The last 15 weeks of my semester I was able to learn and dive deep into several controversial topics of society. It was a major test to our critical thinking skills and helped us develop the bigger picture of said problems. Starting with the Black Panther Party, I had no idea the depth of information that these individuals had in history and writing about them only made me learn even more. Comparing it to modern day movements helped me see the bigger picture, how far we have come in history. When it came to assignments, they were pretty straightforward and just required some reading to understand what needed to be done. During our first project I was definitely still familiarizing myself with the college writing style which took some getting used to. After receiving my first grade I knew I could definitely do much better it just required more work ethic. Writing the second project I made sure to carefully structure it and follow the rubric, it paid off as I received a higher grade than before.
One piece of writing that I am proud of particularly is my second essay pertaining to the Women in Red on Wikipedia. I really enjoyed the whole Wikipedia log and browsing the site examining the small discrepancies here and there. Documenting my findings and using the research I put together writing the essay was much easier than before. This piece taught me how to develop a thesis that wasn’t too broad and incorporate it into my essay to help the readers understand the point that is trying to be made. Although I am proud of it, there are always improvements to be made and I don’t believe that this paper reflects my skills as a writer just yet. Trying to use some of my own techniques and some of my peers has allowed me to improve some things about my work like explaining the evidence better. I enjoyed the Wikipedia Journal and the writing piece i feel most proud of.
The biggest change is the topic and tone of the essay changes from focusing on narrative to a more research and academic tone, which is something I am struggling with for a long time. One piece of writing that was particularly challenging for me had to be the Project 1 on BPP and BLM. I found it difficult to draw the comparison between them and find strong pieces of evidence to support my argument. This essay was the roadblock to help me adapt to the writing style of English in college which is probably why I found it so difficult to begin with. In the end I enjoyed this semester even though the class was very early and I struggled to make it on time. The work was straightforward and helped improve my work ethic overall in the end. It was a good run and looking forward to future English classes.
