Reflective Essay: Coming Into English

To begin with, I joined English 101 because I am doing general studies at the moment. Secondly, I took the placement test and the score I received was best suited for English 101. In addition, writing was never my strongest subject, but I am willing to put the effort to be a better writer. I expect to gain from taking English 101 is to argue and support a position, edit and proofread thoroughly, and understand the stages of the writing process. I’m sure I will have concerns in the future, but I’m not worried about them because I will seek for help when I’m in need. Furthermore, I will use all resources available such as going to the teacher for help, getting toured, EMCC Computer Commons, Buckeye Campus- Student Services, EMCC Library, and

My writing experience about the career paper was more informative than I was expecting. By reading the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), I quickly realized that there was so much information about a career in medicine, I was not aware of especially with regards to employment and predicted employment rates. However, the most difficult part of the writing process was trying to incorporate personal information into the narrative while using statistics and descriptions from OOH to come up with a coherent essay. For example, with a plethora of personal information and details about factors that has motivated me to pursue a career in medicine, it was difficult to summarize and incorporate information from OOH into my

English class has never been my strong suite. I always had to work twice as hard in English then I did in any other class. Writing paper always had me stressed and overwhelmed, I felt discouraged in my work. l never seemed to be able to get to the level I wanted to. I would try my hardest and paid attention in class, but when it came to writing the paper none of that seemed to help. I think that my experience in English Composition 1 has helped gain and grow in some areas, but I don’t think that it highlights a well-written college essay. Some elements that I worked to improving was introduction paragraphs, tone, style, and thesis statements.

As a new immigrant, I took the accuplacer test and went straight to 111 English level. So, English 111 course became my first college English class. It seems like a great achievement for a French speaker. Nonetheless, this performance linked to significant challenges. Even though I am a fighter and an optimist, I was frightened about my academic achievement for this semester. The problems became bigger when I took my first practice test on sentence structure (fragments and run-ons) and got a D. I was frightened and felt that I will have to drop the class. However, I decided not to give up. I started working hard and had a V+ on the next test. This positive grade energized me until now. During this semester, I have much homework and practices which allow me to identify some strengths, weaknesses, and gave me lots of skills for my English 112 class and the future.

Proficient writing is an essential skill in all aspects of academic and professional achievement. English 101, Introduction to Composition and Rhetoric, provided the framework to good writing, teaching me composition and rhetoric fundamentals, polishing up my grammar and style, and expressing a clear message. English 102, Composition, Rhetoric, and Research, continued to build on the skills I learned in English 101, focusing on the subject matter research process and employing various rhetorical and literary devices to better express a clear message to the reader. The course also improved my critical thinking capacity, allowing me to culturally evaluate my target audience, present logically flowing arguments using appropriate language and structure, and critically reviewing my writing projects for content and expression. Every writer inherently knows there’s always room to improve and I hold fast to this mindset in all academic, professional, and personal writing projects. English 102 has both challenged and inspired me to grow into a much better writer than before I began the class, providing the necessary skills to be not just a good writer, but a great writer.

Over the course of this semester I have learned many different things in English 101 with Dr. Mary Bell. I have learned about four main things that have helped transform my writing immensely. These four things are: rhetorical awareness, critical thinking, reflection and revision, and conventions. Each of these four things I have learned this year have changed my writing for the better in their own unique way. Through the usage of these different techniques I believe I have grown as a writer.

Coming into English 101 I feared on how successful I would be in the course. In high school English was not my best subject and it had proved to be very challenging throughout my high school career so I felt that I would struggle in the class. The thesis statement, which is the most important sentence of the essay, was something that I made progress on. The thesis that many of us are used to is associated with a basic five paragraph essay. The way that the thesis statement is arranged is it has the three main points that serves as the foundation of the essay. This way makes the writer conform to a basic format of an essay. To avoid this, I lengthened my thesis and explained my ideas in detail. For example, in an informative synthesis, the

The dreaded English 102. Could this be my final English course in my career as a student? I don’t know for sure. I still need to decide what my major will be in. There is something that I know for sure, that is, needing to take this class to move on. I am not certain how my time in this class will go, but I plan to work hard to get the best grade that I can. Hence, I have decided to get this out of the way now, I look to fine-tune my writing skills, and I expect this course to help me understand my writing style.

In English Composition this year I have learned a lot about myself as a writer, I am writing this essay to reflect on how I have grown as a writer. I have had a short time at Chana, but in that time I have written many extended responses about various topics, two short stories, and a research paper on Project MKULTRA. I have grown as a writer in doing all of these papers and stories.

It was a very sad day in small town Rosalie, Nebraska. The sun didn’t seem to be shining as bright and the usual small, energetic children were nowhere to be found. It wasn’t the same without Betty Nelson around in the community of just a hundred or so people. The sweet, gentle smell of her cookies baking or the quick glimpse of the twinkle in her eye when she would tell her famous stories. My great-grandmother was someone very special to almost everyone that met her. She was always doing everything she could to help people, family or not. She was one of the wisest people and no one, especially me could get enough of her stories and adventures from her past childhood, teenage years, and motherly experiences. I was so shocked she was actually gone, after all the delightful memories I now had with her, but it was now time for everyone to grieve. I sat in the room, perspiration filling my nose as the sound of quiet sobs coming from my family around me fill my thoughts. I thought back to the good times as my mother told me to do. My favorite memory then came to me,

When first reviewing the course materials for English 202 this semester I felt a bit overwhelmed with the assignments. Though I genuinely enjoy writing, I thought that I would never be able to research a topic of my choice, develop a variety of strong evidence, and write a paper on it, but somehow, I made it through. I have learned so much over the course of this semester that will help me in future years of writing and am grateful to have taken this class.

I would love to take the English Intensive and Intensive World Cultures and Geography for many reasons. First of all, one reason for me to take these courses is that I genuinely like to read and write. In the World Cultures class I think that learning about different cultures would really interest me. I have always had a passion for reading and learning in general and a more in depth class would help sate my voraciousness for new material. Although I have never really enjoyed writing as I learn more about it I am beginning to like it more and more as I mature. I think that a hard English class would accelerate my learning and allow me to enjoy English at the same time. Furthermore, a class that really enjoys the material would be wonderful

America is a place full of immigrants with no single ethnicity or race. America can also be referred to as the ?Melting Pot? because it consists ingredients of multicultural backgrounds. There are cultures such as French American, Asian American, Italian American and African American. I am Mexican American. My culture has helped me to become the writer I am today. My bicultural background and constant moving back and forth from Mexico to America has both influenced and weakened my writing. Although I was born in America, my Mexican culture has always been a part of my life. I have spent the majority of my life in Mexico, and Spanish is my first

This fall semester in ESL 91has been pretty interesting, and so far successful. The main object of this semester was to improve our essay writing. We were taught various lab techniques that helped us to improve our English writing skills, such as using appropriate verb tense and how to write a research paper with a works cited. Through my work on the research paper I have learned how to write in an academic style, how to find appropriate sources from an academic database, and how to cite my sources. Most of all, I can say that my reading skills have improved because the research for our papers required me to do a lot of critical reading.

Since beginning to write papers in English class, I have had countless successes and failures. While many of my English classes have taught me how to improve my writing, I have not learned very much in others. My most recent English class was last year, my sophomore year. My class was particularly undersized; therefore, it gave each student the opportunity to have additional individual attention. Throughout the class I experienced high points, weaknesses, and even difficulties that I never overcame. Overall, my writing skills improved, but only marginally.