When I first placed English 2850 into my schedule, I wasn’t sure what to expect with regards to the strengths and weakness I would develop throughout the semester. Now, almost being at the halfway mark, I noticed that a strength I have is my ability to be able to analyze a piece of literature and be able to get a deeper meaning out of it. So far, I have done pretty well on the quizzes which has led me to believe my analysis has gotten better. As far as a weakness, I would like to improve my writing abilities to get it to the next level and get better grades on essays. Overall, I’ve had a productive English course so far.
- Jorge Moreno
In this class I have learned a lot about what I am strong at and what I need work in. This class has taught me how to analyze a piece of literature and come up with in depth understanding of what I read. This also helped me realize that my written communication needs more work. The use of more complex vocabulary as well as the transition within the essays.
- Preston Cheung
English has always been a fond interest of mine. So coming into this class I already had a mild understanding of my strengths, weaknesses and limitations in the area. I definitely feel like my stronger suits come from looking beyond face value of a text and understanding or at least trying to get a more insightful meaning. The assignments we do in class as well as online have really helped me hone and improve on having more abstract thoughts and getting creative with insight. However, I definitely do struggle with trying to put those ideas into a coherent format that doesn’t sound like mindless rambling. So hopefully I’ll be able to become more coherent and obtain better flow of words and putting pen to paper.
- Aly Yoon
3 responses so far ↓
yy155739 // Mar 23rd 2017 at 9:11 pm
Jorge— I noticed that you said what you want to approve on (or what you believe your weakness to be) are your writing skills. I think that essay wise and writing in general has a lot to do with reading. I don’t know how much reading you may do outside of the texts in class, but in my experience, a healthy amount of leisure reading can really help with writing. Seeing how others write and taking their technique into consideration is a good first step to writing a good essay. (Just in my opinion.)
Preston— I don’t believe that an essay needs “complex vocabulary” to necessarily be good. However, if that’s what you’re worried about, and feel that that will take your written communication to the next level, a thesaurus can be a really good resource. Often when writing an essay, I try to have the online thesaurus open and if I feel like I’ve used the same word too many times I’ll look for a synonym. This can add a different color and texture to your writing.
j.moreno1 // Mar 24th 2017 at 1:52 am
Preston – As far as having more complex vocabulary, I think Aly’s advise is very helpful. With regards to your essay transitioning, when I was struggling with that a while back, I found google was my best option to overcome that problem. As I experienced trouble transition my thoughts, I would google “transition words/sentences” and they have always stuck with me because of that.
Aly – I don’t necessarily think your ideas sound like mindless rambling. However, one way to go about changing this would be to follow the format the professor has given us to answer her questions. Her format is very helpful in keeping your main idea and without any mindless rambling
p.cheung // Mar 24th 2017 at 1:52 am
Jorge – You said how you wanted to improve on your writing skills. One thing that has helped me work on it, is by just free writing about anything you see. Maybe you could carry a journal around and just write whats around you. I believe that as long as you keep writing, it’ll come to you easier when it comes time to writing an essay.
Aly – I noticed one of your skills you wish to improve on was putting your thoughts together into a coherent essay. One trick I use is to put all my ideas on paper and then put them into a layout but a more detailed layout than the basic ones to start. Although this may take longer, it helps put your thoughts into a more understanding process.
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