Personal Narrative: My Weaknesses In English 101

My weaknesses before coming into English 101, was difficulty in constructing the thesis statement and my thoughts would be all over the place, there was no flow in the essay. This semester I’ve learned several things throughout English 101. I’ve learned different writing techniques, transition words, how to find resources online and using them effectively, and MLA formatting. I’ve learned these skills from class work and essays assignments. Although I still need more improvement, I’ve become a better writer because I’ve learned how to properly create a strong thesis statement, and making the essay flow with organized ideas by using outlines. However, I still have to improve on the following skills, word diction, grammar, and citations.

In the beginning of the semester, one of my major problems was constructing my thesis statement. A thesis is a short statement, usually one sentence, that summarizes the main point or claim of an essay, research paper, etc., and is developed, supported, and explained in the text with examples and evidence. Without a well-developed thesis, your essay will be unorganized. I always had trouble choosing the main points of the essay. Throughout the semester, writing my thesis statement became easier because I

knew how to create one and how to gather the main points to discuss throughout the essay. I’ve improved on my thesis statement with class work on,\ how to write a well constructed thesis statement and with the continuous essays. However, The book “Successful College Writing” by Kathleen T. McWhorter also helped me since it had examples of the correct ways to write a thesis statement and where it belongs in an essay. In addition, with knowing how to build a proper thesis, it became easier to write my essay and to develop my ideas.

English has never been my strong suit; it was a hassle to write essays. The only reason was that I couldn’t construct my thesis and organize my thoughts. After learning how to properly write a thesis, everything in my writing started to change. However, with each of my essays I would use an outline that also helped me organize my thoughts. Each outline had sections and it explained what I should be talking about. My writing began to make sense and it became well-organized. It took some time to get it right, but I finally did, and it became easier to write the essays. In my opinion, it all started to get better after I got the hang of writing the thesis statement. Before my ideas would be all over, the place and it would make no sense. Now, it is easier to understand and read my essays because my ideas are not all over the place. In this case, it is because I know what each paragraph has to be about because of the thesis. In this case, improving on my thesis helped me improve on my writing structure and how it all came together and flowed.

Essays are never perfect, there’s always something someone can improve.

My weaknesses throughout this course have been word diction, grammar, and citations. They will continue to be my weakness until I master them. It’s not that I haven’t improved on them, because I have but I still consider those skills my major weaknesses because I haven’t mastered them yet. In the beginning of the semester, we had to take a test on My writing lab which showed us the skills that we needed to improve on. The program has helped me build up on my grammar skills. However, I am still getting the hang of how to construct a proper work cited, when using other people words. I plan to improve on all weaknesses so that my writing can become

enriched.

Improving on writing a strong thesis statement, writing a well-organized essay is advancement because it will be easier for me to write essays. As much as I’ve improved in my writing throughout this semester in English 101, I still have more improvement to carry out. In addition, next semester is going to be harder but I’ve improved on skills that will make writing a bit easier.