Ap Language Class Structure

Writing a paper is harder than it looks. It might seem easy, after all most two year olds can put together a coherent sentence. Creating a paper, however is much more difficult than merely stringing coherent sentences together. It is completing a complicated puzzle with no rules, no pieces, and no right answer, just lots of wrong ones. The steps on the way to writing a good paper are long and difficult. Nevertheless, like Dante’s escape from purgatory they must be faced to win the prize; the blank page must be stared down, procrastination defeated, spelling errors put to the sword, MLA format overcame, and diction conquered.

Unteaching The Five- Paragraph essay by Marie Foley is a light hearted but argumentive piece focusing on the way most school aged children are taught to write. Foley's main point comes down to the very first words in the essay; “The five-paragraph formula confuses and alienates students and undermines our most basic goals as writing instructors." Foley believes that by teaching children to write in a formulated manner we are not letting them explore and learn through their own writing. We are instead giving them the freedom to discontinue the thought process once they feel that the essay they have produced meets the formula standards they have been kept to, and refuse to part with.

As the semester approaches a conclusion, I have discovered for myself that I happen to exhibit not simply on how I have endured this semester, but then again also what I have gained in knowledge of. In the past four months, I would consider that I obtain an accomplishment of achievement in improving my writing techniques. The most important principle that I have discovered so far ensues on how to become an improved writer. With each writing assignment, I learned additional methods and skills, which tweaked my capabilities to develop my thoughts in detail on paper, to write clearly, and to organize my essays efficiently. In previous years, I would frequently catch myself irritated believing I had terrible writer’s block standing in my path of writing an organized essay. This created a feeling as if I could not distinguish how to write properly and the reasoning behind my hatred for writing. During high school, I learned the Modern Language Association (MLA) formats for bibliographies and parenthetical citations, consequently at the beginning of the fall semester, I knew only this format. I was able to learned the correct format for the American Psychological Association (APA) style when doing each assignment at hand.

I’ve always struggled to break the boundaries entangled within the composition of traditional essays. Between AP Language/Literature courses and AP U.S. History, my writing had become noticeably formulaic; I relied heavily on templates and felt awkward abandoning the traditional five paragraph essay. Although the formulaic way of writing assisted in my capability to critically recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, the patterns were not helpful in developing my organizational skills. My ability to form argumentative ideas from given prompts strengthened, while unity and coherence within paragraphs proved to be my downfall. It was not until my second semester of English at the University of Georgia that I noticed my organization was not comprehensible to the reader. Some paragraphs were like mazes; they left the reader wondering how the first sentence connected to the following sentence. Along with organization, English 1102 helped identify my lack of transitional phrases within paragraphs and the tendency for my argument to shift. Nonetheless, this course has highlighted my strengths as a writer, including my ability to incorporate evidence so that it supports an intelligent, challenging thesis.

The simple setup of a five paragraph essay was taught to me early on, but in a very different light. My high school classes treated this setup as elementary. They instead believed quantity over quality, creating poorly written ten page essays about why Edgar Allen Poe made certain rooms in his stories were certain colors. Freshman Composition has instead showed me that writing can be very powerful without being lengthy and has helped me improve my paragraph structuring by allowing me to focus on the finer details, creating a greater essay in the

Firstly, I did not know how to write an essay. I was lost when I read that I had to write a five-paragraph essay because I had never really written one. For example, when I had to write an essay I would write one paragraph. But now I know the difference between a paragraph and an essay and

Over the first and second quarters of Dual Enrollment English at Brooke Point High School, I have grown immensely as a writer. I learned a great deal about how to write a paper, as well as, about myself. In the beginning of this course, I felt as if my assignments were going to overwhelm me; I also felt apathetic about completing them. This led me to create my own personal agenda as to how I would complete my assignments. My plan was to overcome my weaknesses and enhance my strengths within the construction my essays, depth of paragraphs and overall assignments.

This paper was designed to gives us a small insight into what college writing would be like while still giving us the freedom to find an interesting topic that pertained to both the writer and the reader/class. What this research paper did was make me view writing in a different way, because contrary to the smaller 3 page papers I was used to knocking out in 45 minutes, I was forced to sit down and try to understand the several different research sources I had found. I also had to go more in depth with what I was writing and formulate my sentences to try and explain and help the reader understand what I was trying to say about my topic while still trying to open the reader up to my point of view. All while writing this paper our teacher was also giving back mass amounts of constructive criticism at a college level to help improve our writing skills. This research paper help expand how I viewed writing essays past that of regular required 5 body paragraph essays that can be done in 45 minutes of one English

AP Classes, most people would describe me as "smart" before anything else. I am the go-to person for homework help and the first person the teacher calls on for an answer. And although I have gotten my fair share of A's, many people do not know how hard I have worked for my academic successes. Sure, some of my accomplishments are helped by my natural intellectual curiosity, but the majority of the time, I have to study and prepare. If I do not understand something in class, I go home and watch videos and read the textbook until I do. I make flash cards, use highlighters, and even learn songs to help me memorize concepts. When I am proud of a grade I have received, I truly am because I know the hours I put in to earn it. This carries farther

The difference with this paper compared to the writing assignments that I’ve had to do in the past is the papers that I’ve done before required research in order to gather appropriate information to put into the assignment. With this one I had to learn to put myself in the position of each

During this English class have learned a ton of new material. English and writing have always been one of my major struggles in school. While in high school I thought I had been taught everything in English material that I would need in life. I was totally wrong. Before learning in this class, I would just start writing. I really did not know how to plan a paper. Since this class, I can now plan a paper using an organized outline to write it.

Many beginning college students perform poorly on their essays due to the lack of discipline in diction and incorrect usage of words. The inadequacy to write a well written paper leaves a trail of disappointing grades and false confidence. Paul Roberts gives solutions to fix that very dilemma. These solutions contain advice that will enhance your level of writing.

For many high school students, the academic essay is an unforgiving monster that terrorizes their campus, a nightmarish beast that can rip the heart out of G.P.A.'s and dash all hopes for college admission. Yet, others tame this friend with ease, bending its cruel will to theirs as if it was nothing, as if they possessed a secret weapon. Well, guess what? They do! Successful essayists succeed because they are armed with the exact knowledge of what an essay is and how it is made; they know an essay is an organized group of paragraphs that strongly assert and vividly support a central idea. Further, they know the organization of an academic essay is as easy as one, two, three: the introduction, the body,

Reading and writing were not my strongest qualities throughout high school, but in the tenth grade at West Morgan High School I built the foundation for being able to write a mediocre essay. A man by the name of Shannon Shaw was my teacher; he is the reason I have the tools to construct a genuine essay. Another year passed and I decided to dual enroll at Calhoun Community College for a history course, and because of this it dramatically perfected the methods Mr. Shaw had taught me. My final year of high school I encountered my first actual research paper in economics class, which was an absolute horror show for me. If it was not for this class and the instructor Melanie Holiday, I would have absolutely no idea how to cite sources or do something as simple as research for an assigned topic.

When Professor Diamond, handed me the first essay topic and I read the rubric and saw “minimum 1000 words” my heart dropped to the floor. If someone asked me how many pages a 1000-word essay would be, I couldn’t even tell them. I didn’t know if I had ever typed a 1000-word essay before. In high school, the only essays I remember writing were for the SAT and for my 11th grade writing exam. Being accustomed to the five-paragraph layout, with five to seven sentences in each paragraph and no more than two pages. Which I now know is foolishness, a paragraph does not have to be five sentences. If I express my point in the paragraph, and my sentences support my topic, I have a paragraph.