My Experience In English

Thesis statements can be difficult to formulate. A clear and concise thesis is imperative for any successful essay or research paper. It gives the reader

With the guidance of Mrs. Smythe, my peers, and my parents, as well as my own determination, I have gained much better control over the English language. However, I also learned something about myself as a person throughout my time in English 9/10. I used to let fear control me in English, which would translate to other parts of my life. Throughout my seventh and eighth grade years of Middle School, I would sit in silence for entire class periods, afraid to begin my essays, afraid to have to accept that it may not be as good as my other school work, afraid of what others would think. However, I learned this year that people like my mother and grandmother were not disappointed in my work but instead would suggest ways by which I could improve my writing. Additionally Mrs. Smythe constantly helped through the feedback she provided. Even when I received my first essay back, one that was clearly not to the best of my ability, she gave balanced feedback between ways to improve my writing while also providing supporting for future assignments. “It is not necessary to convert an entire scene, just the moments that are important. The inclusion of text in the last body paragraph is most appropriate, although there is still a bit too much of it. Good effort...” Even if I forget who said what in Romeo and Juliet, or the name of the main character in The Book of Lost Things,

In high school I was not the best at writing. I did not find this out until I was places in advanced English. I was used to writing papers that had to be simple. So when I started receiving C’s and D’s I told myself something had to change. I finally realized that I could not write as well as most of my classmates. So, what I ended up doing was making my papers more complex and making my sentences stronger. When I applied myself I became a stronger writer. As I took the diagnostic test I saw I was making a lot of mistakes. At the end I made a 70. From this I could see why I encountered the bad experiences in high school and in college.

Thesis statements tend to come from nonfiction texts, and are directly stated by the author, with no wiggle room for interpreting the meaning as any different than it is stated. Thesis statements are also debatable arguments, which is what makes them a thesis. They are also stated early in the nonfiction or other work the thesis is present in. The work that the thesis statement is in does not have to be reflected upon in order to understand the thesis statement, and the reading can hasten with the reader still holding understanding after reading. Thesis statements are very easy to understand unlike their theme counterpart, which makes them easier to find. These factors are what make themes and thesis statements so very

The elements of a thesis are generally stated in a single sentence. A topic is not covered in a thesis, but opinions are expressed. A thesis indicates that there is support to follow, and often organizes supporting material. Effective thesis statements are precisely worded to draw in the audience. The location of a thesis is very important because if it appears at the opening of the essay, it starts the essay off with a strong statement providing clear direction and an outline of the supporting evidence. If a thesis statement appears in the middle it allows the writer to introduce the subject and guide the reader into accepting a thesis that is explained, as well as defended. The thesis being presented at the end allows the writer to close the thesis with a strong statement. The types of evidence that can be used in a thesis vary from personal observations to statistics. Evidence should support a

After a grueling first quarter, I was completely miserable, with terrible grades, low self-esteem, and no end in sight. I was hanging on to the hope that there would be some epiphany moment, a moment where suddenly my writing soared, along with my grades. That change did happen, but not all at once‒ it began during the third quarter, when my teacher, Ms. Boynton, asked me to stay after class, along with five other students. She asked if we would each be interested in participating in The Atlantic and College Board Essay Contest, in which we would each submit an analysis of a famous American speech. I was truly stunned that she had chosen me over so many other students in the class, since I had felt so lost for so many weeks, but it was exactly what I needed as motivation to keep on improving my writing. As I worked closely with her on my contest submission and other class work, I came to realize how much she cared about me and wanted to help me succeed. With that being said, she never made it easy; she continually pushed me, knowing that I could always do better if I set my mind to it. Last September, I began her demanding course with the intention of purely surviving, not necessarily thriving, but that

Thesis is a short statement that recaps the main point of a piece of writing. The thesis statement is developed in the text by use of examples and evidence. This presets the main idea, and states the authors opinion. It is a guide for the rest of the paper, and it keeps the topic focused. Thesis creates a more general idea by condensing the passage into a single sentence.

After being in AP US History for almost a full semester now, I have seen myself developing so many new skills and talents that I didn't even know I had or was capable of accomplishing. For instance, I have always been a terrible writer and have struggled with it throughout my whole life. This class has really pushed me to go out of my comfort zone and write more essays than any of my other classes have done in the past. My English class that I am currently taking right now, AP English Language & Composition, has become easier and less stressful as the year has progressed. I know that this is a result of being in APUSH because I have discovered how to write essays more clearly and quickly and no longer stress about them as much as I used to. The essays we do in English are now a breeze and only take me a few minutes to complete compared to what normally would have taken me a couple of hours to complete. Becoming a faster and better writer has helped me with all of my schooling, not just English and History, and I know that the more I practice with writing, the easier it will become.

Every essay must have a statement which conveys the author’s fundamental idea. Authors express their main paper’s main idea within a couple of sentences, otherwise known as a thesis statement (Kennedy et al. 32). For example, if an author’s main idea in an essay was to persuade the readers to carpool, than his or her thesis statement must clearly formulate the primary idea to the readers. Thesis statements ease the process of writing an essay by connecting all of the writer’s ideas, while also allowing the reader to better recognize and appreciate the text (Kennedy et al. 33). For instance, if a student omits a thesis statement on an English paper his or her professor would likely be confused with the main purpose of the text, thus being unable

The thesis statement is the most significant part of the essay because it establishes the main idea of what the paper is about. By creating this central idea, the reader will have a better understanding of what the essay is based on, and how the paper is going to be laid out. As Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers describes, in The Bedford Handbook, that the thesis statement is the core of the essay, and that it should clearly target the overall message in the paper (30). The statement must reveal the writers position over the topic in the essay, and then specifically focus on that position to create the overall idea of the story. Without this main idea introduced in the thesis, the essay would have direction, leading to the body paragraphs to be

At the beginning of the semester I entered General Studies Writing 1110, not knowing what to expect. I knew the class was solely based on writing and perfecting personal style, but I never anticipated the valuable information I would learn throughout the course of the year. The only advanced English class I have taken in high school was English Honors in eighth grade. That class gave me the base knowledge of writing, grammar and form that has helped me through my four essays in this class. Starting out, I was not sure what the standard for passing was; even though it was unclear to me what passing was, I strove for perfection. By the time the second essay came around I realized my writing was never perfect. Peer editors and family played a

During the four years I spent in high school, it was real hard for me to write an essay or just a simple paragraph. And it was all, because I couldn’t express what I thought or I just couldn’t write something down. Yet, when the teachers would tell me to write something down, I was always the last one to finish. Why? because I couldn’t think of anything to write. Or sometimes it was the timing that the teachers would give us to write that distracted me a lot from doing what I had to do. And since English is my second language is hard for me to write and think in English. And right now I still have that problem and it's real hard for me to write something down when a teacher ask me too. Also, another problem that I have is that sometimes

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.

English is a subject I have always felt strong with as a student, this area of strength has not only benefitted me in my this course but has helped me to succeed in every class I have taken. American literature so far has gave me a new and refined understanding, from read and writing to communicating my ideas in group discussions. Never before have I been able to have such a confident understanding of was I was reading and writing. I have gained a new and refined belief of what it means to annotate a text and why it is important, though I will always have reserved feelings about them. In discussion groups by referring to my annotations I am able to express my ideas and observations about the text. I have never before been so challenged with a piece of writing, throughout my career as a student prompts had always been specific and specifications were always strict. Writing literary analysis was not only a new type of essay writing for me but it required me to refer back to my annotations and think deeper about why I was having certain thoughts and opinions on a text to develop an argument. Whether it is reading, writing, or speaking the significance of everything I have mastered, and will continue to learn in english class will allow me to have fate in they way I express myself in the future.

“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