what aspects of the writers experience were instructive or helpful for you. How did the writer's essay below help you think about things in a different way?

Essay:

I have come to realize that, prior to this class, I had been oblivious of certain tendencies I have to misuse punctuation and structure sentences poorly. That's not to say that I was (or am) a terrible writer nor were these transgressions so egregious that it was problematic. To the contrary, I have always been quite pleased with my writing, and therein lies the problem. I had a distinct lack of self-awareness. Because of this, as I worked through this class, my attitude and outlook on writing actually declined a bit while I came to terms with my bad habits. Proper academic writing requires a bit more effort than I had previously thought to give and it's always a bit depressing to find out that're not as good as you might have thought.

Having said all of that, the biggest challenge I faced was self-inflicted. I simply chose a monstrous topic for my research essay. Why I thought energy economics and geopolitics would offer clear-cut data and research, I'll never know. Perhaps I was a bit nave. I will say though, that the pursuit, however frustrating and tedious, was worthwhile. It helped me to better identify good and bad sources. Furthermore, I have been forced to employ all the tools we learned throughout the course to formulate and unpack a coherent argument, pulling clarity from the noise. I'm not sure I got it all right, but I enjoyed the opportunity to develop and hone those skills.

In the end, I am certainly grateful for this course and the lessons learned (some of which I have already applied in my professional efforts). Also, I now know the areas of my writing that need improvement and, to borrow the words of the warrior-poet G.I. Joe: "Knowing is half the battle."