Samuel Menjivar

Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
03 May 2016
Reflection essay
Throughout this semester I have learned new styles of writing. These new skills I have
gained will benefit me in the long term. The main style of writing I excelled at and gained the
most from was the rhetorical analysis essay. This will help when I am asked to write in this style
in the future. The main problems I had while writing included using a large amount of
contractions, and lack of details for my thesis in the rhetorical analysis. One thing that helped
keep me focused and on topic was the use of a thesis formula, and the MEAL plan.
The struggles that were keeping from excelling were wide in variety. The amount of
contractions used in multiple rough drafts of my rhetorical analysis include hasnt, havent,
thats, wouldnt, werent, arent, and doesnt. I would go to improve them in my final draft. The
contractions themselves will put a limit on your word count as well as prevent me from being as
academic as possible. Dead words were also a problem in my rough draft. The thesis statement
also something that in the beginning I struggled with because I had to adapt my writing to
accomadate a thesis formula. I lacked some insight according to one of my peers in my rough
draft of my intro paragraph for the rhetorical analysis. Another thing I lacked in my thesis
statement was an effective action verb because the action verb I used in my rough draft thesis
was, using, but I later changed it to, emphasized
Even though I struggled with my thesis it helped keep me focused on the topic and
making sure it gave the reader an indication of what I was writing about in my rhetorical
analysis. The thesis formula was [Element(s)] + [of,in,from] + [text] + [action verb] + [insight]
this made what I needed to focus on while writing clear. It also helped with organization of the
paper, and it allowed me look back at the thesis to see what to write about next. As for
consistency and making the flow of the paper easy to follow, the MEAL plan helped me with

that. The MEAL plan consisted of M-main idea, E-evidence, A-analysis, and the L-link back to
the thesis. Since the thesis statement and MEAL plan coincide it made it impressively easier to
stay on topic, and be clear to produce an exceptional paper.
In conclusion, I know I have become more adept at revising my papers for errors and able
to remain on topic due to the thesis formula and MEAL plan. The errors I have learned to search
for to improve my academic writing include contractions, and lack of insight for my thesis in my
rhetorical analysis. The lessons that stayed with me during the class meetings to help me stay on
topic were the thesis formula and MEAL plan. All of these elements will stay with me
throughout the rest of my academic writing career and I will improve upon them as well.