The Final Reflection Essay Samples

There are different levels that a person must undergo to be a qualified writer. The skill of writing entails understanding different genres of literature and their characteristics and knowing how to make a good analysis of these literature pieces. The more a writer is exposed to different experiences and reviews, the more qualified and precise the writer will be. My interest in this class spiked after I checked information on the class online and found out that one of the themes that was going to be explored in this class was about Sherlock Holmes. I have to admit that I have leant a lot in the duration that I have been in this class. First, I have learned about different methods of analyzing literature In addition, I have learned how to be a critical reader and how to work well with others, especially when it comes to class group projects. I believe that the different things that I have learned will be of great help to me when it comes to art of writing not just in the present but also in the future.
In this quarter, our major focus was on the detective genre. We read Conan Doyle’s texts, scholarly texts and watched modern TV adaptations that support the genre. I have always been very interested in Sherlock Holmes, the main subject of Conan Doyle’s works and hence, I came to the class with a very open mind. One important thing to note is that the detective genre mainly encompasses stories and literature based on criminal investigations where the characters have to make inferences out of their detective abilities. In this genre, I learned of the different ways of analyzing different forms of literature in the detective genre. The most notable pieces of literature that I studied were Conan Doyle’s short story books about Sherlock Holmes, as well as the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series adaptation. Although, the two pieces of art applied different methods of message or information delivery, the content was virtually the same and so were the characteristics of the main characters. I learned how to read different stories and how to create precise analyses and deductions from the different parts of the story that I analyzed. Another critical thing that I learned was that I should always introduce or mention the writer and his or her work when making reference to his or her work.
I became familiar with a variety of ways of writing essay. For instance, in writing literature review essays, I learned how to analyze different scholarly texts and particularly how to put them into a conversation style that helps the reader understand the different intentions and ideas that the original author of the literature text did not clearly elaborate. For the literature review essays, I came across many historical contexts of the late Victorian era that could help me to support my opinions. In developing the rhetoric analysis essay, I analyzed the Sherlock Holmes series on BBC while making careful analysis of different cinematic elements such as the different figurations that the filmmakers used and how the different elements of the presentation used caught the attention of the audience. The two types of essays have helped me understand some of the most crucial things or elements that I should always be on the look put when it comes to the analysis of literature and stories of the detective genre.
When analyzing the two essays, I chose to revise the literature essay. The literature essay presented more cases that I could solve than the other essay. The essay is also much relevant to other areas of study that I have come across in the course of study. When writing my first draft, I had troubles when selecting appropriate or relative quotations from the original works. I also had trouble converting some of the content in the scholarly texts into the conversational style. After the peer review from Dr. Haas, I reread my essay and tried to look for intersections from the sources. I devoted a lot of time and effort to this essay because as I mentioned earlier, I have always been very interested in Sherlock Holmes, and I have always wanted to figure out who he is on the historical context. In the course of trying to perfect the essay, I found out that I could improve my overall analysis of the different pieces of literature by particularly making verifiable inferences from these pieces. After having completed the final revision, several strengths and weaknesses exhibited themselves in the essay. The greatest strength of the essay was the comparison of different texts and a conclusive establishment of how the texts were related to the story of Sherlock Holmes. The final draft essay increased the focus on the different methods that Sherlock Holmes used in the deduction of crimes. The essay focused on the different methods and ways of analyzing the deductive properties of the texts under analysis. If there was more time for revision, I would prioritize on elaborating on each of the deductive methods in addition to the scientific method that Sherlock used in deducing crimes.\
In the rhetoric analysis essay, I chose the paragraph that explains how Sherlock handles the lock code of Irene Adler’s phone and the different characteristics that Sherlock exhibits in this scene. I chose to revise the paragraph, as it was rich in content, especially in regards to the basic characteristics of Sherlock Holmes that were not present in other scenes. The scene in which Sherlock handles Irene’s phone portrayed different abilities that Sherlock had such as the ability to decipher codes and how the same ability would be used in solving crime in the society.
Another thing that I focused when revising the essay was the analysis of cinematic elements in addition to the summary of the scenes. The revised paragraph has different aspects of rhetorical analysis that other paragraphs do not have. The use of metaphorical terms and different cinematic elements in this paragraph specifically helped portray different characteristics of Sherlock Holmes.
The art of collaboration helped me understand the different methods of analyzing literature through the use of piece-study allocation. In the first group presentation, I was assigned the role of finding out the main points of the scholarly text. In doing this, I was able to unravel the story titled The Sign of the Four by Conan Doyle. The story helped me understand the stage that the country passed through in the process of development. In my second group work presentation, I analyzed the text, A Scandal in Bohemia and I was required to provide a detailed excerpt that would have an example to accompany it and how it was relevant. The nature of the assignment that was handed to me helped me in studying the whole text, analyzing the whole text and coming up with the said excerpt. The choice of excerpt was the analysis of how Sherlock Holmes used his deductive capabilities in untying different issues that surrounded him. The third group collaboration involved using the video as a way of expressing the ideas that we had collected. I learned that there are many preparations and resources that accompany the use videos as a way of passing relevant information to an audience. I also realized that it takes a lot of time, effort and dedication from each member of a group to make a good and effective video. In general, the group work taught me how to cope with different demands and how to work well with other members of the group.
My main contribution in the RIP Seminar was to collect important scenes from Sherlock Holmes’ movies. I also made contexts for the scenes that I chose. Before, the seminar, I had very little knowledge about making videos. I was however very eager to learn and I dedicated my all to the project. I watched two Sherlock Holmes’ movies several times to get what I needed for the final video.
Overall, I think we did a great job for our class presentation. It was clear and organized. After the historical presentation and video playing, we had a live play, which was impressive. In regards to the other group’s presentation, I was also quite impressed. They focused on the horror genre, and they showed us scenes from three different horror movies. One thing I learned from their presentation was that every horror movie should have its own monster, such as horrible hound or devil, which is threatening or frightening to the audiences who watch the movie. However, one area where I thought he could have done better on or improved on was the explanation on how such movies are made and how creators come up with such ideas.
There are different things that I learned from the class that are applicable in other classes and that are important in the helping me understand different aspects of literature analysis. The curiosity to know more about the world helped me analyze and understand the different stories of Sherlock Holmes and the relevance of the stories to the current society. During the group projects, I learned about the importance of responsibility and engagement. I learned that the contribution of every group member is mandatory for the entire project to be a success.
In conclusion, there are different topics that I was able to understand throughout the class. The art of analyzing literature, creating inferences and the study of the detective genre of literature helped me a lot.