I realized after reading the feedback from my essay that I still have a long way to go when it comes to my writing.
My most consistent mistakes are using needless words and omitting parenthesis around page or one citations. I understand now that I have to go straight to the point instead of beating around the bush in hopes of making my essay longer and/or sounding smarter when in fact, it does the complete opposite. As for my lack of punctuation for references, I am did not even realize that it is not the proper way to write.
So moving forward, I will try to be conscious of my punctuation and also being more straightforward with my writing. I will be able to achieve all this with some more practice.