Coming into this class at the beginning, I thought that it was going to be a breeze, especially since writing was my strong point in high school. Not only was I wrong, but I struggled a whole lot more than I ever thought I would. As the semester progressed, I was able to find ways to make my writing more enjoyable to read by gaining the ability to clearly state my point. Before college, I never understood the importance of using quotes from the text. I felt that if you knew the story well enough, quotes were unnecessary. But boy was I wrong; I learned that quotes solidified my purpose and a point I was trying to make. The importance of using quotes came up when I was writing my first paper, WP1A. At first, it was a struggle writing an analysis because just writing about the topic wasn’t enough. But, adding quotes justified my reasoning and tied …show more content…
The entire semester I was making my essays just summaries, basically just spitting back out the information to the reader in a way that sounded somewhat knowledgeable. When writing this essay, I had to explain the rhetorical device that the writer used and what her purpose was. Without summarizing, I wrote an essay filled with quotes and outside of the box thinking; and with that I received a 95 on my essay. That was more like it…. those are the type of grades I am used to. By understanding what was asked of me, and then go above and beyond those expectations is how I succeed. I still have so much work to do because my goal is to get a 100 on an essay, because I know I am capable of doing that. My main struggles are just trying to explain my thought process on a piece of paper. I am able to think something but I almost find it impossible to write it down in a way that makes sense. But I will figure it out by the end of the semester, because I believe that that skill is imperative in order to succeed not only in English 101 but in life as
At the beginning of the quarter, I had preconceived notions as to what "good" writing looked like, and how I should formulate it. I found that to be successful in this class, I had to leave my thoughts from high school at the door and start from scratch. I quickly came to understand, for example, that a thesis statement is completely different than a claim. This was a big issue for me as I was confident in my thesis-writing abilities at the beginning of the quarter. However, when I received multiple papers back regarding my claim, I was discouraged. Although I didn't have any specific goals for my own writing at the beginning of the course, this immediately became a goal for me to work towards. I needed much additional help, and found the Odegaard Writing Center to be particularly useful. I took what the tutors there had to say directly into account, along with Allison's recommendations. With their help, and also in following by example, I devel...
Entering this course I was worried because I have struggled with writing in the past, and writing has never been my strongest area. I feared writing classes in middle and high school, and had the same expectations for this course. I had wondered if I was ready for college English, and was worried that my skills and abilities would not be one the level they needed to be for college courses. My attitude and understanding of my writing process have both changed since the beginning of this semester. One thing that really helped my attitude and confidence was the fact that I was able to complete the assignments and get a decent grade. I was worried that I might not be able to do college level writing, and when I started completing the assignments and learning new ways to write my confidence and attitude changed. Another thing that really helped me throughout this course was that there was plenty of reading and information available to guide me through my assignments. I realized that there was more freedom when it comes to writing than I had experienced in high school. Being able to write more freely, and the freedom to choose what subjects I would write over made the assignments more enjoyable and easier to
Before this quarter started I was fairly confident that I had what it took to ace English 101. After the first paper, I realized I was mistaken. Throughout this quarter I have had numerous problems with my writing that proved I needed to do a little more studying to help take my writing to the college level. Although I did not fail any of my papers, there was plenty of room for improvement. All the areas I needed to improve on are all areas that I think every English 101 student should know. I believe that every student at the college level should know how to cite sources correctly, know how to use good transitions, and know how to properly elaborate their examples.
I have always had a strong belief that I could pass college like I did in high school. Always relying on those quick study sessions before a test or having the teacher going over the material right before a test. But boy was I wrong. In my first test I learned the hard way that studying is essential in college.
As a strong math, science and engineering student, writing has not come easy to me and by taking this class, I was hoping to become a stronger writer. Throughout the semester, organizing ideas in logical ways has become straight forward thanks to the peer discussions and review I have had. Before this class, I struggled to transition between ideas and discuss each idea in a logical sequence and, unfortunately, my language arts and history grades suffered as a result. By exuding effort and receiving guidance, my hope was to improve my writing and prepare myself for the college writing which would be
This class was far more intense than what I expected but I was able to make it through the semester. I learned a lot from this class that I will carry into the future and use in other classes. All of the revision and feedback I have received during the time in the class helped me in the end. I feel like I am gradually becoming a better writer. I will take everything that I have learned in this class and use it for future reference when writing papers. I overall have enjoyed this class this semester.
As for me, I'm not a good writer, but I think this class will help me to become a better writer. My fear of writing is getting my thoughts out in my writing knowing how to express myself with the right words or phrases indeed. When I think about the value of being able to communicate ideas through writing what comes to mind is the thought of expressing myself by
As writers, many students write to the expectations of their professors and not to their fullest potential. Throughout English 101 I had been writing only to please my professor or to fill the basic requirement to pass English. I always felt that my writing ability was never enough for my professors throughout the previous years. They always wanted clear and concise essays, which for some reason was unreachable by me. However, starting college and taking English 101 helped me with my weaknesses and changed my technique of writing essays. My experience in English 101 taught me to write to my fullest potential and to write what I felt; rather then writing what was required.
I have always known that writing was not my strong point. Entering writing 101 in September I was very much afraid. I knew that the expectations would be very high for this course; thus it would be more difficult than any other writing class I had previously taken. At first writing was a nightmare for me, but thanks to the assistance from professor Smart and my tutors, I have improved drastically in my writing skills and, as a result I am now a better writer. During the course of four months, I have learned so much. There were a few bumps in the way throughout the semester, but I managed to overcome them. It is hard to believe that my journey in writing 101 is coming to an end. Through my hard work and dedication, this class has helped me to build confidence in my writing that will help me throughout my college life.
English has never been one of my strengths. I hate reading books and writing papers. I only did them because I had to. College English and High School English are nothing alike. The expectations for College essays are much higher than that of High School essays. What may have been an A on a high school essay may be a D on a college paper. In college English, the main essay type is classical argumentation. An argumentative essay focuses on whether the writer can construct a well-developed argument that persuades his/her audience. The transition from high school level writing to college level writing has been a little bit hard for me to grasp, because it was something I had never done before. At first, I was skeptical as to why I was put into English 111. I thought to
Another semester has come and gone and I am a few steps closer to the goal I set for myself back in the spring of 2012. A degree! In a few scant months I will be at the halfway point earning my Associate of Arts degree and a couple years from now, hopefully, I will be stepping onto the stage up in Flagstaff and accepting my Bachelor’s degree.
I have so many strength and weaknesses as a writer. Being able to write more and more in this class have helped me tremendously. I pick up on so much more errors that I use to make that I never noticed but someone else would. I naturally do not make the same mistakes that I use to.
All throughout high school, I have taken advanced writing courses. I didn’t think I was a good writer, and I personally didn't think I learned how to write an essay until I took AP Language and Composition last year. College-level writing is important to me because it is very much needed and good to know how to write effective to achieve your goals and pursue your future career. Evidence from three of my EN 1113 papers this semester, suggest(s) that I’ve made great progress in explaining and elaborating on an issue, using detailed examples, and better understanding punctuation and grammatical errors in my writing. Reading through these papers, though, it’s clear I’m still working on improving using correct comma usage.”
After my Freshman year I was currently sitting at 26 credits, I needed 4 more credits in order to enroll for Accounting 230 to stay on track to certify on time. During my group advising appointment Spring 2016, I was recommended to take my biological science, which included a lab that would allow me to reach my 30 credits. I figured that this Biology 102 course, "General Biology", would be a course that I would be able to handle while balancing a full time job. I do not use financial aid so I am expected to be able to cover all my living expenses, only using a summer job for income. Summer 2016, I was working an operator position at a manufacturing company that picked up their most business during the summer. My job originally had me posted
Starting community college I was unsure what I wanted to major in, especially since in my immediate family background no one has ever gone to college so I was never encouraged to think of a future in my education. Taking course in college like criminal justice, psychology and sociology it opened my mind about the many possibilities of career choices that are out there in each field. When I took my first sociology class it impacted me the most out of the entire pervious course. It opened my mind to the world we live in, I saw a different perspective. Sociology is my calling, yet I have not had any experience in the field, but I am very excited to start volunteering next semester to get more involved and a hand on experience. Although I did attend