MCAS Long Composition Analysis

Revisualizing Composition, by Jeff Grabill along with his fellow co-authors is a paper about a study carried across seven different universities across the United States Of America. Each university ranks differently in terms of various statistics such as enrollment, size and setting, therefore participants have different styles and approached towards writing. Following the standard survey method, a series of questions based on 30 different types of writing, were ranked in terms of popularity and value.

This essay will be a self-evaluation of my writing style, and the improvements I have made over the past three months. Before I took this class I had not written a paper since the last time I was in college. That was around 2004, my major was computer software. For that major there isn’t a whole lot of writing involved. This was more of a refresher class than anything. To be honest I was a little intimidated, for the simple reason I had not written anything like this since high school. I will discuss how I discovered my writing process. My development as a writer throughout this semester, and finally I will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of my essays.

We were asked to write an essay that utilized literary elements to support a central idea of the text. However, while completing this assignment, I reflected on the major strides in writing I had made since the beginning of the year. In the first body paragraph of the first writing assignment of the year I use three lengthy quotes in addition to convoluted sentences such as, “Even though Jem had disobeyed Atticus, Atticus understood that what Jem did was mature and thought-out, and Atticus respected Jem’s actions.” Conversely, in the final task for The House on Mango Street, I was able to demonstrate control in my writing. I had learned to reduce the wordiness of my writing and also that complex ideas stated in simplest terms were the most enjoyable for the reader. When explaining a quote by Mamacita, I was able to be brief but poignant showing great improvement since the first essay. Within the writing assignment, I explain that Mamacita’s lack of ability to express herself is “... represented by the metaphor of the skinny thread in the form of Spanish that acts as her only road to ‘that country.’ However that thread is being torn by ‘the man’ and his belief that English is Mamacita’s present and future while Spanish is her past.” I was able to express the complex idea of the Spanish language being a part of Mamacita and not just a language, using a minimal amount of

I read over this essay with Ms. Amundson, and she approved of my introduction saying it was great and only lacking theme. This is a great improvement from my last prose essay where the introduction was two sentences long and barely mentioned the prompt. I just need to remember to relate to a theme when writing for the AP test. I had good evidence and analysis in the writing

As the semester comes to a close, it is always interesting to look back and reflect on the events and opportunities my English class has given me throughout my first semester as a whole. At the beginning of this semester it was evident that I was feeling uncomfortable due to the adjustment that I was going through as a student moving to college. It was very difficult expressing myself through my writing since I was nervous about good impressions and my good grade. While this class was one of the most difficult courses that I have taken this far, it has become quite evident to me that I have grown a substantial amount as a writer and as a person; Especially, when it came to explaining my ideas, writing academic essays, and making arguments.

English Composition I has developed my style of writing and my skills analyzing and researching topics to write a piece about a topic. Throughout the course, I got better at analyzing articles and pieces to get the meaning of the topic. With that improved skill I was more able to use the information given from the text and install it into my essays, with proper citation if needed. Before taking the English Composition course, I was not one to organize my essays in an ordeal order to clearly state the point of the work. Now with taking the course, I have learned to organize my essays, examine research for a topic, and develop an essay with proper mechanics, and revising skills. In writing my personal, review, analytical, and cultural

With Ethan’s permission, I used one of his essays as a sample so that other students would be able to understand the expectations of an advanced writing assignment. Although many of the other students were not able to emulate the depth of detail, analysis, and overall writing style of Ethan’s essay, they were able to see and understand how the essay should be written. Ethan is always willing to help his peers and step up as a leader while maintaining his humble

irst-year composition should be a requirement for all first time college students at Sacramento State. A class such as a first-year composition course will be vital in guiding you throughout college no matter your major choice or career path. The course introduces you to what the process of writing at a college level means and it enhances the necessary skills that are already present in first year college students.

The blinds on the windows are shut, it feels like a prison cell as I sit under the spotlight. The darkness outside makes me feel somber and alone. I stare at the glowing screen and think to myself, “It’s just me and this paper.” In December of my junior year in high school, I was assigned a persuasive essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter; it was my first academic essay of the year. My previous experiences with academic writing were both stressful and unfulfilling; when the essay topic was announced, I felt only resentment and anger, I remembered my past tribulations. With my mother’s help, this essay was different; after I submitted it to the teacher, I possessed a new perspective on academic writing. From my experience, I learned that strong writing skills are vital to communication, critical thinking, and life outside of the classroom.

Overall, in my opinion, my Anthem essay showed my creative side when it comes to writing. It also showed some risk taking as I wrote in a style that I’ve never written before, I attempted to sound “passionate” rather than “passive” through new and complex vocabulary. Despite it being my first essay of the year, I felt it was still an excellent essay, however, I’ve noticed flaws such as not explaining my quotations and claim very well, and some minor grammar and wordiness issues. Compared to my freshmen essays, my Anthem essay definitely showed substantial growth. It was not my best work, though, I struggled a great deal in trying to explain how my textual evidence related to my thesis.

As spring semester began, the anxiety pushed into my life. Since I knew I was going to be the youngest in the class, I was concerned if people were even going to talk to me. I expected to come into the stressful English 101 class as a relatively inexperienced writer; however, I was astounded when I started writing my first college essay. Our topic “monsters” has taught me ways to analyze and compare certain people and objects. My recommendation for those entering this composition class is to not wait until the last minute and ask as many questions as you can to reach your goal towards fantastic essays. Although spring semester is coming to an end, I will continue to improve my writing skills and reasoning as I advance in my English and college career.

I am tearing my hair to squeeze every single word from my poor mind to finish this letter. Yet deep in my frontal cortex, there is no part of mechanisms that is designed for writing a self-analyzing letter to my instructors. However, it has been ten weeks I studied in this course, and all my favorite works in these ten weeks are gathering in this tiny portfolio. I have wrote a several rhetorical practices that taught me basic rules of rhetorical essays. I have wrote a rhetorical analysis, which explained both the thesis of the reading and my own arguments against the reading. I finished my last rhetorical project three days ago with telling another interesting story. All these assignments were tiny pieces of my writing style and they built up together to present me a general concept of being a successful writer. I learned that, and I made a number of changes to upgrade my writing skills. At last, I decide to offer you these changes I have made as a start-up story writer in the college.

The preparation process, which was undertaken before the writing of the composition commenced, featured lengthy research into concepts and techniques employed within both traditional Japanese music and Western film score. A diary was maintained throughout this writing process so that I can remember momentary flashes of inspiration. I began researching the Hirojoshi scale, that in which I had previously looked into within my early high school years, in order to create an authentic oriental feel.

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.

“Welcome Class to Composition one.” Those words were voiced by my professor, Mrs. Robinson, on the first day of school. Initially, I thought to myself, do I even belong in this college course class. Before school had even begun, the stress over the summer about my English skills was eating me alive. Why? Well, in my past English classes I received A’s on all of my essays, but this college class did not seem so easy. Also, I was always fascinated by all the arts and sciences, but English never struck interest in me. I never thought that I could write any decent essays. The reason I insecure about my writing skills was because of the ACT. Since the ACT is the talk about how smart an individual is, my ACT score was not very high. As the course continued, the first essay approached quickly. I remember being stressed about this essay because of my writing insecurities. Although I managed to acquire a decent grade, I promised myself to strive to make myself a better writer. I started to read Norton Field Guide to Writing handbook also known as the yellow book, and slowly but surely started to develop knowledge of good writing skills and tips to improve my essays. This allowed me to grow as a writer and slowly my insecurities started to dwindle, and I began to gain confidence in myself. I never would've thought that the next time I took the ACT that my English score would be my highest. When getting my score back and realizing that I had improved so much, I began to wonder how I