What I Learned In My Writing

I have been a student at San Jose States University for second years, English 1A was my first regular English class, and over the course of my stay I have grown and learned a lot. As Hospitality major, I do not know whether need my writing skills for future job, but I know the great experience in English 1A class would help me to improve all my writing weakness.

Over this quarter of English, I have learned many things out of the three to four essays that we have written. I have learned how to write college papers in the appropriate page requirements. Our teacher noticed after the first two essays we wrote that we suffered from sentence fragments, sentence run ons, and comma splices. I have learned how to fix those errors in my papers that I write. A thing I have learned about myself as a writer is that I write very well when a paper is about my personal life because it is easier to write about yourself than about a topic that you are just researching for the first time. If the paper is about my life experiences, I would get a good grade on it.

The inevitable had happened; I, as a small child, was demanded to read. A little antisocial human being launched into a world of, at first, difficult words and lengthy phrases. While words and literacy were forced into my mind, I had reluctantly begun the adventure to enjoy and accept the art of literature. Later however, my hopes and dreams were crushed to pieces by a gruesome teacher with an interesting form of a so called “grading policy.”

Over the course of this semester I learned a lot about myself as a writer. This English 101 class has really allowed me to expand my essay structure and ways of thinking. This was my first college writing course and it has given me much more freedom when writing because in high school I felt limited and like what we were writing was not very important. In high school I would write essays to just to fulfill the required word or page count and to a degree I still feel like this but maybe that is why I am an engineering major but in this course I actually was able to express my ideas and for the first time really test the limits of my writing capabilities. I really enjoyed being able to incorporate my voice more in my essays and I believe

This year I have learned a lot from College Writing, this class has taught me a lot about my own writing and what makes a good essay. I have learned a lot about myself as a writer and as a person throughout the course. In this reflection of the past semester I will be going through my past papers and talk about what I liked and how I could’ve made them better. I will also be going through the activities that have shaped my writing the most. Hopefully, I will be representing how I have grown as a writer throughout the year because of this class. Before taking this class I was already relatively confident in my writing abilities and was excited to take the class. Now that the course is completed I am even more confident in my writing because of all the new techniques and helpful tips I learned.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

My greatest writing accomplishments over the semester are the persuasive paper on social media and my research paper over the DREAM Act. The research paper was my first big accomplishment. I felt I presented a well developed essay and had strong focal

Have your written communication skills improved? What has been your best piece of written work so far this semester?

I may not be the best writer there is out there but I do put all of me into each piece I develop. I believe in giving it your all at all times. If your giving it anything less why try at all. I'm huge on that theory and I believe it means a lot more than I believe it to be. I hope that each piece I submit this semester is nothing less than my best and I hope to take in all the criticism and use it to my advantage.

I would have to say that I am closer to a writer than I use to be, but I’m also not where I would like to be. I was always told that I was a natural writer until I got to high school. Everyone either caught up to my level, surpassed it, or I plateaued. Trying to improve myself, I took honors and AP English literature. Unfortunately, I had only felt worse about my writing when I got to AP. My teacher, Mrs. Tomaselli, never gave anyone A’s so I did not feel too bad about myself, but gave no positive feedback. I did however compare a piece of writing I was very proud of that I did in 11th with a recent piece, both about my Polychondritis. The two pieces made me see the evolution of my writing. As far as the class English 101 goes, I have

In writing, making a good paper isn’t as simple as putting some words on a paper and calling it good. It is something that takes time to perfect.

When I enrolled in this class, I was sure that it will influence the way I write and read. I have a relatively large experience with academic writing and reading; still, I would have benefited even from slight improvements in my approach, methods, and techniques I use for writing and reading assignments. Because of this class my reading, writing, and thinking processes became more efficient.

Writing never really was my strong suit. I enjoyed doing math and science but when it came to writing, I wasn’t a fan of it. I would finish papers just to turn them in and get a grade. Once I got the grade back, I would just stash the paper away and not look at it anymore because I didn’t feel confident in them. There was only a few that made me feel amazing when I finished them.

This semester has been full of learning experiences for me in many forms. I feel like I have developed both as a writer, and a tutor. In regards to writing, I think that this class has helped me become a better writer in several different ways. One way I developed regards writing personal/social narrative essays. I had always felt like I was a strong writer when writing about personal experiences, but the social narrative project challenged me in several different ways. Looking back at my social narrative reflection, I had forgotten how angry and frustrated that project made me. In the reflection I even said “I feel like this project has lost purpose for me.” Looking back, this frustration shows where some of my shortcomings were. Developing a “so-what” in that essay was very difficult for me. I was confusing the “so what” and my paper was reading more like a personal essay-rather than connecting my story to a broader community.

All throughout my years of schooling, I’ve had just about, one paper that was about one page long, due every year. My papers never had to be more than one page in length. Therefore, I did not have to do much writing or do many essays. Surely not enough to remember any of the assignments. Writing has never been something I enjoyed doing, so I never bothered to many any memories of my writing experiences. I did not think it was necessary to remember any of them since I only had to do them to get a grade. The only writing experience I remember was the first assignment I had in this English 100 class about a writing experience. All week long, I sat there thinking about what to write about, but nothing came to mind as a topic. Then, one thing came to mind, but it was so very vague, I could not write the length that was needed for the assignment. I could only think of a few sentences to write for it. After sitting for a few moments longer, I thought, how about I write about how difficult it was for me to write this essay before it was due.