Reflection

I find that my ability to form cohesively progressive arguments has improved greatly. I see that in the beginning of the course that I had all sorts of ideas that I tried to link in some way, which developed very interesting essay topics. However, the way I expressed my ideas and supported them made them seem forced and not as cohesive as they were when I initially thought of them. This has been a problem I've had for a long time, and writing longer essays that require various claims centered on a thesis has helped me learn how to manage my ideas and organize them much better. When I worked on my second draft for my research paper, I found that simply reordering a few paragraphs created a much more logical argument. Going back even further, I remember starting my project with an amazingly wide topic that I had a great interest in, but I had no idea what to write about it. What I learned about narrowing topics allowed me to focus on a niche of my original topic and fully develop an effective argument. Learning how to focus on specific ideas is something I see that separates good essays from great essays, and this should be the next skill I should improve on.