English 112

I have learned many things in English 112 throughout this semester, however, the three most important lessons I have learned are:

1.  Synthesizing my sources.  I had never known how to do this, and I never knew how effective it is!  It really helps an essay to connect the sources in some way and relate them to each other.  I have to write many essays in my other courses and this will definitely come in handy for those papers. 

2. Writing effective introductions and conclusions.  I used to write simple and boring intros and conclusions.  They got the point accross, but were not very effective in catching the readers attention.  I feel that throughout the course of this semester I have really learned to engage the reader’s attention right from the beginning with and effective and interesting introduction, while finishing the paper out with an effective conclusion. 

3.  Reading and thinking critically.  I took a Critical Thinking course last semester which helped me in this area, however, I feel that this course really helped me with my critical thinking skills.  I had to read all of my sources carefully and annotate them and critically think about what they were trying to say.  Essay 2 really helped me with this.  This will also be important for the future and future essays.  I can always use these critical thinking skills in any course I will take and I can use these skills out in the real world. 

Overall, English 112 has been hard work, but many valuable lessons have been learned. I can use all of these lessons in some way or another in the future.  Therefore, it was worth all the hard work.   

The presentation that stood out to me the most was Joshua’s, who wrote about steroids in baseball and their effect on youth and the media’s coverage of them. 

First, I really enjoyed the topic.  I love sports, and definitely baseball.  It is frustrating when all you hear about the sport is the use of steroids.  Whenever a players does exceptionally well, there is always that speculation on whether he is using steroids.  It would be nice to enjoy the sport without the constant speculation on who is using steroids. 

Second, I really enjoyed the presentation.  It was diffrent from many other presentations and sometimes visual aids work much better for certain people.  I really liked all of the pictures and the descriptions for each one.   

Here is a link to my presentation.  I created a Facebook group. 

 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11801587146&ref=mf

Enjoy!

I can apply several writing techniques that I have learned in English 112 to my other major classes.  First, I can use the different types of introductions and conclusions that I have learned for my future papers.  Introductions and conclusions are essential to any paper I will write throughout college, therefore, it is good that I have learned about many different types of intros and conclusion.  I can also use what I learned about thesis statements in my other classes.  Once again, many papers I will write, no matter what class, will require a thesis statement.  Finally, one of the most important things I learned in English 112 that I can use in other classes in how to synthesize sources.  For other courses, sometimes I will be using more than one source when writing a paper, therefore, learning how to synthesize sources will come in handy.  Just the other day, when I was writing a paper for my Great Ideas class, I felt myself synthesizing two of the sources I was using.  I know all of these techniques will come in handy for future courses and papers.  I am taking a literature course next fall, and I feel like learning all of these things will be very beneficial when writing papers for that course.  Overall, I think everything that I learned in English 112 will apply to my future courses in some way or another. 

Although, this essay is much larger than previous essays I have written, my writing process has been relatively the same.  I spent a while thinking about a possible topic, and chose something that related to my interests, which is music.  I then spent hours gathering information about my topic and finding reliable resources.  From there, I wrote my proposal and my source analysis.  On my own, I wrote a preliminary outline which let me organize my main points for my essay.  I then wrote a more detailed outline that provide more detail for my main points.  Once I did all that, I felt that I was ready to begin writing my rough draft.  The textbook also really helped me with my wring process.  First, they informed with other forms of research such as interviews.  The authors of the textbook also really informed me about developing my thesis, introduction, and conclusion. After reading it, I was really able to decide which types of introduction and conclusion I would use.    

To me, the writing process is a triathlon.  This sounds a bit extreme, but I will explain.  When writing a large researched essay, a lot of time and energy goes into it before you even start writing.  You must find a topic, spend hours researching, write a proposal and source analysis, and develop an outline.  Then, when you have done all of that, you are prepared to write your rough and final drafts.  Once I have completed everything I have a strong feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.  When competing in a triathlon, a lot of time, energy, and hard work must go into it before you even compete in the event.  You spend months and months swimming, running, biking, and just training your body to get ready for the event.  Once you have done all that, you are prepared to compete in the event.  At the end of it all and you have finished the race, you have such an amazing feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.  I chose to compare my writing process to a triathlon because I am planning on competing in one in August and have began to train for it, so this really relates to my life.