I have been motivated to explore and learn how to write in English. My academic and personal

Annotating is a process in which students highlight or make a note of any literary device in the book, important plot points, or connections between the plot/characters to the real world. Annotation is useful to the analyzing process of literature because it refines the book down into the most important details. An example why annotating is important is when I annotated Lord of the Flies by William Golding. One of the things I took notes on were the important plot points. In the book, there is a part where the boys split up into two groups— with one group representing law and order, and the other representing savagery.

The Norton Field Guide to Writing covers topics about writing and composing. Several of which I was already familiar with. In chapter 2, Bullock and Weinberg express how “Many readers find it helps to annotate as they read…” (16). I have become very familiar with annotating over the years. I often use this writing method to help me understand and summarize text I come across.

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.

I began writing with basic vocabulary and barely any sentence variety. As the year progressed, I learned to advance my vocabulary and word choice in addition to incorporating a diversity of sentence structure. Nearing the end of the school year, I acknowledge that I have grown and learned more about writing. I anticipate that I will receive even more arduous writing assignments that require more research and time. Although it will be challenging, I feel confident that I will do well because I feel well prepared from all I’ve done this year. As I grow older, I will have to continue to write. I know I can take the knowledge I’ve learned this year and apply it to future papers for years to

I have been a San Jose State University student for 4 years now, and over the course of my learning I have grown and learned more than I thought possible. I came to SJSU knowing that English was my least favorite subject; I consistently dreaded writing assignments professors would assign in class. Going through English 1B has taught me to face my fears about writing papers, whether they are short reviews or extensive research papers, I have become more comfortable in writing. I have learned how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things I don’t know. Most importantly I have learned that revision is essential.

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

Also remember that writing is process which takes time to perfect. English has never been one of my favorite subjects, mainly just because I never really consider myself to be a good writer and by the normal standard I may not be. In a sense though, I found contrary to my belief that my writing wasn’t all that bad. Now it took time for me to see that for myself, because

When most people hear the term “writing”, they don’t really associate this with a single course that they have taken in high school or college. Rather, most people view “writing” as a process that evolves as we become capable of thinking in more abstract manners. The effectiveness of our writing is determined by our ability to think abstractly as well as how confident we are in our composition abilities. If we are lacking either of these two qualities, then the quality of our writing will suffer. I feel as if my writing has greatly improved after taking English 103.

I would describe the writing process I experienced through my learning years as very limited and poor in skills. I can definitely say that my writing techniques and methods are simple and basic. Since English is not my primary language I feel really pressured by this subject and I'm expecting too much from myself. I remember when I was in 8th grade at the beginning stage of learning a new language, my English teacher focused mainly on teaching her students how to spell the words correctly, show the proper grammar, and form the correct structural sentence organization. The difficulty I am experiencing in writing any essay is the language barrier and not

I can not say English is one of my favorite subjects, Can you? I have many weaknesses when it comes to writing. Such as, run on sentences, not adding enough information, not being able to have my essay flow and make my word count and that’s just to name a few. Writing has and still is one of my worst subjects that I’m working on getting better at.

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.

Writing a blog post for English Grammar and Style represents a great challenge for me. English is not my first language, and if writing in my native language, Spanish, awakens in me feelings of fear and insecurity, in English these sentiments are activated exponentially. But reading “The Growth Mindset”, by Carol Dweck, a Psychology professor at Stanford University, convinced me that I can make myself good, even great, in English composition through practice and hard work. But, how do I go from an aspiration to actually becoming proficient in writing? Follow a process, I told myself, and with time you will get better at it.

In writing it’s important to have an understanding of what you’re trying to convey for your audience in addition to how you you will present your ideas. Effective communication extends beyond having well organized writing expressed in complete and coherent sentences. The style, tone and clarity of writing must also be considered, as they are constantly changing relative to the audience. Again, analyzing one’s audience and purpose is essential to successful writing. Appropriately, when choosing the most effective language, it is important to consider the document objective as well as the reader. In essence, this idea of effective use of language has been the overarching theme of this online English course. Each writing assignment

I have been writing since I have been in Middle School. I have realized that by college it was easier for me to write down my thoughts in order for me to remember what I have said or done. Writing out my thoughts gives me a sense of recollection, knowledge, and pacification that gets me through my day. I pictured writing to be as simple as jotting down a few sentences, but as I got farther in school I realized that there is more to it than just writing sentences. English has been my most difficult subject I have ever endured, but I have somehow been managing to make excellent grades and achieving all requirements. First in the essay, I will discuss my experiences in the English life that I’ve taken so far up until college. The second part will list my struggles in creating a thesis, a work cited, and properly citing my sources used in the papers.

Before I took my math class, I had heard that my professor is a Chinese who had an very heavy accent. Most of my American friends try to switch to another session to avoid this professor. After almost the whole semester study in his class I had figure out that he is an really good math professor who is really good at teaching students and is an expert in the math area. However, his “limit English skill” had became the largest barrier for students to understand his class. For me, an international student whose first language is not English, I had some how the same feeling. I would often feel frustrated when I figure out I actually know the point which professor had mentioned in the class when I translated it in Chinese but not in English. I really feel like I would get a better grade if I learn it in Chinese. I feel like my power had been limit by the language barrier.