Words: 1040
Journey through Composition I Writing is not part of my favorite activities, so since I started college I have tried to avoid anything that involves writing. Am I been successful doing it? I don’t think so because in most cases classes involve some type of writing. However, the day I’ve been avoiding came, and I finally got registered for Composition l. I was not very excited when the class started, but I have to admit it has been a rewarding experience after all.
During all these eight weeks, I have been able to learn and apply a plan that makes the writing process a lot easier. Therefore, I have lost some of those fears I used to face every time I had a writing assignment in front of me. In the fall of 2012, I took a class called History of Western Civilization. It was a great class with a great professor. However, I struggled a lot because It required a lot of writing assignments on weekly basis. Even though I did not think about It at that time, I had trouble because I did not know the basic knowledge of how to write a proper search paper, or even worse how to write a couple pages essay.
Now that I’m writing my final essay for Composition l, I understand the benefits of taking this class. Composition I has provided a formula to improve my writing and has enabled me to lose my fear toward writing assignments. Vive become a stronger writer than I used to be, and even though there is room for improvement, I feel the results after taking the class are very positives. The writing process consists of several steps. Among them are defining a topic and an audience, considering a thesis statement, outlining a raft, drafting, revising, and some other more.
In my personal experience, I really liked “the revising” step. It is great to hear a feedback from the instructor, and classmates as well. However, the professor’s comments are always helpful because they make me realize my writing weaknesses, and at the same time provide some references how those mistakes could be fixed as well. On the other hand, I did not enjoy much “the considering a thesis statement” phase. For some reason, it is really hard for me to be specific and concise my main idea in few sentences. Therefore, I have issues organizing my ideas because usually my thesis statement is too broad.
Hence, I know some practice need to be done in order to improve this phase. However, while I looked through my assignments I could see how I have improved in many areas that involve the writing process. For instance, the bibliography I did for the 1st essay compared to the 2nd essays bibliography was very bad. I used to use the citations & bibliography tools provided by Office Word, and never bother myself to look If I was doing It correctly. Now, I understand In a better way how to do citations on ML format and how to do It without using Office Word tool.
I never believed I would be able to so such thing. Also, essay two In contrast with essay one is more organized, and I was able to make a better use of my sources in order to to follow all the writing process steps without feeling so overwhelmed as I felt while I was working on essay one. I believe I struggled on the first essay because I felt all the steps in the writing process were way too many. However, even though it can be overwhelming to follow each step, the results are a lot better than if some steps are skipped or the whole process is ignored.
Therefore, the writing process needs to be following step by step because it enables a student to develop a proper writing assignment even though writing does not come naturally for her or him. Does it involve hard work? Yes it does because anything good requires effort. Another great resource I explored, thanks to this class, was the online library. I had used it before, but thanks to the “library assignment” I was forced to investigate more about it. The library really makes a huge difference when it comes to search for credible sources.
Before I used to go to the open internet, and tried my best to find a good source. Now, I know there is no need to go to the open internet or even the physical library because at the online library I can find almost everything if not all I need to do a research assignment. For instance, I can search for Journals, articles, books, magazines, etc. Each database has a tab that enables me to search for an author, a specific book, or even any information on the database related with a keyword so road like schools.
In other words, the organization within the library and how all the databases are classified makes the work a lot easier. If I knew the complexity of the class, I would have taken it in the fall. It is lot information, and in 16 weeks could have been processed a lot better than in 8 weeks. However, I’m glad with all I learned, and I’m sure it would be helpful for future classes. In the long run, Composition I has been a good rewarding experienced that has make me a better writer, and has given e the ability to face writing assignments in future classes with less anxiety.
I truly recommend the class, and I believe everybody unlike me, should take the class on the freshman year. For sure, it would save a lot of trouble. Dear professor Saffron, Thanks for your patience, and I really appreciate all your comments toward my assignments. I really enjoy the class even though I really don’t like writing classes. For sure, I write a lot better now than I used to write before I took this class. Thank you so much, and hope you have a great rest of the summer.