WRIT 116 has been a transformative journey where I was exposed to several writing styles that allowed me to progressively find my voice and unique style as a writer. Most importantly, the support from my Professor, peers, and writing tutors was the cornerstone for overcoming several writing challenges that I faced along the way. 

My first challenge was structuring my essay. I used to write short and disjointed paragraphs that jumped from one idea to another, lacking a clear connection between my paragraphs and the main topic. Along the way, I have learned to do reverse outlines. This technique has helped me to recognize the rationale in each paragraph, and combine the ones with similar ideas. This new approach allowed me to write paragraphs that were easier to follow and set a logical chronology of events. 

The next challenge I have encountered was descriptions. I struggled to make my descriptions flow, which made me delete ideas that I thought were not good enough. To overcome this challenge, I started including more sensory details from my own experience to add life to my descriptions.  Example from my second essay in this course: 

(…) The pronounced forehead vein, diagonally shaped, that crosses our foreheads when we are angry, or our overlapping front teeth, features we have always shared but started to appreciate through pictures. (...)

Also, I stopped deleting ideas in my drafts, and what I do now is move those ideas to the last page of my essay for a later review. I have come to understand that there aren’t “bad ideas,” but just misplaced ones, and you want to keep them and evaluate if they fit into another portion of the essay.

My third challenge was writing my ending. I realized that my conclusions seemed abrupt, and to make them more natural, I structured my ending by establishing a relationship between main ideas,  writing a clincher, and circling back to the essay’s beginning 

By using this structure, I was able to write a conclusion that offered me a better understanding of the topic and tied up loose ends. After I finished this first step, I felt way more confident about writing a clincher with takeaways from the issue I explored, and smoothly finishing the essay by bringing up an idea that was mentioned at the very beginning of the essay, such as part of the title, or the first line. Illustration from my investigation essay, "Beyond the double-tap":

"In the era where Instagram users seek perpetual validation through likes and comments and manipulate their pictures with filters and editors, it takes courage to show yourself to the world as you are, but it makes you authentic. And that is worth so much more than the double-tap."

Without any doubt, this journey in WRIT 116 has allowed me to cultivate my voice and skill as a writer. But most importantly, it has armed me with extraordinary tools to face a blank page with confidence and make something meaningful out of it.