When I ended high school and started to apply for college, filling out the college application essays were tough for me. I thought writing in college would only be harder and more difficult. I psyched myself out, I was already losing the race before it even started. I am one to creatively take risks but this big idea of college had me more nervous than ever. Essays, homework, essays, and tests, this new chapter in my life was starting to look like the end of it instead. I had little confidence in my abilities in reading and writing, English is one of my least favorite and I struggle the hardest in. I wondered how much writing and reading am I really going to have to do. After my first semester of college I had a taste of what college was but When the teacher started talking he wanted to know what our perception of the class was going to be and what we had learned in 1301. I honestly did say much and stayed quite as other students shared their opinions. It was mostly about our progress we had learned so far and what we still lack. How our negatives could lead to positives. I knew we would write a research paper, but we did more than that. Both 1301 and 1302 go into detail of reading and writing. The way we progressed to writing our paper and things we did made me understand more things. We learn taking reading notes to find quotes in academic articles found in databases. They helped generate ideas and basically write our papers for us. I didn’t know so many things can be found in databases on so many topics and be academically credible. I also learned that the articles you find on databases don’t necessarily have to be related to your topic, the quotes just have to support your theory you’re stating. Its your paper, you’re the writer, you can organize it anyway you want. Everyone writes their own way and perceive reading
Other than learning how to argue (my boyfriend loves my new ability) I learned how to source my research using MLA format. This new skill is tremendously important in college because most professors, if not all, require their papers to be submitted using MLA format. Throughout my upcoming years at Valencia and then The University of Central Florida I will find writing papers significantly easier because sourcing will be practically second nature. In class we were taught how to use the in-text reference throughout our papers, build our own citation and how to set up our work cited page. Although in high school we used the MLA format for papers, prior to taking this class I hadn’t noticed how many small details go into the actual citation, the authors name is last name then first name, the commas must be in the proper place, page numbers etc. In some classes you “learn” how to do things however it is only stored in short term memory because you don’t consider it an important attribute or useful for future classes. Personally, I made sure I knew how to do MLA, every aspect of it, I reviewed the rules, did my assignments, and then reviewed my assignments in order to store this new skill in long term memory. By doing this I have successfully transferred the information to long term memory and made it into a skill.
As a Science major I am not given the opportunity to explore my imagination; everything that I learn is factual and unquestionable. English 1301 gave me a voice of my own, this course made me understand that the best way to discover knowledge and wisdom is through reading and interacting with literature. Prior to taking this course I struggled with different writing skills such as, understanding the process of writing, analyzing reading selection and applying basic critical thinking skill in an argumentative essay. I also struggled with the analysis of specific content in professional writing, identifying rhetorical strategies and synthesizing concepts from references. Lucky for me my professor was extraordinarily skilled and provided me with
English 1302 has been a valuable learning experience. It has helped me improve my writing skills and build an outline for my writing assignments. Also, it has allowed me to gain more confidence in my writing by being able to develop and express my ideas more clearly. If I could continue with this course, I would. The literature review was an assignment that allowed me to correct a lot of my writing mistakes, such as not having a proper outline to follow, and word choice. For example, on my first literature review draft one of my topic sentences reads “Stem cells have brought hope to cancer patients….” transformed into “Research has shown that stem cells have brought hope to cancer patients....”The first year writing textbook helped me alot in completing most of my assignments. The examples available on the textbook are a wonderful tool. In the researched argument, I learned how to process a more
It is all very good information and helpful, I know it will come in handy not only in this assignment but in all my work throughout this program. I learned the different ways people learn and think and how to work at being those kind of thinkers and apply that to the papers I write. There is a lot of information out there, knowing where to look is very important and knowing how to incorporate your research is a must. Knowing your subject in and out and the proper way to do so is also important, in order to write a well informed paper. What I have read will help me with that
My first college English class was ENC 1101 at the State College of Florida. In this course, I learned a vast amount of information about writing, reading, and grammar. When I first walked into ENC 1101 in August, I expected the class to be like any other English class in High School; with rushed busy work and a lot of useless tests and quizzes. However, throughout each week of the semester, Professor Knutsen’s class made me beg to differ. This class was not like any other high school English class. In this class I actually learned important information and did not do work just to complete it. This class had a few assignments here and there, enough to maintain, in order to learn proper information. I learned a lot in this class because I was not rushed to
What I learned in English 1113 I am an international student from China and this is my first semester studying at the University of Oklahoma. ENGL 1113 Principles of English Composition is the basic academic writing class for all the students at the OU. According to the First-Year Composition, English 1113 focuses on the language of power in two ways “the power of language” and “the relationship between power and language “(First-Year Composition). English 1113 helps students learn how to use language analysis and understand reading materials. More than that, English 1113 teaches the format of the essay, which is MLA.
...lt material and write a five page paper on it, it was much simple so this was a new and difficult concept. I got valuable skills out this class, experience in research, using citations and glimpse into reading material for college. Getting experience with this will be beneficial in my future college language art classes. At the beginning of writing 121 I knew it was going to be hard but I thought I wouldn’t enjoy the material. Quite the contrary, reading Chekhov’s stories were difficult to understand but very interesting because I wasn’t used to reading material in that format or maybe I had but hadn’t really given it much thought. I also found the articles addressing poverty interesting. It was interesting seeing different writers perspective on the issue then arguing my own. The experience and knowledge I have gained will be valuable in my future college paper.
I had always been a strong writer in high school; I know how to form an argument and support it fully, but this did not prepare me for the writing at a college level. I expected to be reading long and boring books about topics that did not pertain to my life; as it turns out, this assumption was completely false. All of the three essays that we were required to read in class were fairly difficult to understand, but after a second reading, the essay's meaning became clearer. I also feel as though their messages and key ideas are captivating. I definitely thought they would be extremely dry and difficult to understand.
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.
My English 1310 course was taught by Professor Daniel Stuart. He taught us the concept of academic writing and why it is important. Academic writing is the process of down ideas, using a formal tone, deductive reasoning and third person. Writing done to carry out the requirements of a college or university on a research based level. It requires a starting point or introduction, followed by a thesis on the preferred topic, then comes proving and disproving of the evidence based arguments. Learning academic writing is important because it is a way to communicate our thoughts clearly and originality. It helps us think and see what evidence we can come up to contribute to that thinking. This course approached this idea of academic writing by
Ever since I was in middle school, I always knew that I wanted to be the first person in my family to attend college. When the opportunity presented itself in high school to take college courses, I immediately started to application process.
Summer vacation, and school ends for about three months, and then you have as much fun as you can, then back to school… right? Well I had to go to summer school, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Everything was going fine, I had a job after summer school, and that was going fine as well. They say that summer is supposed to be fun and exciting, and it usually is for me and my family. However in July my father started coughing up blood. My father usually doesn’t make it his top priority to go to the doctors, so he waited about four weeks until he really didn’t feel good.
Writing can be very frustrating; laying your ideas out on paper so that others can grasp the concept you are trying to convey is a very difficult task. In Writing 101 I have learned how to formulate good theses that are arguable and also how to validate articles that have to do with my topic. The most important element of a paper is the thesis statement. It captures the reader's attention and tells them what the essay is about. Having a well-structured thesis along with evidence to support that thesis are the main ingredients to a well-written essay. I have also learned how important it is to research an author’s background to ensure their credibility. This is a very important step in writing because today we can find information on a topic, however, it is not valid. By researching the author, we can see if he or she is an expert in the area and so this would make his or her information more credible. There is a ...
...new classes, I soon realized what would be the biggest challenge of college: deciding on a major. Yes, I am one of those people who started college without first declaring a major. I soon heard every question, suggestion, and response regarding possible options. I even began concocting false majors to throw some people off. Large-Scale Demolition was a crowd favorite.
There is a point in everyone’s life when they step back and realize “I can’t do this anymore, it’s ruining my life”. Many of my friends have started smoking cigarettes while drinking at a very young age, and continue to use this drug currently and don’t realize the affect it has on their future. While I have been smart enough to avoid smoking, I haven’t been as wise at making decisions when it comes to drinking. The amount of partying I’ve done in college has taken over my life, and has had a huge impact on my grades. Changing my drinking habits and continuing to avoid cigarettes will enable me to be the best I can be for the rest of my college experience.