My growth in writing

When I first began this class, I thought I had a clear understanding of what it was to write a cohesive, proper essay. But as time went on I learned that it wasn’t only using the common elements of an essay that made it good, but it was the effort and amount of dedication that made it well rounded. In this class, I learned a lot and without the amount of work by my professors, I wouldn’t have been able to complete the number of assignments and then able to receive the amount of feedback needed.

With assignments such as peer review, I learned that I can learn a lot more by helping others as they would influence my work and only encourage me to do better. Reading the work of my peers really inspired me to dig deeper and really find what I was passionate about. I wasn’t entirely keen on the idea of reading someone’s essay only to receive nothing in return. But as I read their papers I learned that there was more to giving feedback. Their ideas and mindsets were things I couldn’t even think of, I was stuck in the place of thinking that I thought was the only correct way of thought process. I wouldn’t have been able to work on my own personal writing an essay without reading the work of others.

When I thought of why I should receive a high-grade, I thought it was obvious. I had done tons of assignments while balancing the work of other classes. Although doing the work of those classes I had to give him my full attention to the body of work that I was given the job to do. But I quickly learned that it wasn’t completing the assignment that meant I deserved the high-grade, but it was actually putting in the effort and high-quality content that meant that I was doing the correct research and actually analyzing every piece of work to ensure that my opinions were well supported.

Not only did I learn to properly cite evidence, I learned to dig deeper and analyze what an author meant through their writing. Coming from an advancement placement English class, I thought I knew all that they’re wise to creating a real rounded college paper. But as I went through the class, I noticed that it wasn’t getting an A on all the papers that mattered, it was noticing a difference in the amount of effort put into each and every work. I don’t believe there is such a thing as being a perfect student. Each student learns and grasps information differently, some learn by viewing notes others learn by physically be able to grasps onto the learning material. I hope that all the effort and growth I made in the class is evident as the strong and confident tone of writing grew.

It was assignments such as the poetic analysis, poetics project, research critical analysis paper and the annotated bibliography that really encouraged my writing to grow. By having to dive deep into research I was able to learn shortcuts and different methods to get the information I needed. This included going down to the cuny library and going on the online database. Because I was using outside sources, I had to learn how to properly cite an article. It’s important to give someone the credit they deserve as they had put a lot of work into it.

What I really appreciate from this class is acknowledging the differences in how people interpret different literary pieces. It doesn’t mean someone is wrong if they don’t think the way you do, its a way to open up the mind and a way to really think deeper. I had to take this into account when I was writing the My community needs project. When I wrote this I wanted others to know that yes, technically my thesis was an opinion but the topic in itself is important and definitely needed to be talked about. I really appreciated the opportunity to speak about something that was important to me.

Overall, this class really opened my thought process and allowed me to gain insight on different topics and mentalities.  Each piece of work was critical in my flourishing as a writer.