Entering into this class, I was not quite confident of my capability to write well. From writing small essays, to research and reflection papers in high school, I was frightened by the fact of coming into a college writing class, with little experience, would not prepare me for this course. After taking this college writing course, writing 102 literature course that is, broadened my ability as a writer. It was something that I believe that I could have not grasped on my own, but I did. My first essay introduced me to the new style of the literature course of academic writing. I had never took a writing class that was just focused around literature. This essay challenged me to critically analyze one of the short stories that we have read. …show more content…
One thing that this essay taught me was the importance of multiple drafts in the writing process. Prior to this essay, I did not understand how to take advantage of the revision process to clarify and perfect my ideas. Another thing that I involved in this essay, that I think where very effective, were quotations. They seem to make my writing more fluid and understanding. I went on to use this in my final essay as well. My second essay was the most problematic of the three that I had wrote.
It was my synthesis essay. My focus in this essay was not on implementing others ideas, but on learning how to properly write a compare and contrast paper using two poems effectively. The introduction and conclusion of this essay is where I think I demonstrated this new ability most. In those sections I briefly gave a summary about both the poems that I was analyzing, and how they both show resemblances and differences towards the reader to give them things to think about as they are reading the essay and as they consider the message afterwards. Directly speaking to the reader during an essay was something that I had never tried before. My closing essay for this class, was to write a formal research paper on a novel we read called Quiet American, which we had to incorporate at least five outside sources into our essay. And it was by far the most advanced work of writing I had ever wrote. I had always had problems reaching the required word counts of my essays because I did not appropriately know how to fully explain my ideas thoughts, and opinions. This final paper was the first time that I have ever fully analyzed the outside information that I have included in my research
paper. If I had to write a portfolio, like I did in my writing 101 course, in my writing 102 class, I would I have chosen the first and third papers I wrote. The reason I chose these essays and is because the topics of these essays really meant alot to me. It made it easier for me to revise them to a point where I was satisfied with. I am also very pleased of how well I analyzed and elaborated on the outside information I used in the third paper. Another thing I am proud of throughout all my papers is how much more I evaluated the suggestions given to me by my peers and instructor during this class. This is an area that I had never truly taken advantage of before. Without this, I do not think I would have understood academic writing as well as I now do. Seeing another person’s advice about the mistakes I was making really taught me how to improve this area of my writing in the future. In conclusion, I had a very good experience with this class. This course really aided my understanding of certain aspects of writing I had never understood before. I learned this semester that no matter how horrible of a writer you think you are, that it is okay to need improvement. Everybody needs improvement. I always tell myself that it is fine with needing to get better. Nothing is prefect, even if you think your being careful or how many drafts you write, every writer knows. Moving into my junior year, I hope to use all the lessons and learning outcomes I have practiced in this course to continue my improvement and growth.
To be completely honest, this year has been nothing short of a disaster. Partially due to this class, which it is my fault for taking the class in the first place when I was obviously not qualified to take an AP Literature class. It started out fun, but became more and more stressful as the year went on. My mental capacity has reached its limit, and my physical health isn 't in the best condition either due to the late nights I have spent on homework. However, despite it all, I have learned a great deal from this class. Not only from the curriculum, but I have also learned some of my own limitations and realized some faults that I need to mend. This class tested my patience and my temper, which I had only discovered
Writing has always been a difficult subject for me to tackle throughout my education. I enjoy writing academic essays and rhetorically analyzing in research papers but not personal narratives of any sort. In this class, there was a combination of both, which helped me to continue to grow as a writer. During this semester, I have learned several valuable things in this class and gained a lot of knowledge to use in future academic classes. From different styles of writing, how to analyze images, MLA format, rhetorical analysis, and structuring my writing to an online audience. Even though this class initially seemed to be a difficult task, going through the entire semester beginning to end has helped make writing a more achievable challenge.
In the first essay that I have written this semester, I learned quite a few largely-important points about writing. Before this class, I knew very little about any writing method. The first essay taught me the incredible importance of a thesis. Without a thesis, a paper cannot accomplish anything; it becomes nothing more than rambling nonsense. Another important thing that the first essay taught me was comma placement. I have always struggled with comma placement. This essay helped me to understand it a lot more than I previously did.
Journal 1: 8/29 I define a writer as someone who is capable of writing real literature and making it understandable for the readers. I would not consider myself a writer. I don't really do any writing outside of school papers. I only write when it's necessary because I don 't find much enjoyment in it and I'm insecure about my writing skills.
Preparation is the key to effectively writing an essay. At least that was what I have always believed. In actuality, the key to writing an effective essay is being open-minded, and a critical thinker. I always believed that I was open-minded, and accepting of new ideas, until attending English 49. This semester, I realized that it is hard for me to accept constructive criticism, new ideas, and concepts, once I am set in my beliefs. For this writing reflection, I will explain how I got over my narrow minded attitude I showed in the first two essays, and was able to go into the third essay with an open-mind.
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.
organization, and word choice. All other essays were critiqued by my peers. With the help of
The writing process has always been a constant struggle of mine throughout high school. I was never taught the process well enough to get better at it. Writing essays wasn’t a common task to do at my school. I have been working on my writing and this chapter helped me realize what I need to work on during this class and be aware of.
As I finish this English course, there was one thing few things that stood out to me throughout the entire quarter, analysis. However, let me start with how I felt with the class overall. To me, this was a very engaging english class. I know in my last english class we had always worked in groups, this was no different, and I got to hear my peers perspectives and ideas that I either I agree with or didn’t and I thought that was interesting. It wasn’t just a typical class that dealt with readings and essays the entire time. Anyway, I want to start mentioning the things that stood out to me and how much it helped see what I could possibly try as I continue to pursue my college career.
I am writing to explain how I have reached one of the learning outcomes for English Composition I. The course has been a great help in becoming a better critical thinker. After completing the course, I can successfully analyze rhetorical situations and make effective choices based on audience, context, purpose, and genre.
One essay that really helped me improve my writing was the personal essay, where we interviewed someone in the profession we wanted to go into. I chose a teacher from high school that had encouraged me to teach. For this essay, we had to interview the teacher and then write about it. I was nervous about writing this essay, because I had never done anything like this before. I was not sure what questions to ask or how I would translate the recorded interview into a paper. I could not just simply write what she told me. I needed to present it in such away so that it was readable and interesting.
I had been waiting for an essay to be assigned to us. But, by the second or third week, we had not got an assignment. A month passes by and we finally got our first assignment that I had been dreading. It was for an essay. I was nervous because I had not wrote a paper in thirteen years. I didn’t even know where to start when it came to writing an essay. But with the help of a very good friend and my English 98 teacher, Dr. Evans, they showed me that I could do it and how not to stress over an essay.
I realized that I got improved in the college’s level writing strategies when I retrospected my process during the Stretch English class in the entire year. I had no idea how was a college level writing before I studied in this course. Now, I found my individual step to write the college essay. In this whole year, I focused on the topic of gun control and I got a large number of inspiring to extend my writing skills in reading the New York Times story. Different writing processes made a various effect to the essay.
The first class on my schedule was English Composition I, instructed by professor David Chapman and his class was the first class I had attended in almost ten years. As I began turning in first couple and awaiting the resulting grades, I found myself increasingly unsure how of my second attempt at higher education would conclude. Then, the grades were posted and to my amazement I was not only passing the class, but I was also carrying an “A” grade for the clear majority of the semester; A feat that a younger version of myself would have found unimaginable. My favorite assignment was the narrative essay; And, because my confidence as a writer was continually expanding due to my high grade, I proudly volunteered to have my essay peer-reviewed during class. I knew I had written a good paper because I knew how much effort I put into writing; However, I wasn’t expecting to have such an overwhelming positive
I have written several writing projects and have done several reviews for my fellow class mates in this course. Throughout this first semester of college I have been working hard in English. This class has helped improve many skills that I didn’t even know I had, like my tone and providing evidence. The several different types of projects allowed me to improve the process of how to write essays by learning things like writing peer reviews and organizing essays. The reviews gave me a better understanding about ethos, pathos, logos and main features of genres. This essay is going to explain what I have improved upon and learned in this class over the course of the semester.