My Vocabulary 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.

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.

If exceptional grades and numerous excellence awards are to indicate anything, I have succeeded academically thus far. However, such achievements are only possible because of my work ethic and determination. I pride myself on submitting my best work, pitting myself against my past performances. I remember my tenth grade English class; I was writing essays every week. I took every critique from my teacher and considered it for the next piece. Experience I gained from that class carried over into eleventh grade, where I achieved the highest English grade I have ever made. Even now, I look back at my older essays to help me write, so I know what works and what to avoid. Perseverance through school and desire to improve have carried me well, even through activities outside of my education.

To initiate the grade word list portion of the reading inventory, Jerry Johns, Basic Reading Inventory, form A was utilized. Since Lauren is in fourth grade, the second grade list was identified as the starting point for her assessment. Impacted by her avoidance of reading, her frustration level was identified at the fifth grade level.

share some thoughts on my progress in English101. During one of her lectures, Professor Sophia Vilceus once said, “midway through, you will feel less motivated but do not let that discourage you” (Vilceus). Those words became evident whenever an essay, such as, cause and effect or compare and contrast became daunting to complete. Additionally, through her inspiration, I was able to stay encouraged, not only in class but also with learning some things about myself as a writer.

As your paper finally slides into that dreadful homework basket, you realize you are finally done. That stressful weekend, with the anticipation, the typing, reading, re-reading and retyping. Is finally over, you have now handed in your essay. Does this sound familiar? Of course, it does! We have all worked on that English or history paper and felt relief after handing it in. But, why is this common event always so stressful for students? Perhaps it is in the way we write our essays, but is there any other way to do it? As it turns out… YES! There are many different strategies to writing, and in this editorial, we will outline some of the most commonly voiced methods.

I only had fifteen minutes left. It was then that I understood that this essay would not be perfect. In fact, it would most likely be disorganized and flawed, but, regardless of the outcome, I would have to write. With this realization, the weight of perfection lifted off my shoulders and it was strangely liberating to know that I would not be able to meet the impracticable standard I had set for myself. The unmarked page seemed less of an adversary and more of a companion as I began to write. At first, my words came slowly and laboriously. Then, they came all at once. One sentence led into another until sentences formed paragraphs and paragraphs formed an essay. When the proctor rose, considered us with practiced sympathy, and told us to put our pencils down, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I was simultaneously filled with relief and self-doubt. I had completed the essay, but, in the process, I had compromised an aspect of my identity that placed faultlessness above all else. In the past, I had seen that part of me as an asset, but on that day, it seemed unpleasantly clear that it was my greatest weakness. As I slowly unfurled my stiff fingers, I considered the now empty desk in front of me. Perhaps perfectionism is as much of a hurdle as it is a

1.-Review your vocabulary list. DO the words you choose still best represent key aspects of your identity, values, goals, or abilities?

My essays this year have revealed that I have a number of strengths as a writer. One strength I have is diction/word choice, as it is evident in my memoir essay. “The blistering summer air diminished as we walked down into the unlit, frigid cave” (Memoir 1). This sentence is just one of the many examples of when I use descriptive words to develop sensory detail in my writing. Another strength I have is

As this semester comes to a close, I have become to realize how much I’ve grown as a writer. After taking this class, I have noticed that I have gained more and more of a voice in my writing. When faced with having to write about subjective topics, I have learned how to voice my opinions in papers in order to make them more effective. My writing has greatly evolved because of this class. Not only has it shown me I have to work on sentence variety, but it has also allowed me to work on word choice which is something I have always struggled with throughout my high school career. Struggling with how to put things into words as exactly how I see them has been a struggle for me throughout this course. Despite how much I’ve grown as writer, I have

Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Many times when we write, we tend to over-use “fancy” words and try too hard to make our writing sound smart. This extra “fluff” and weirdly placed “buzz words” may not quite make sense in the context, but “of course, they’re AP vocab words I have to use them and it is a very loose synonym so it works right?” Sometimes, the best, and most “smart-sounding” way to get your point across is to write it out straight forward and not discombobulate your main idea with extra and unnecessary phrases and words. Less is more.

I think self-reflection, or a careful cogitation of one’s personal work, is very important. It will help me think about my strengths and weaknesses in my writing skills and learning process, so that I can improve my weaknesses in the future and become a better writer. I believe, I have many strengths and many weaknesses that can be seen transparently through my drafts, revisions, and final essays, or writings, this semester. My overall strength includes the ability to pick out good examples from articles and the ability to construct good development of my body paragraphs after my revisions. On the other hand, my overall weakness includes having some unclear explanation of thoughts, unclear topic sentences, confusing thesis statements, having undefined terms, difficulties transitioning from one idea to another. I have learned that to have a good essay, I must revise my papers more than once because there are always flaws that can be fixed or improved. My writing process has evolved from having difficulties writing down or explaining my thought process to being able to explain and clarify examples to help support my thesis statement.

This timed essay works like a standardized tests as it is examined by the school to show writing improvement and complexity of thought. With only so much time to develop the essay, I decided skip to an in-depth outlining process. Instead of constructing a formal outline with various ideas for each paragraph, I decided upon two main ideas for the piece and began writing. At times, I rely too much on my outlines and stop developing my ideas after I have created my writing plan. This spontaneous writing was difficult at first, but helped me to write from the heart in a swift style. Additionally, I spent a majority of my time focusing on the introduction and conclusion to make the piece more well rounded. I was proud of the overall outcome of this paper, even without receiving any peer

As the semester started, I had set my mind that I was destined to achieve a lot. During the start of the semester, I had several difficulties writing English assignments especially in terms of grammar. During the first week of the semester, I sat down, organized my thoughts and comprehended that throughout the semester, I had to achieve all that I had planned for. As a student of English, I had planned that throughout the semester, I had to improve my skills as a scholar, writer and critical thinker. Now that the semester has ended, I can reflect all the semester activities to depict how my writing skills and critical thinking skills have drastically improved. This paper presents a reflection paper of how this

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.