Monday, May 18, 2009

Writing at Wit's End

As we reach the end of the semester, I am struck by the immense amount of knowledge I have gained from Professor Bolaski’s English 100. From the very first assignment, I was excited to put words on paper, albeit electronically, and build a new world of thoughts and stories with the English language as my only material. Having to relate our projects to current affairs was an interesting experience, as I had been accustomed to writing about obscure tidbits of our culture rather than large-scale controversial topics. The first essay I wrote much too quickly, taking for granted the fact that Rhetorical Analysis seemed an easy subject for me to tackle. I was quickly enlightened; this class might actually require some investment of effort and time… so much for writing it off as a no-brainer easy A.

As I sat down to write my next paper, I unfolded my laptop on the counter, grabbed my blanket, and brewed my tea. My brain was a sponge joyfully absorbing the information attained while preparing for and presenting the Argument Response essay. Being asked to read an article, understand the author’s point of view, think critically, develop an opposing point of view, and articulate it all, was a little mind-boggling at first impression. This was the paper that required the most revision; grasping the concept of argument-synthesis was a bit difficult. I felt I was greatly aided by the Argument Response assignment, as it allowed me to think critically and granted me the ability to read and understand an author’s perspective without being swayed one way or another. On a positive note, this made writing my Position Paper draft easier than it otherwise would have been. I did, unfortunately, choose a topic with multiple aspects, opinions, and pieces of information, making it trickier to create a concise argument. Learning to compile an annotated bibliography was a very intriguing assignment. The Research Project was a most exciting, highly stressful task. Reminding myself not to procrastinate, I plodded through, thinking of all the tools with which Professor Bolaski had equipped this student.

Through this course I have learned how to read, internalize, analyze, critique, and offer a different perspective for a variety of topics, some of which I was more familiar than others. I have worked to eliminate, or at least reduce, my use of colloquialisms, superfluous words, incorrect formatting, and unclear sentence structure. My papers have increased in length, but more importantly, I believe they have also increased in quality. Addressing a broad variety of topics has allowed me to explore, comprehend, and share a larger amount of knowledge about these issues. English 100 has given me the tools to advance both my writing and my understanding of some issues confronting our society.

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