of my essay and could

be further used to create an argument. An example of this is seen in the resources or assignment

provided to us by Professor Nelson, which detailed an outline on how to use the search engine to

find content related to our topic (How to search topics). Other assignments that helped me more

thoroughly understand how to create a bibliography were the BEAM worksheets in class that
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helped identify the important parts of an article and how to relate it to the topic of discussion

(Article Analysis Worksheet). The process of learning how to create an annotated bibliography

for this course will help me for future courses and research projects that require a thorough

analysis of both the topic and articles that would be interested in those works. For instance,

for my psychology course, we are required to complete a researched project, which is slightly

similar to the researched position essay as it requires the topic and an essay that could convey the

topic and stance the person has, which in this case required a closer look on the essays used as

well as the factors that would need support which was greatly aided by assignments such as the

synthesis worksheet example done in class (Synthesis Worksheet).

From this course, I learned the importance of planning as well as the revision process and

how it plays into creating a more effective and successful essay in terms of meeting the criteria

and following the prompt for each. The activities that helped most in this course are the revision

process, most importantly, the peer and instructor feedback from the conference, and the peer

review activity (Conference, Peer Review). The peer review activity from the first essay proved

the most helpful in creating and securing the purpose or intention of this essay from my peer's

feedback, who found the topic understandable but would have liked it. I integrated

a certain direction or more evident purpose of the author's research and writing throughout this

essay, which was an annotated bibliophagy (Peer review). Other assignments that helped

shape my essays into a more articulate form of understanding rather than a messy pile of words

contorted together were the BEAM worksheets and synthesis worksheets done in class or on our

own (Synthesis outline). This assignment provided me with the template necessary to

gather the information that would be late regarding to or needed in my essays as well as an
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outline on how to organize and relate the information gathered from the peer-reviewed articles

into a sensible and easy-to-read essay (Synthesis outline).

From the revising process of this course, I learned to take in my peers and instructors'

feedback and apply it, as well as look over any other changes I deem would improve the quality

of the essay. For instance, for this final revision of essay two, the literature review, I took into

account the main 2 points my instructor had made, which were my thesis and certain flow of the

essay not seen in the transitions from one paragraph or topic to another (Literature review). The

changes were simple enough since my thesis had a stance on the topic being analyzed, but it did

not fit according to the criteria or purpose of this text. The purpose of this text was to provide an

analysis of these peer-reviewed articles and the authors' purpose in investigating this topic, which

was discrimination and its effects in the workplace. The second change made was the

cohesiveness of the essay. The outline itself presented an easy feat to accomplish but to properly

integrate it and make this essay flow seemed to prove challenging (Literature review). The

changes made for this case included adding or changing the first introductory sentences of each

paragraph to include a slightly more summary of its contents and how it relates to the previous

topic (literature review). Other in-class activities that have helped me create this final revision

were previous feedback from other essays that helped me determine whether I followed the

proper guidelines in creating a literature review rather than another piston

paper which was noted in the original instructor feedback (instructor feedback).

The most challenging aspect of having to revise this essay did not have to rewrite the

entire essay but recognizing the small changes needed to improve the quality of this paper (Final

Revision). For instance, in having to change the thesis statement, I had to ensure that the other
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paraphrase followed this change and did not present any personal stance on the subject but a

clear review of the articles being used (final revision). The least challenging aspect of this

revision was to make the smaller changes to the beginning of the paragraphs. This change was

necessary to increase the flow of the paper but was more feasible as a brief change was possible

since I had the text more readily available and knew what should be added to create a more

underlined or ready paper for an audience that had not encountered the topic beforehand and

letting them create the connections more easily (Final revision). Other small feasible changes

made to the final revision were some grammatical errors seen in the essay and some slight

mistakes of not having added Garcia-Yeste et al. to all the citations related to this article (Final

revision).

The choices made to my portfolio to convey concepts such as academic research and the

writing process experienced in this course are provided with both a brief summary of the

assignment purpose as well as the inclusion of other assignments as PDFs that include the

learning and writing process on how to achieve the researched position essay. To make this topic

understandable to someone who has not encountered these topics in writing, I included

in my summary of each unit the purpose of these essays and the processes or utility these would

provide for future research and feasible access to articles they also provide to the writer. For

instance, for the bibliography, I included the importance of having to create an annotated

bibliography so as to have some groundwork for what type of articles would be used in the

reserved position of a future essay, as well as the importance of having prepared a paper or

background information on what this article could provide and their significance as well as

reliability and how this would improve the success of a researched position paper in conveying

the writer's argument (Annotated biliary). These elements of having completed an

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annotated bibliography also relate to completing a literature review, which conveys the author's

purpose or overall structure of their article and the main concepts they could introduce into the

topic. This is better achieved through the similar assignments provided under each unit that

display the steps needed to attain a clear objective on the subject, which can be seen achieved in

the researched position paper with its own assignments showcasing the timeline or steps needed

to take in order to complete the proper stance and arguments for the topic.

The most challenging aspect of this course was the writing process itself; although made

more feasible through assignments and activities done in class, these have been subjects I could

not achieve with ease. This, I believe, is the most challenging course due to me personally not

having a very imaginative way with words and would rather just write the main points or a rough

idea of the topic than sit for hours writing down hundreds of words making grammatical

mistakes and certain sentence struts which was never my forte in school. I can obviously achieve

some semblance of writing, but the process takes me Quite some time, which cuts into other

work, especially this semester because I have started picking up more shifts at work and am still

a full-time student who must complete work for my other courses and their exams. As for

challenges faced in the research process of this essay and the other essays dependent on

them, were mostly that they were somewhat time-consuming as well as required more thorough

research into the validity of the article sources and arguments, which was thorough with the help

of the professor's assignments which induced how to search for articles related to the topic

(Search engine). Other than that, it was mainly time-consuming to complete these assignments,

as I said, and the process of revising on my own proved difficult since I mostly used other

sources as a point of reference, which helped that Professor Nelson had posted student examples
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on the course page giving me a reference or frame of tough t into what these essay should look

like and convey (student examples).

The least challenging aspect of this course proved to be in having to complete mainly the

reflection essays since they could be completed rather quickly, and a personal perspective on the

subject as well as leading questions that, once started, are easier to answer (Reflection Essays).

As for strengths in research and writing skill sets, I find it easier to create outlines for the essay

than implementing the practice of completing or the necessary relationship between certain

concepts, and for research, it was easy to identify which articles would be most acceptable by

viewing its contents, relevance, and authors argument which could e mostly found in the first

essay (Annotated bibliophagy). Another example of items in this course that did not prove

challenging was reviewing my other peer's essays. I found it enjoyable to read these essays as

they provided a reference as to what stage I should be writing at as well as an untrusting of how

others have intended or implanted their articles into an analysis and researched positions (Peer

review).

I feel that this course has provided me with the necessary tools in order to be a part of the

academic research community of this school or other projects. This can be seen in the manner

our course was structured, showing us the process of how to form a research position that

required the thorough analysis of the articles used to defend the topic or argument as well as

information to support the said argument that could be found in these articles more clearly

defined in a literature review of the articles and their purpose.

The purpose of this essay was to provide an overview of my experience in this course as

well as the purpose of my portfolio for this course, which would identify all the assignments and
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activities that would help achieve a more successful researched position essay and how I found

these assignments manageable and a necessary part of the writing process. The significance of

this essay and the topics covered are mainly to categorize my experience in this writing course

and whether it has prepared me for future academia as well as to attain my understanding of the

subject and its purpose and structure of the course provided to help us learn.
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Works Cited

Nelson, Sharity. “How to Search Topics classroom activity,” 26 January 2024. ENGL 1302,

Texas A&M International University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Conference,” 5 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Peer Review Discussion,” 7 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University.

Tello, Marisol. “Annotated Bibliography: Draft 1.” 5 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Library Research Packet” by Seminole State College. Date month year, 1302,

Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “How Companies Treat Marginalized Communities in Work Settings: An

Annotated Bibliography.” Final Draft. 9 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Article Analysis Worksheet example,” 19 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas

A&M International University. .

Nelson, Sharity. “Conference,” 1 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Synthesis Worksheet Example,” 21 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University.

Tello, Marisol. “Article Analysis Worksheet.” 21 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

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Tello, Marisol. “Literature Review Draft 1.” 1 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Literature Review Final Draft.” 21 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Literature Review Peer Review.” 6 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Synthesis,” by the University of Arizona. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.

Tello, Marisol. “Synthesis Worksheet.” 23 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Nelson, Sharity. “Developing Strong Thesis Statement” Purdue Owl University, 19 February

2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Conference,” 1 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.

Nelson, Sharity. “Student Essay Example,” ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Tello, Marisol. “BEAM worksheet.” 25 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Drafting Essay 3.” 25 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University, in-class lecture.

Tello, Marisol. “Researched Position Draft 1.” 1 April 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Researched Position Final Draft.” 12 April 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

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Tello, Marisol. “Researched Position Peer Review.” 10 April 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Researched Position Outline Worksheet.” 27 March 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas

A&M International University, homework assignment.

Tello, Marisol. “Final Revision.” 1 May 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.