Freshman Composition Class Analysis

1. Before I take the 320 English Writing class, I have to finish the 310 level class. 2. If you want to buy a new car, you had better be careful with your money. 3.

Another reason the course gets neglected is because students feel that taking a writing course when they are hoping to pertain within the field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics also known as the STEM field isn’t necessary. These STEM programs require intense courses that seem more important to students than a first-year composition requirement is especially if they want to graduate in four years. In addition, university professors David Kaufer and Richard Young state their agreement in “Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing: Rethinking the Discipline,” when discussing enrollment in a first-year course makes no difference when they argue, “pretty much the same [language] skills of writing will develop no matter what content is chosen” (80). However, the development of skills the WPA addressed at an earlier stage such as a first-year composition course is more beneficial. Students have more time to enhance their skills, gain new ones, and students in a first-year composition course continuously work on said skills rather than their usage being on and

Some of my strengths I improved upon were hooking my reader into my paper, having enough information, and grammar. In high school teachers didn’t pay much attention to the grammar mistakes that I was making, during the English 101 class I noticed that grammar was being emphasized more, if I didn’t fix my grammar mistakes I would do poorly on all of my papers. In the diagnostic essay my paragraphs didn’t have a good structure. The introduction of my diagnostic essay was lacking because I didn’t mention everything I was going to talk about. At the end of my conclusion I wrote, “All of the weaknesses can be toned down if I just proofread my essays and think to myself if the paper met all the goals I was aiming for”, instead of putting this at the end of my sentence I would have put a solid thesis statement instead.

In the end, your writing is what you make it. It is how much effort is put into it that makes it either outstanding or possible average. Therefore, in this class I hope to gain more knowledge and use of different literary devices, and see examples of them being used in books. As well as increase my vocabulary by reading different types of writing, and based on this, my writing skills will improve. Besides that, I want to be able to analyze important text critically and thoroughly.

During my college career I have been doing a wide variety of writing. All of which have assisted shaping as well as molding me into an effective writer. Some of the classes that helped improve my limits to excel as a writer are my English 280 class, intro to Computer Science class, and lastly Juvenile Justice Class. I have done a few segments of writing in the three semesters of law enforcement class that I have taken here at WIU. Never would I have thought that the three major writing assignments that would shape and influence me into the writer I am today would come from of my LEJA classes, but they have.

For example, in the text Patrick Sullivan states that, “Students who are ready for college routinely plan to produce multiple drafts of essays; expect to read and reread assigned texts; expect to think and rethink key ideas they are exploring in their essays; and routinely ask friends, family members, tutors, and professors for feedback about their work”. This means that getting advice and having others read through your writing assignments and accepting their advice will benefit your writing. The article also explains that it is possible for you to improve your writing skills. It includes a list of behavioral skills to have in order to improve writing skills. Reading comprehension is

Mistakes help me see what not to do, therefore, on my next attempt I can get it right. The areas I feel like I need the most assistance in are analyzing literature and being able to give a detailed description of the works. I struggle with being too vague and not giving an in depth analysis of the pieces. Another aspect I find difficult is getting to the word count on my writing

I came into my first college writing class feeling prepared thanks to you and your investment in me as a student in your AP Lang class. I developed as a writer more than I ever had in your class, and it definitely helped me in my college writing class this semester. I already knew how important it was to revise and continuously critically think about my writing, as well as the importance of multiple drafts and peer review. My English 110 class this semester was very similar to yours because we also did multiple drafts where I could revise my paper as many times as needed. The big difference was that the focus was on different genres and how to appeal to those, which was something new compared to my high school English courses.

This semester was filled with many bumpy roads. I struggled in the beginning of the semester with my writings , as I didn 't feel confident enough to write a well developed writing. I seemed to find myself struggling whereas writing was not my favorable subject. The major errors I had in my writings this semester would be , grammatical errors,work citations, transition words, formatting ,paragraph development, sentence structure , and sentence level issue. Therefore I have set goals to improve my writing in the future.

Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I did not worry about preparing for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not enough for college courses. Writing is not just a skill that I will need for English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate with professors.

Throughout the term there has been many writing assignments —big or small— that helped reflect my writing process or the process itself. In the beginning of the course I felt like I was an “ok” writer, but lacked some skills such as: organization, sentence variety, and vocabulary. Also, I did not like to write and had a feeling of dislike when forced to write. I felt like I improved on everything I wanted and was seen throughout the semester. I know how to organize my ideas, the worksheets given in class to work on sentence variety really helped, and vocabulary was built on some level.

Writing has always been an issue but yet interesting subject of mine. As hard as I try and write essays, and papers I just can’t get the hang of writing. But after taking this class, I did learn different writing technique and improved my writing proficiency, material body of formatting, and how to uncovering and properly use sources. Through class exams, essays, and a research paper, I was able to learn new writing skills. Although I have learned a variety of things, my writing still needs improvement.

Composition I and II has many misconceptions about what the course should cover, though I personally believe it's intention is to aid students with the writing skills they need on an academic level. To begin, some students have preconceived notions about the class. Many of these beliefs being that the class is intended to cover free writing and to express their feelings. These theories are implanted by a shallow understanding of the course itself, from other students, and from previous high school English classes. Having said that, I hope to gain the ability to properly and professionally communicate thoughts and ideas with the aid of Composition I and II.

My Writing Experience In previous courses, my writing skills have been mediocre or just enough to pass the class. Throughout the duration of this course, I have written a variety of papers using different techniques and skills. Previously I would write assuming that the only audience would be my instructor. This course has helped me realize that there are many steps and skills involved with writing a well-organized and easy to comprehend essay.

I have used Paperrater.com and Smartthinking tools to grow my writing skills. Also using an informal outline to start writing has assisted greatly. Paperrater.com has helped me grow my vocabulary and use better word choices. Smartthinking has helped me organize my ideas and has given me examples on how to improve. While these tools have been available and used, it has help enormously to simply practice, and practice actively.