Spring 2017
ENGLISH 101
Introduction to College Writing
Who would have thought that English 101 - Introduction to College Writing could be so many different things at the same time: challenging, frustrating and rewarding? Well, that is exactly how I experienced this class during the past semester. There were moments of wanting to pull my hair out because I had no idea what to write and others when I felt high as a kite with elation for having surpassed my own expectations and obtained a better grade than I was hoping for.
At the beginning of the class my confidence in writing was very low. However, I feel that slowly, but surely I started to improve on certain aspects that I did not think I was capable of improving. Some of those aspects include: using descriptive language, freewriting and brainstorming as writing techniques in order to come up with ideas and useful information that can be narrowed down to address the chosen writing topic.
I chose to post my Definition essay here because I think it’s one of the essays that best showcases my ability to tell a story. Again, ability unknown to me until I took this class. On this particular paper, centered around defining the word ‘home’, I try to explain what it means to me now and what it has meant throughout my life, as well as looking at some of the different uses and meanings it has for different people.
Although I feel my writing did improve throughout the semester by working on different types of papers (i.e. memoir, comparison and contrast, definition and argument), I know I still have a long way to go. My biggest weakness still remains organizing my ideas and the different body paragraphs to keep them connected to my thesis. Nonetheless, I'm determined to keep on working on these new skills and develop them further.