Observing And Losing The Impact Of Place

A freshman college level English Composition course aims to improve students' abilities with writing, critical thinking, mechanics and usage, punctuation, grammar, and vocabulary. By studying English 101 at Luzerne County Community College, I will work diligently to improve in all of these aspects. My main focus is to develop skills specifically to create clear and concise thesis statements, strong and persuasive essays with cajolement, and to develop different perspectives on narratives and other essays. These writing skills may also improve my critical thinking and reading skills.

Chapter 2 of Successful College Writing written by Kathleen McWhorter focused on several different points. However, the main core of the chapter is mostly focused* on college writing and what is expected of it. It mentions* how college introduces you to new forms of writing, and also using sources to support your information and arguments in your essays. This chapter not only mentions the new writing styles you will experience, but also how to be successful in them by giving you helpful tips and aiding you in figuring out your learning style.

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.

With the anxiety flowing throughout my body, I knew the time was near of facing my English 1301 class. Being told that I needed to improve my writing during my grade school days, I knew that I didn’t feel at ease going into a college level English class. But, with this in mind I had to pull myself together to encounter the challenges that I will face. However, having the privilege of having an amazing professor I believe my writing skills improved, also I was able to find my confidence.

“The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year” reflected my writing experience while I transitioned from elementary writer to a critical writer. Sommers and Saltz write, “freshmen need to see themselves as novice in a world that demands ‘something more and deeper’ from their writing than high school” (Sommers and Saltz 134). This line highlights the hardship that most students face when trying to write successfully. My earlier written works were much weaker than my current pieces because I often wrote for the sake of passing the class. While developing my writing, I focused on the new ideas that were introduced rather than limiting my argument to familiar techniques and ideas. Because of my new attitude towards writing, I began to demand

My journey through Writer’s Composition has been a rocky rollercoaster with ups and downs, but from these experiences I have grown as a writer overall. The essays I have written for this course demonstrate that I have developed critical thinking and have shown minor improvements in my communication skills. They also demonstrate that though I have made some progress in personal responsibility and general writing skills, I still have work to do. From Writer’s Composition Two, I have developed an understanding of persuasive writing, and I now am able to pick a topic or a claim and argue it in classic argument writing.

In the essay, “A literature of Place”, Barry Lopez discusses the topic of how geography impacts humans. He believes that everyone should have a relationship with a certain place. That place will define you into who you are today. Your imagination is shaped by the things that surround you. The things that you see everyday.

When I see the word, college writing, I honestly start to feel butterfly’s in my stomach, to the point where I feel as if I want to throw up. I have always had trouble when it came to be one’s fate in writing. I hunch because I get bottled up and over think about how am I going to motivate myself to start writing, are the readers going to like my writing, does it sound acceptable enough, etc. When I see writing, I see a whole bunch of different essay prompts, like so much starts to pop up into my head. Writing is something that I like but have trouble with and now that I am a college student, I now understand the meaning of college writing and what it is that comes from it.

This class kept my fairytale from completely shattering, and there is something about it that sparks a child-like wonder. While English class appeared to cripple my love for reading, my passion for writing had a reawakening. Somewhere along the way I had become less prolific in story writing, but when I joined the class I experienced a revelation of not just story-telling, but poetry and spoken word, free-writes, and the power that came with putting pen to paper. When I enrolled in Creative Writing, I was not sure what to expect. I almost feared that it may take away what remained of my joy for writing, as I had witnessed with my reading. I found instead a class that flourished on kids’ imagination and devotion for writing. While I appreciate what English classes teach and realize they are beneficial for learning, I think some of my past teachers could learn something from the atmosphere that is found in a creative writing classroom. Reading in English classes should mirror writing classes— a balance between structured teaching and a pleasure of

To succeed as a writer in college, one must spend time and time and time practicing. We must develop the quality of our thoughts. The writer of these chapters assigned to us states that we, as humans, mainly think in language. Logically, then, we must broaden our knowledge and understanding of our language. Constant inquisitive reading, persistent writing, and human interaction all nurture our linguistic growth. These elements make collaborative writing groups perfect for developing our thinking and language skills.

Throughout my high school career, I have typically enjoyed the writing assignments given by my teachers. As someone who read novels often, I found that English classes came easily to me. However, through the process of composing my first college-level paper, a task that did not come easily to me by any means, I discovered valuable insight concerning myself as a writer; namely, my stubbornness regarding my choice of words and my need to improve on my use of transition words.

In geography, place is used to describe an environment where people are able to interact and make sense of. Lester and his associates (2016) infer that place is used to define human interaction “with nature and among themselves; where there are tensions and where there is peace; where people are rich and where they are poor” (p.32). Cresswell (2008) defines place as combination of a location and meaning. Simply put, place is a space that we give meaning to. It is an empty meaningless physical space that one can take and mold it to their liking giving it meaning and filling it with things that truly describes themselves.

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

Expression is crucial in a society. Regardless of if it is clothing, or artwork, or words; how we express ourselves is how others will perceive us. If someone is a loud person with repugnant words, one may view them as obnoxious or arrogant. What someone expresses may be a form of passion. Passions create drives, goals, and long term commitments. If a boy has a passion for cars, he may dream to grow up and become a mechanic. Nevertheless, dreams and goals bring forth progress. Progress results in discoveries about ourselves; new skills and ideas that were not previously acquired. Writing is a beautiful way to express oneself and can also be a fervent passion. However, someone is not just born with all of the knowledge about writing and grammar like a strong writer possesses. Writing is all about development and making a plethora of mistakes so one can improve from them. College is one of the most advantageous places to progress as a writer. With continuous assistance from peers and professors, there are a variety of ways to mold a paper into an exceptional piece of work while growing as a writer. Throughout this semester, I have improved in many areas, including my introductory paragraphs, thesis statements, and paper revision, all of which have helped me develop as a writer so I can further express myself and inspire others with my words.