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.