How I Learned From Class Into My Writing

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

Like transforming from a caterpillar to a butterfly, my writing style transformed from something mediocre to something quite exceptional. In high school, even when I took advanced placement English and Literature courses, I was never good at writing. My writing would lack structure, reasoning, syntax, and a well-defined thesis statement. My inadequate grades on writing assignments lowered my self-esteem, so I assumed I would never enjoy writing papers because I believed I could never improve. However, since attending a university my writing style has improved far beyond my expectation. My EN 101 course enhanced my understanding of the different ways I could approach my writing. Also, it enhanced my comprehension of outlines to complete assignments. Investing quality time into my writing made a substantial difference because I became a stronger writer. Through the late nights, constant revisions, and agonizing head traumas, I learned that my writing is truly spectacular whenever I incorporate well-defined thesis statements, provide sufficient supporting evidence, and maintain a clear focus in my assignments.

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

Writing 205 has taught me more then just writing stratagies, it has taught me who I am as a writer. Throughout the course of the semester I have learned new strategies, techniques, and tools that have helped me develop as a writer, as well as establishing my voice. Through vigorous course work I can say that I am more educated on writing skills in addition to annotating sources and genres. Reflecting back on this past semester I see how each unit has branched from each other as a guide for what was to come next. This made going from unit to unit flow in a natural way to achieve the best final product.

For the summer of 2015, I enrolled as a student in University of Maryland University College (UMUC) to start the journey of earning a bachelor's degree in Cyber Security. For the starting course requirements, Writing 101s was one of the three classes I had picked to begin with. When I first started off in this course, I considered my writing skills poor, with unorganized paragraphing and horrible grammar skills. Now, I am able to write great with more organized essays, proper sentence structures, and also gained researching skills for future research projects or assignments. This course has dramatically increased my confidence in writing and I feel that I am able to write at college level and not middle or high school.

During this semester, the realization of my past was that I have often skimmed through parts of the writing process to get the job done. Not being an avid reader often hindered my writing abilities. This class most definitely made me realize that the entire writing process is important and having peer reviews also helped significantly and certainly made a difference in the result of my work. Taking the time to read, brainstorm my thoughts, write an outline, rough draft after rough draft, reading constructive criticism of others helped in the revisions of my papers’ reaching the best possible outcome. When selecting English 102, I knew I would be challenged, but to what extent I was unsure. If like past English courses that were taken learning to write essays would be the goal. Once realizing that my work would be shared with others, providing informed information

When I enrolled in Writing 106, I never expected this course to influence my writing as much as it did. I acquired an immense knowledge about research writing. I learned how to analyze all my work before and after I completed it, gained an understanding of rhetorical situation and how to reflect on my own and my peer’s pieces in a constructive way. The endless cycle of writing and revision opened my eyes to the endless potential for every writing piece. My annotated bibliography and final research paper verify that I have fulfilled the curriculum tasks and have a full understanding of research writing.

I enrolled in College Composition 102 because this course was pre-requisite for my Nursing degree. I also look forward to learning and becoming a better academic writer.

Proficient writing is an essential skill in all aspects of academic and professional achievement. English 101, Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric, provided the framework to good writing, teaching me composition and rhetoric fundamentals, polishing up my grammar and style, and expressing a clear message. English 102, Composition, Rhetoric, and Research, continued to build on the skills I learned in English 101, focusing on the subject matter research process and employing various rhetorical and literary devices to better express a clear message to the reader. The course also improved my critical thinking capacity, allowing me to culturally evaluate my target audience, present logically flowing arguments using appropriate language and structure, and critically reviewing my writing projects for content and expression. Every writer inherently knows there’s always room to improve and I hold fast to this mindset in all academic, professional, and personal writing projects. English 102 has both challenged and inspired me to grow into a much better writer than before I began the class, providing the necessary skills to be not just a good writer, but a great writer.

When I first started elementary school I was a normal kid that loved recess just like every other kid my age. As I began to get older I started to noticed that I struggled with my reading skills, which started to affect my writing skills also. One day in third grade, my teacher Ms. Martin took me outside the classroom and told me that everyday starting tomorrow I would be going to a reading class for an hour each day where all I had to do was read to a mentor. At first I was really embarrassed that I needed the extra help with my reading and no one else in my class did. When I got back into the classroom I told my friends why she wanted to talk to me out in the hall and I began to tell them that I got to leave the classroom for an hour each

So far the writing process for EH 1020, up to this point has been rather intriguing and challenging at the same time. However, the writing process has taught me various techniques to use that will enhance my writing skills in composition II, as well as other classes. Furthermore, I am discovering after my assignment has been graded that I overlooked some inconsistences in my assignment that I should have been aware of, which can be very frustrating in the least. Nevertheless, the research process as a whole has been educational for me, I am discovering a lot of beneficial information concerning research that I was not privy to prior to my composition class.

The journals in Writing 102 were great weekly assignments to help us keep our brain thinking constantly. I like some of the journals and all the reading selections were interesting for the most part, but the one that stood out the most was “Helping Students Use Textual Sources” by Margaret Kantz. It was the most interesting one due to the fact that the reading began with a short anecdote about an average college girl named Shirley who I could relate to. In my eyes, if the reading can make the reader relate to it, then it is interesting. My attention was soon caught after reading the story. Most of the things mentioned in the story, I could relate to such as the way she wrote her research paper, the grade she got, and how she asked her friend

The dreaded English 102. Could this be my final English course in my career as a student? I don’t know for sure. I still need to decide what my major will be in. There is something that I know for sure, that is, needing to take this class to move on. I am not certain how my time in this class will go, but I plan to work hard to get the best grade that I can. Hence, I have decided to get this out of the way now, I look to fine-tune my writing skills, and I expect this course to help me understand my writing style.

As I look back to when I first started taking this class I began to think about the things that I have learned. It had been quite a long time since I wrote anything other than basic notes or letters before I started taking the EN100 course. In fact, I have never been much of a writer even when writing about subjects I enjoy, so when the Justice was brought up as the main topic of the papers that we would be writing over the semester I was less then pleased. Now that my misgivings as a writer and my distain for the overall subject matter are out in the open, let’s get back to the subject at hand. What have I learned in EN100 or more specifically, what have I learned from each of the papers I wrote on justice and from the in class writings?

At the beginning of this course I was reluctant because I was not confident in myself that I could write a ten-page paper. Ten pages sounded a lot, but now after doing this paper, I realized that ten pages is nothing if you are intrigued by your topic. My classmates and I were very privileged to pick the topic of our choice and write about it. Some of my friends who took English 102