Self Reflection on my Writing Essay
Reflecting on one’s writing is very important as it helps one to identify the strengths and weaknesses to one’s writing creating room for improvement. I had never thought that I would become a good writer since my grammar was poor and my sentence structure was very wrong. Despite this, I have come out to have some strengths in my essay writing such as giving accurate information about the topic, impeccable grammar and appropriate sentence structure. My weaknesses are minimal. Examples of my weaknesses in my first draft include not giving specific information about my topic of discussion and also having my ideas bouncing all over. My grade school teacher always said that one must understand his own strengths and weaknesses for one to improve on his quality of writing.
My topic of the essay was about the driverless car or the self-driving car. My main idea was on what could be the relevance of these autonomous cars if they were adopted on a larger scale. My choice on the topic was based on the topic being interesting and realistic. I am very confident when I argue with my colleagues outside information from reference materials. My authority or credibility in the essay is seen where is state that despite what people may think; driverless cars are on their way to being integrated into current society. This persuades the audience by demonstrating my credibility.
My first revised draft content consisted of an outline which laid out important components of my essay including an introduction, thesis statement, main arguments and the counter argument. My sentence structure and paragraph structure was perfect and used it to bring out the meaning effectively. The choice of words, grammar and punctuation were exemplary except for a few spelling mistakes which are now rectified.
In the revision process, several comments and statements were provided about changes and improvements to be made. One of the comments given was that I should apply special evidence and logical reasoning in my essay. In the paragraph about accidents, I was so general in the point I said that one can estimate that a huge number of people lose their lives as a result of accidents. Another comment about the essay was that I did not put the conclusion after the counter argument. This is a mistake one should not do in any essay. Another statement was that I should explain specifically. When introducing the topic, I did not describe the qualities of the self-driving vehicles. In the fourth paragraph of the first essay, there was also no explanation on how the driverless cars would reduce traffic.
I write this letter to my former self. You always feared writing whenever your teacher said that you were going to write another ‘big’ paper. I know you never thought you could be a good writer like you are now. How I wish you knew how writing is fun and what a good writer you would become. Since you learned to draft your first paper, you have learned how to organize your ideas into something good which your reader can follow. I wish you had edited your essay quite thoroughly than you did as you would have noted spelling mistakes in the essay. I wish you had some deeper knowledge on autonomous cars as your essay would have been more specific. You have acquired the skills to think logically and to write a well-structured essay. This is important even in the future essay assignments in the course and even later in other fields.
