After I graduated high school I thought my writing was good enough until I took an English class this semester. I was quite surprised at how much my writing was lacking in sentence structure, use of citation, and some general grammar. In the past I was able to get decent grades on my writing assignments, but I guess that was because I was in high school and the standards weren’t that high. I didn’t put much effort in my past writing, my arguments weren’t fully expressed and I lacked a lot of technical writing skills like how to use citations and organize my supporting details. Over the semester I have learned how to properly use citations, make a compelling arguments, and use the writing process to write great essays. Now that it’s the end …show more content…
When it came to writing assignments, all I did was good enough to satisfy most requirements, but I never wrote to my full potential. When I write for other classes, I do not get asked to write the way I do in English class. Other than assignments for English class, I would write peer reviews and project reflections for my science classes. I am never judged for whether I write complex sentences, or make an argument; I would just present the data and possible implications of the results are. My writing in English class was lacking supporting details, fully expressed arguments, and full of grammatical mistakes. In my first problem and solution essay, I wrote about how we don’t have proper energy storage for alternative energy producers like solar and wind; and we must fund and support new and effective ways to store that energy. The essay’s introduction was great, my thesis was clear, but I lacked proper citation, I didn’t have good analyses of the information I presented, and I had many grammatical mistakes. My literary analysis essay was about “The Call of Cthulhu” by HP Lovecraft. It was about how we the reader, just like the main character, are doomed because we read the story and know about Cthulhu and the cult. These two essays showed how I would write essays before taking this class and it showed me just how much I needed to
Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I thought that I did not have to worry about being prepared for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not going to be enough for college. Writing is not just something that I will use in English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate to professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be something that did not come easy to me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to get my thoughts down on paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of writing that was required ended up helping me in so many ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me so much for college and real life.
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.
As the semester finally approaches the finish line, I revisit my past work to compare and contrast how this class has developed me into a successful writer at the college level. Throughout the year my writing style has developed and become broader as I have learned how to incorporate more of my personal views as well as reliable, unbiased information. This portfolio is a representation of how many things I have learned along the way while being an English 102 student.
Throughout the semester I have learned an astounding amount of information. The English 101 curriculum has not only taught me how to write in general, but also taught me a variety of ways to get my point across to the reader. Before I took English 101 I was an average writer at best, but now that I am taking a class that focuses on writing strategies I feel that I have been able to improve as a writer. During the course we were taught how to write an informative essay as well as how to write a persuasive essay. The type of writing that this class has taught me will most definitely help me with future classes as well as my future in the real world. Throughout the English 101 course I have been able to improve as a writer by composing essays
When going through life learning is an everyday occurrence as each day is constantly filled with information that is used throughout the course of your life. Each day we get stronger and stronger in whatever we decide to put our minds to, weather that be academics, sports, our jobs we are constantly learning and growing on a daily basis. This semester I have grown in English as I personally felt that through the English 102 course I have been able to grasp some key concepts and writing techniques that will better me for the future. In this class there was a list of goals and outcomes that the instructor felt would be achievable and the best way to learn throughout the course. In each goal throughout this process I feel like I have improved to some degree but there is other things that I do need to touch up on a bit more to further my writing education outside the classroom.
I have never liked writing; I always thought it was a waste of time. It was a great therapy but I never found academic writing to be useful just tedious. Only ever writing when I had too made it harder for my writing skills to grow or improve in any way. I have not taken an English class since the 10th grade, even then I never gave it much effort, just doing what I had to so I could pass the class. Then I jump in to College English 1010, I feel like I do well in all other subjects but this one. English is my worst nightmare.
In one semester of English 101 I have learned so many things about writing. I used to believe that writing was just putting words on paper, but have since learned that writing is much more than that, I now understand that writing is a way of exploring my mind and of making connections with other writers and readers. Over the course of the semester I have been learning to write in a way that uses the skills of reflection, critical thinking, and much more. I have used these skills to compose two academic essays that I am submitting in a portfolio to determine my final grade in English 101. In order to have a passing final grade my essays need to display skills I have learned in the course that are required by the Portfolio Assessment Rubric or
Before I enrolled in English 101 there was a great deal of unanswered questions that I had regard to what it takes to end up distinctly as a successful writer. Throughout my high school experience, my English class never served as my strong point and constantly got myself frustrated and confounded. Throughout my companions, I heard positive input on English 101 class and I thought it was going to be solely about bettering our grammatical skills and composing various papers. Due to that I was exceptionally energized and excited for this class because I never had an instructor before who really helped me through my writing processes. But as English 101 class progressed on, it introduced me to different types of papers that I wasn’t confident enough to compose. From informative synthesis, summary, and peer review, I have learned how to appropriately and effectively compose each different kind of papers. As a result, this class was able to develop my abilities at an extremely high level where I could compose a good paper without much help.
From each of my previous English classes from summer 2014 to summer 2015, I have learned a new method on writing a good essay and same method that I have learned previously. When learning the new method of writing a good essay, it was hard as I got too used to doing the regular way of writing an essay. That would be the reason why I would struggle sometime to write a good paper as each English class I take would learn a new unique or same method. I am getting better as I steadily improving my weak points in my paper, but I would still have some problems with grammars in most of my paragraphs, which is the reason why I would go to learning center and have peers review to see where I should change and improved the essay. Learning same and different methods from each English class is difficult to get used to and it takes little by little to develop an excellent paper to turn in.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
I am a morning kind of person and I am very lucky to have an enormous study room with a good environment to be in. I have always believed that it is very important to turn up in my study room whether I feel like it or not, whether I have ideas or not, I have got to have the work ethic that makes me show up. When I have a piece of work going, I like to be there. It is very important to close off all the avenues to the outside world like the internet, my phone, email, I switch all those things off and try to get solid work done. Throughout my English education, I have come a long way of adapting to new writing skills and techniques. After my English Honors class in high school, I thought I had all of the writing process figured out, only to enter English 101 in College that has changed the perspective.
Throughout this fall semester, I have learned many things. Before this class, I have never had to buckle down and plan out my writing so tediously. The many outlines, rough drafts, and final drafts have crafted me into a much better writer than I would have ever expected to become. While I have always considered English as one of my strong subjects, through this class I have learned that English has many more components than I originally thought. One of the most substantial of these components is a transitional sentence and through this class and the writing practice it has brought me, I have learned how to properly write them.
After reading the two pieces from Yancey, and Royster and Kirsch, I thought for a while about what the word ‘reflection’ means to me. I have never looked at the word in relation to my writing. Writing has never been a strong (or favorite) suit of mine. I have always despised re-reading/ revising my paper, for the fear of not wanting to seem inadequate to other writers (I would compare it to that of hearing your own voice on a recording, thinking, “Do I really sound like that?”). Besides writing, I would best describe reflection as looking at the past, and analyzing your feelings during that period as well as your current feelings for what took place. I used to not use reflective practices in my daily life, but this year I made it a goal
During my high school and part of my college experience, I feel as though I have received a modest amount of writing instruction. Particularly during high school, my writing instruction felt more class and goal oriented rather than personal and direct. Because of this, I uniformly feel that my grammar and understanding of writing as a subject lacks the basic fundamentals. Since my writing journey in college as began, I have learned more about sentence structure and clarity through reading more academic articles and, also, through reading edited work. What has assisted my transition from high school to college writing has been reading over and revising my own writings after it has been peer edited.
Throughout my highschool career, my writing has no doubt changed for the better. I now know how to express myself in a more professional and coherent manner. In literature class, I have learned different writing skills and methods to properly analyze literary works. I have also learned, critically, how to better synthesize disparate sources into a more seamless whole, which I think will be particularly crucial in my college years. I did somewhat arrogantly believe that there would not be that much of a significant improvement between the writing that I did freshman year and the writing that I’ve done so far senior year, but upon compiling my writing, I realize that there has been quite a striking change.