Eapp Bebe

The Path to Improvement
By: Estanislao, Gwyneth Chealsey F.

12 – St. Raphael the Archangel
“Looking back so that the view looking forward is clearer”
Above is a quote written by an anonymous person that says that you should look back
so that as you move forward, the path will be clearer. This quote aptly sums up the purpose of
a reflective journal. By definition, reflection is a deliberate way of systematically recalling
writing experiences to reframe the current writing situation, while a journal is a record of
thoughts, experiences, and observations that have been written down. So, a reflection journal
is writing and recalling about what you have learned from the past discussions through
writing your thoughts, learnings and how you can apply them in your life. Through writing a
reflection journal, I can look back and recall what I have learned, I will be able to identify
important things, and lastly, I can reflect on it.
English for Academics and Professional Purposes (EAPP) is a subject that enhances
our writing, vocabulary, critical thinking, and analysis, especially in academic writing. The
topics covered for EAPP are conciseness in academic writing, text structures, definition of
terms, thesis statement, and outlining.
The first topic discussed was conciseness in academic writing. I have learned that to
be concise, you need to present your ideas clearly, wherein the flow of ideas in your text
should be connected. To be concise, one must use a professional tone and avoid the use of
phrasal verbs; rather, find one word that can replace it. For example, instead of “turn down,”
you can use "reject." Through that, it can make the text more concise and professional. The
lesson has taught me how important conciseness is in academic writing and how it would
affect your writing. The lesson and activities given on conciseness, such as rewriting texts,
has helped me improve my writing into a more formal or professional one. In the activity
given, I had difficulties in finding words that can replace the phrasal verbs since I have words
that I am not very familiar with; however, through searching for the correct one-word to
replace the phrasal verbs, I was able to familiarize myself and know more words that I can
use to make my writing concise.
The ability to write concisely can help me in my future endeavors, not just in writing
but also in communicating, such as job interviews. I can also apply this lesson in our writings
for our experimental research in a different subject.
The next topic is about the different types of text structures. There are six types:
chronological, definition/description, cause and effect, problem and solution, compare and
contrast, and narrative. Chronological structure is used when presenting ideas or events in
order. Definition/description is used when defining a topic by listing its characteristics,
examples, etc. Cause and effect text structure is used when providing reasons, while problem
and solution text structure is used when it is identifying its problem or solution. Compare and
contrast is used when discussing two ideas and showing how different and similar they are.
Lastly, narrative text structure is used when showing an event or story with characters,
setting, conflict, and plot.
Through this lesson, I was able to find a way to easily understand a text with the help
of text structures because you would be able to summarize and see all the key points of the
text you are reading for better analysis. I can use my knowledge about text structures when
reading texts and summarizing the thought or ideas of the text.
The third topic is the definition of terms, which is all about providing definitions of
words. In this topic, I have learned that there are two ways of defining: conceptual/theoretical
and operational definition. Conceptual/theoretical definition is the definition from the
dictionary, while operational definition is the definition in terms of measurements to
determine its presence or quantity. I had difficulty defining some words in terms of their
definition from the dictionary since there are instances where I know the word but cannot put
into words its exact definition. This lesson is a very big help for our research in our definition
of terms since we were not taught before how to write it.
The fourth topic is the thesis statement. In this topic, we were taught how to write a
thesis statement. I have learned that a thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the main
idea of the whole text, and your thesis statement should be concise, coherent, and
contentious. The same with the definition of terms: it is important to learn how to write a
thesis statement for us to apply it in writing a thesis statement for our research in another
subject.
For the last lesson, outlining, I learned that outlining is important for us to understand
easily how one topic relates to another and tests how deeply we have understood what we
have read. Outlining has two types: alphanumeric and decimal outlining. I can apply
outlining whenever I read a long text; that way, I can summarize and understand what I have
read more easily.
All of the lessons taught to us are beneficial for us students, as they can help us
improve our writing, vocabulary, critical thinking, and analysis skills. The lesson in
conciseness is a big help for us in writing academic texts, especially for the research that we
are currently doing. This reflection journal has helped me recall all the lessons and reflect on
what I need to improve in terms of writing, as well as identify ideas I should apply in my
future writings.

Eapp Bebe

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Eapp Bebe

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Eapp Bebe

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Path to Improvement

By: Estanislao, Gwyneth Chealsey F.

“Looking back so that the view looking forward is clearer”

You might also like