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. When I started writing my entrance essay, I never thought that three weeks later I would begin writing my first …show more content…
While brainstorming the process essay, I realized my weaknesses and planned better how to strengthen them. I knew simple grammatical errors and transitions were two of the most important ones I needed to correct. So while thinking of my topics to include in my essay, I thought of how each of them connected. In what ways can I draw connections between the three of these topics? Through asking myself this question, I transitioned from the paragraph of agency background to volunteer work with a more satisfying flow (“The Civic Responsibility” 2). While it took me longer to draft this essay, it ended up being worth it in the long run. I felt more accomplished of this paper and when I received feedback that required me to change minimal things; I knew it was worth …show more content…
However, while writing the argumentative essay, it took much more than just asking myself a simple question. Since the topics of my body paragraphs were so diverse, I was forced to work harder at picturing the connections between all three of them. While I knew writing the process essay was difficult, when I began writing the argumentative essay, I knew it was going to be much more challenging. Nevertheless, after the paper was finally complete, my ability of writing transitional sentences was increasingly better due to the difficulty. Furthermore, I never would have examined so closely how to relate the ideas of college athletes’ monetary compensation to lawsuits being filed over disputes of unfairness (“Paying College Athletes” 3). Not only did the process essay help further my knowledge of transitional sentences, but the argumentative pushed it to the next
With theses, I never knew how to properly tie together my entire idea of the essay into a sentence or two. In my first essay titled
The first essay given in this course was about our whole composing process. This essay was hard to write about and I remember having several grammar mistakes. Sitting down and writing my process on paper,
Throughout this semester I have written several essays and journals using techniques both important and unfamiliar to me. This class helped me use these techniques and steps that are involved in creating and formalizing an essay. The writing process of an essay includes information gathering, creating ideas, and writing it on paper to create a cohesive and organized paper. In complete certainty I can say I lack many of the skills necessary to create such a paper, but during this course I have learned some writing methods which I believe have improved my essays. The essays and journals in this portfolio reveal both my strengths and weaknesses in my writing and how I have both continued to make the same errors and improved in other areas.
Writing an essay often seems to be an overwhelming task for many individuals. For students like myself, who came from another country, writing can be more difficult and challenging. It can be very frustrating to fully comprehend an idea, and being unable to express it proficiently in English can be excruciating. For these reasons, assistance is often needed to become an effective writer. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate the process on how I organized and accomplished my most recent essay, and to identify the struggles I encountered when writing the paper. In addition, plans on how to improve my next paper, based on the teacher’s feedback from my previous essay, and topics including methods on how instructors can help develop my essay
Over the course of the semester, my writing developed from elementary level into an undergraduate college student’s. I was able to overcome many weaknesses and learn the proper ways on effectively writing a paper. The given writing assignments became the symbol for my “practice makes perfect (in my case improvement).
As I shoved my notebook into my backpack, I heard my writing fellow murmur something about an essay. I wasn’t worried. After taking every Advanced Placement English class my high school offered, I felt equipped to handle a simple essay until received Dr. Carver’s email with the prompt and instructions. I blinked at the screen and rubbed my eyes; thinking I had misread the message, I read it again. I was supposed to have the essay finished in approximately 42 hours, but I had never written a decent essay in less than four days. I was in a state of panic; all of my ideas had evacuated my imagination leaving me with a painful case of writer’s block. To me, most of good writing is good editing and proper editing requires having a window to forget your writing before returning to it: a window that 42 hours just couldn’t provide.
Over the past semester I have learned many things in my English class, educationally and through life lessons. Ms. Henry took the tedious, standard, subject of English and turned it into moral and intellectual lessons we can use in our daily lives. I latched onto the secret life of bees, serial, and the debate, out of the topics we went over this semester.
...on, this course has taught me many different aspects to writing that I was unaware of in high school. This course has been incredibly fulfilling for me and has been nothing short of an amazing experience. I truly believe all of the things I have learned within this course, such as, writing proper thesis statements, proving my points within the body, discussing topics that critically engage my readers, the use of grammar, and many other essential skills will help me tremendously on my educational path. Although I have learned many skills as to writing a quality essay, I know there are many aspects to writing I can improve on, such as, expanding on my introductions and providing more background within my topics to the readers. I am extremely grateful for the various skills I have learned throughout this course, and I fully intend to utilize them all as I move forward.
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.
The transition between high school writing and college writing marked a difficult time for me. In high school, I never had the motivation required to develop my writing skills and writing essays was not my forte. I would express my jumbled thoughts on a paper and turn them in for a decent grade. Upon coming into English 1101 with this lax mindset, I immediately encountered many weaknesses in my writing, struggling with constructing an essay with a proper direction, style and grammar. As I began reviewing my problems, I started understanding these issues and eventually learned to improve upon them. From my portfolio, I hope to demonstrate my improvement upon these weaknesses in English 1101.
I have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
In the beginning of this course on English and writing, I was a little trepidatious, but also quite excited. I have always struggled with writing, so I did not know how well I would perform in this class. At the same time, I was also looking forward to what I could learn, appreciating the thought that my writing could improve by taking a college English course. Indeed, the skills that I have learned during this class have improved my academic writing, and have allowed me to discover areas to develop further.
Before I came to English 101 I was more of a raw writer than most people. Although I would write my papers filled with great content, I would also have many problems with my grammer and organization. Throughout my time in this class I have developed and trained multiple areas of my writing. Some of the areas that I have improved the most have been grammer, organization, and MLA format. These areas have lead to an evolution in my writing that has given me a new level of understanding in English. Which has provided me with the skills that will endow me to achieve success in english 102.
During the course of this semester; the variety of writing styles and essays assigned to me in my communication skills class encouraged the development of my writing skills, as well as provided me with more self-assurance in my abilities. My writing, research, and presentation abilities enhanced through practice, determination, and the understanding I gained during this course. With every single writing assignment, I learned new innovative approaches and skills, which enhanced my abilities to improve my thoughts logically, enabling me to write more clearly, and to organize my papers more effectively. At the beginning of this semester; despite the fact that I already knew the terminology MAP: message, audience, purpose; I never really understood the significance of MAP. For this reason, my writing lacked clarity, organization, and my writings appeared less focused on the topics. As a result my research papers and essays did not flow as smoothly from one passage to the next. Furthermore, I was unaccustomed with the precise procedures used when writing an essay. For instance, my previous classes before college, although requiring a reference page, did not require me to include proper citations in my writings. After evaluating the quality of my writing toward the end of the semester, I recognized vast improvements in several areas of my writing. By concentrating on the beginning stages of my writings, I could distinguish ahead of time my audience and my message. As a result, my essays are clear, and I remain on topic. In addition to that using transition phrases efficiently also helps my writing to flow smoothly. The proper use of transitions makes my writings easy to follow from one topic to the next. I also learned that pre-writing...
Dr. Shook’s critiques directed me to revise for the lack of transitional phrases between main ideas within my essay, as well as my tendency to compose run-on sentences. Accordingly, I inserted transitions that connected the major points that my essay touched upon. In order to do so, I used phrases such as “furthermore” in order to create a better flow without compromising the important ideas that were essential in regards to properly communicating the context to my audience. By commencing the process of revising my first essay, I developed the understanding that one of my shortcomings as a writer at the beginning of the semester included compiling numerous ideas into one sentence, consequently making it too “heavy.” By taking corrective action, I separated sentences that surpassed three lines into two entities. I found that Informal Assignment 10: Writing with Clear Style, assisted in improving my understanding of how my style of writing assists in communicating to my audience. Initially, I failed to realize that clear communication is of the utmost importance in regards to becoming an astute college writer. I entered English 101 focusing on incorporating words with over three syllables to intelligently convey my argument instead of focusing on how clearly my argument will be received by my