Roldan 1

Katherine Roldan
Professor Lim
ENGL 114B
11 May 2015
Reflection
Throughout the semester I have learned new strategies to improve my writing skills.
English 114B has helped me be open to different approaches of writing. At first I remember
thinking I knew everything there was to know about writing an essay from my previous class,
but as time went by I found myself learning new ways to enhance my previous knowledge.
Although I would like to believe my essay is perfect, there are certain strategies I adapted to
improve my essay which includes yellow dot method, C.E.I, and reading through out loud.
Using the yellow dot revision strategy helps to make sure I have complete sentences
throughout my essay. Although I have just recently learned about this concept of revision, I
found this strategy effective for my two previous essays. For example, for my show analysis
essay I circled every period in essay with a red pen. After circling every period I began to read
every sentence starting from my last page. While reading each sentence I would mark any
spelling corrections with a green pen and also add detail in order to make a complete sentence.
By taking these steps to revise my essay I was able to find my weak sentences and create
stronger ones. Before finding out about the yellow dot method I wasn't able to single out
incomplete sentences because I would rely on previous sentences to support the claim stated in
my weak sentences. By using this strategy I have been to improve on the weakness of my
sentence structure.

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C.E.I format also known as P.I.E format is a great to make sure an essay is complete.
While writing an essay, a writer can easily start rambling off on details in which may not always
support the thesis. In my discourse community essay, I noticed how my fourth paragraph had
somehow drifted into my personal association to the discourse community. My paragraph
provided details which didn't have any relation to the thesis. I deleted my first two sentences
from the paragraph and wrote a topic sentence which introduces the reader with the idea of how
new employees are taught the discourse of the community.After writing a new topic sentence I
also went ahead and added a concluding sentence which brought the paragraph back to my thesis.
By verifying if each individual paragraph has a topic sentence I am able to conclude whether my
paragraph are relevant to my argument.
Reading my essay out loud from beginning to end will help make sure my argument
makes sense. While revising my discourse community essay I took time out to read my essay out
loud, I found myself stopping and fixing a couple of sentences because the message had came
out differently than intended to. After using the previous strategies to revise my essay, reading
everything through will help me find out what my audience will end up taking from my
information. Focusing on the paragraphs and sentences individually doesn't produce the outcome
of the entire essay.
Looking back at all my work from this class; I realized how much I have improved.
Using these strategies to revise my essay allows me to strengthen my arguments while building a
better structured essay as well. This course has changed my point of view when it comes to

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writing approaches. English 114B has definitely helped me become a confident writer
moving forward on my education.