After having taken this class I feel as if I have improved in some aspects of my writing while at the same time new issues I didn’t know I had was brought to my attention. I feel like i have improved when it has come to creating more effective paragraphs in order to convey my point more accurately. Something I would say about this however is I need to work on my use of quotes because I feel like I don’t always use the best quote and then when I do find a better quote I end up rewriting my paragraph. Another thing I would need to work on would be to manage my time better. During the in class midterm we had I found myself rushing at the end of it because of time. This made me think that if I could improve something it would be to be better at planning my arguments better in my head so that when i’m writing it it will come out more easily and I won’t be in as much a rush.
-Brian Baigorria
After taking this class, I can say that I have increased my reading and writing skills. Prior to this class, I did not know how to write an analyzing paper. I always just used to summarize. This class taught me how to write an analysis paper and helped me improve my writing skills. I really enjoyed the literature we read in this class. All the stories were extremely interesting, and knowing them makes me feel more educated as a person. My favorite part of this class was the blog assignments because everyone got to express their own opinions and comment on one another. This class was my final english class in college, and I took the most from it than any other english class I had ever taken. Thank you!
-William Dayan
After completing this course, I feel that I have improved a great deal of my critical thinking skills when it comes to literature. Before, I never really thought much in depth to what an author may have meant, or may have been hinting to in the story, however after our many in class discussions I feel my mind has opened up to the many possibilities of what a story may actually be about. I also feel that my taste in literature has been broadened as many of the stories we read were ones that would seem a little odd at first, until you actually began to think deeply about them, which is now something I am very intrigued in. However, I believe that is also something I need to work on as well. This class has definitely given me a lot in terms of critical thinking, and the class discussions we had were my absolute favorite part as I got to hear everyone’s opinions. Overall, I had a great time and feel that I got a lot out of this class.
-Sabera Qazi
I agree with Brian about how this class also improved my writing. I also found myself rushing during the midterm and that definitely showed me I have to work on finding good quotes to connect my answer to a question better. That can also be connected to William saying this class helped him writing a analysis paper. Both papers were definitely ones that required me to analyze the works better and I agree with both of them that this class also helped a great deal with my writing skills.
I think William brings something up that I also had a problem with. This class also helped me analyze texts better and after seeing how others react to the same text in different ways I feel like I’m always thinking of how someone else would read this or that. I feel like if I think of how others will see a text it helps me when I try to analyze what the author meant when they wrote it. That’s something that perhaps Sabera can do as well to help her understand the authors meaning. I also agree with William when he said that the big assignments helped a lot to improve this aspect of his writing.
Hi Sabera!
I also agree that this class has improved my critical thinking skills towards literature. I also agree that it takes a second to really see the author’s hidden points, or what the story was really about. For me, I would highlight parts that I thought would help better my understanding than once when I go to the end of the text I would skim through the text one more time to make sure I got the main points correct in order to fully understand. At first a lot of the text did strike me as odd too, but once we discussed it more in depth, it showed me where I went wrong with something in my analysis or how I was on the right track. Overall, I too felt like I got a lot out of the course.
-Kelly Kay
I definitely agree with Will’s point about analyzing vs summarizing, and had the exact same problem for most of my academic life. Also, I think writing a blog post each week gave us as students a place to voice our own opinions, while more importantly forcing us to analyze the readings (which were all interesting) in a certain light. Analyzing a work is never a matter of achieving perfection, but challenging oneself to look at things from many perspectives.
Hi, Brian I get where you are coming from with having to change your whole paragraph because you founf another quote to use. One advice I could offer you that I use is to write down a brief outline that explans what each paragraph will be about. Then read all of your sources and highlight the parts that could fit where and in your outline you can wite a few words so you can remember where the quote is from so you don’t have to go searching for it and the page number. This will cut time for you once you begin typing.
-Vyonna E.