Caroline Pinnock

English 1010, 3A
November 3, 2016
Self Reflection
Daily Assignments
The three essays I found to be most beneficial were Me as a Writer, our Personal
Narrative, and the Photo Activity. Me as a Writer was an assignment for us to discuss who we
are as writers. One main writing strategy I learned was to clearly state when I am mentioning
something we were required to mention. For the most part, in this essay I wove the rubric in with
my writing and it was not very clear. For my personal narrative we were required to write about
one single instance that had happened in our lives when we were younger. I wrote about a trip
my family took to the beach, but I had to include several different sentence beginnings and
several different types of imagery. It was extremely valuable to consciously think about where
these would be most needed and it was great practice to help me naturally add these in in later
essays. For the Photo Activity I had no pressure to follow a rubric so I just wrote what I thought
would add most to the paper. This writing strategy of just writing and not worrying has helped
me in my later essays. I have now started just writing about the subject, which naturally sorts out
my ideas.
Process Questions
A Nation of Wimps, written by Hara Marano, was a heavily thought out essay. I started
free writing about the subject and rambled on about what I believe in and what I have personal
experiences with. I also worked on separating the essay into three main subjects. The most
valuable thing I did, was going through each example and statistic and opinion of Marano and
placed it into one of my three points. T
here was one instant where Marano began talking about

parents pressuring their kids into Ivy League Schools and I easily put that under my topic of
parents who pressure their kids have a higher chance of developing extreme anxiety. It was
difficult to separate Maranos ideas from mine. In one particular instance when I was
disagreeing on one point she was making, I ended up agreeing at the same time. It was very
confusing to tell what I was trying to get across in my writing. I ended up scratching the majority
of that argument and I had to start over. In the long run rewriting this section added to my essay,
but it was not easy to rethink my whole paper.
I felt very strong on the points I was agreeing with. I found substantial personal evidence
that fit right in with my argument. I explained that when I was a child, I felt different because I
was still involved in several different activities. I later went on to explain that this was the best
thing my parents could have done for me. However, I do feel like I had one main weakness. I
changed my first argument and while I did feel like it was better, I do wish that I had more time
to think about it and revise it. The most apparent thing I learned about my writing style as I wrote
this essay was my need to take time and sort out my ideas. It was very valuable to separate and
organize her ideas and identify how they related to mine.
Subject-Related Questions
Although I could relate to most of her examples and facts, I had one major contention. I
did in no way believe her when Marano stated that kids talk to their parents more in college than
they did before. When I would talk about this subject with others most would agree with how
interesting I thought it was, but some questioned her viability and suggested that I read from
other sources that arent so biased. I cant say that I necessarily changed my point of view
throughout this writing process. I did, however, become more aware of the problems that are
caused from extreme parenting. It has sadly made me more judgemental on the parents and
children I know in my life. This essay has taught me that things change. Between the lines of

this essay Marano leads you to believe this change in society relating to parents and how they
tend over their kids has been a recent occurrence. It undoubtedly taught me how the best way
(from Maranos opinion) to raise my future children is by letting them live their lives how they
want.
Rhetoric-Related Questions
Originally I just assumed I would be writing for the same audience as Marano. However
as I was talking to more people about this subject I realized that I had a whole new audience I
could write towards. I wanted to let people who did not understand this major problem know how
this happens. One of my friends got very offended when I was talking about this subject. She
completely disagreed that parents have a big effect on how their kids turn up as far as anxiety
and getting married. Because of this, I included all the stats and examples that Marano did
which made the biggest impact on me. Like I said before, I want them to take this topic seriously
and believe what Marano is saying. If my readers acknowledge this problem and actively try and
help with the issue, then I will feel my paper was important. I have very definite opinions and I
bring them up very strongly. I might not have a consistent voice throughout all my writing
assignments, but in this one specifically, I made sure to make every point as clear as I possibly
could.
One rhetorical strategy that always impacts me is pathos. Personal stories have the
potential to sway a mind like no fact can. I mentioned my sisters going off to college and my
childhood and how I was affected by this problem. I feel like if you can get your audience to
have an emotional connection than they will remember the information more. I also included
logos with the study of the children born with anxiety. This study gave hard evidence and
proved her point perfectly. Using ethos, Marano quotes several well-known psychologists like
David Anderegg and Jerome Kagan. The biggest risk I would say I made was my length. In

most cases length isnt a bad thing, but with analytical essays the audience's attention span is a
very important thing to keep in mind. I had so many points that in my opinion needed to be
discussed, and I included them.