My Eportfolio: Course Analysis

Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.

In August, I began my journey as a college student, as well as a Writing 101 student. I was unaware of what the class would entail, but more so, was unaware of the growth I would begin to see in myself as a student over the following four months. My commonplace book showcases my growth as a writer and as a learning- oriented individual. My five chosen tags encapsulate my semester over time and most importantly demonstrate several skills, specifically exploration and argumentation, that I will be able to use beyond this course and continue well into my future endeavors.

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.

Over the course of this past semester, my ability to write has improved tremendously. Prior to undertaking this course, my expertise in writing was not as fine-tuned as it should have been. I had never previously been enrolled in a class specifically tailored to writing-- which was quite clear. Upon reading my past works, it becomes apparent that my writing style consisted of fluff, small words, and inconsistently structured sentences. These problems have, for the most part, been remedied with the coursework I have tackled in College Writing. Rather than long, drawn out papers that take an eternity to reach the primary point, my recent work is much nicer in terms of composition and grammar. I credit these improvements to the three primary

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.

My Writing Skills have improved Over the Last Semester While attending writing class, I learned about the 4 steps in writing, bases for revising, organizing, and connecting specific information, and I also learned about the different types of essays such as descriptive, narrative, process, cause and effect and argumentative essay. I have been a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 1 semester, and over the course of my enrollment I have grown and learned more that I knew prior to attending this writing course. Participating in this writing class has taught me so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me another way of expressing myself. I have learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don 't know. Most importantly I have learned how important technique, outlines and organization are. My goal in this paper is to inform writers about how my writing skills have improved.

During this semester of English 112, I have learned a lot about different research techniques as well as different writing strategies. Although, I feel that I have grown as a writer this growth did not lack growing pains. This course differed greatly from the English 111 and 113 courses that I have taken in previous semesters. It proved to be one of the most challenging English classes that I have taken so far in my academic career. There were many elements of the pre-writing process introduced during the past sixteen weeks, such as writing a preliminary draft and annotated bibliography, that I have never been exposed to before. The critical reading, critical thinking, and critical writing process in this course definitely stretched me as a writer and student. There were three writing styles practiced during this course along with three different genres. The first paper written was in the MLA (Modern Language Association) writing style coupled with the humanities genre, the second was written in the APA (American Psychological Association) writing style coupled with the social science genre, and the third paper written was in the CSE (Council of Science Editors) writing style which was coupled with the sciences genre. These different genres gave great insight as well as a different perspective to my chosen topic, pregnancy. Although, I feel I have a better knowledge of these different types of writing styles and critical writing procedures, I still have room for growth as I

Throughout the course of freshmen year I have developed different skills and opinions on writing. I feel I have created a more mature style of writing and a better understanding of literature. I have changed my view of writing over this semester and acquired a strong liking for it. The

During this semester in English 107, I have progressed more as a writer. Before I went to University of Arizona, my writing was rigid. I wrote five-paragraph TOEFL style essay all the time in my high school life. After I attended in English 107, I was not confident about my

The process I used when writing previously changed during the first few weeks of this class. Already I have altered the way I write my drafts, and the way I read other people’s work. Lamott’s “Shitty First Draft” made me come to the realization that one draft isn’t always the best approach. Therefore, I took multiple steps in examining my draft and critiquing it accordingly. Additionally, I started brainstorming topics, and this led me to create a roadmap for the list of destinations and topics I wanted to touch on and the message I wanted the reader to take away. This is just the beginning of the year and I already have a sense that as I progress through the semester my work will be continually get better.

As a writer, I have improved greatly since the first exploratory narrative essay. There have been many challenges that I have faced in my writing, but I have dealt with them in the best way possible. Over the course of the three papers I have written, I have improved in the flow of the papers, as well as the content of the papers. This semester, I have managed to overcome most of the challenges in my writing and have grown as a writer because of it.

Prior to entering class, I deemed myself a competent writer. However, I quickly discovered that my writing involved mediocre writing precepts. In contrast to the principles of scholarly discourse, my writing held the tenets of conversational writing and failed to meet academic standards. Furthermore, much of my poor writing was akin to a deep-rooted habit that I found humbling to admit and challenging to correct. Passive voice, unneeded words, long sentences, were a few of the obstacles that impeded my journey to effective writing. However, using peer reviews and an editing checklist I slowly began improving my skills as a competent writer. I also found that reading concerning writing provided supplementary methods to improve my skills as a scholarly writer. Implementing these innovative techniques, I slowly began to

The area of growth I will need in order to succeed in this program is my writing skills. I understand that academic writing is an important part of my development as a doctoral student. It is the only way I can demonstrate my learning experience (Lloyd, & Marjorie, 2007). This is the reason I am taking out time to work personally on my writing skills. By the end of this semester, I will be on the same level as my

Throughout the semester, my strengths and weaknesses of writing were pointed out to me in several different ways. I received feedback from my peers and instructor, who helped me progressed into a fair writer. Although my grammar flaws have decreased I’ve also noticed the confidence I have as a writer increased. Looking back at my previous work I’ve noticed over time the major problems like coma usage and sentence fragments have come to a minimum. Even though I still struggle in those areas my ignorance to the topic has been broaden to a better understanding of the fundamentals and skills that’s required to craft a well-rounded paper regardless of the assignment that is assigned. My eportfolio experience has been a journey I’d never forget.

This quarter, through study of the assigned texts; I have learned about concepts such as ethos, pathos, and logos; further expanding my understanding of the process of writing and editing. From a functional standpoint, I have learned more about sentence structure and variance, punctuation, flow and the maintenance of a controlling idea and tentative thesis through the exercises completed this quarter. By reading and engaging with the content of The Little Seagull Handbook, by Richard Bullock and Michal Brody, I have improved my understanding of how to form paragraphs, create an argument, maintain proper tone, understand and present my purpose, properly complete research for an assignment, and present in line with MLA/APA formatting