In class we all as a whole had to read, "The Lord of the Flies", "The Catcher in the Rye", and "Macbeth". All of these books were amazing to read but when it came to writing the essays for them, I believe that my favorite and most interesting was "The Lord of the Flies", which is one of my favorite books to this day. "The Lord of the Flies" had such a brilliant story line and it kept me interested as I read on. Junior year was a big year for writing essays because of the two regents that were required that year for us. The regents for junior year was, the English Regents and the U.S. History regents.
11 December 2014 Drowning in the Discourse Julie Wildhaber says that “A strong, well-defined voice is the bridge between you and your audience: It helps your readers understand who you are, and it helps you engage them” (Wildhaber). For students in college, their audience will always be their professor. Along with expecting a strong voice, professors expect students, even first year students, to master and employ the many other writing skills that make up academic discourse. Most students tend to prioritize the more technical conventions of writing over the development of a distinguished and personalized voice. The conventions of college writing are very complex and if professors are more helpful and patient with first year students as they learn academic discourse, students will be better prepared for all future academic endeavors and they will have a better opportunity to strengthen and develop their voice.
I considered a good writer to be anyone who could effectively convey a message to a reader. Since going through the first two units, I have learned that good writing is quite a bit more complicated. Author Keith Grant-Davie discussed how important to good writing it was to analyze your subject matter to understand who all of your possible audiences are and who you may be representing when writing your material, and to address all parties appropriately. If an author can do this effectively, I believe that it is a crucial part of becoming a good writer. Unit one also taught me to reevaluate how important certain priorities when it came to writing.
Final Paper My Thoughts on Ideology and the Class This English class, specifically Ken McGraw's English class, had quite an effect on me. I really liked how the discussions of ideology expanded my interpretation of the world as i see it. Everything i see from being with my family to reading fiction books has changed in my eyes. Something that i really enjoyed was coming to class, and hearing everybody else's views on what ideology is. It was different to each person and i guess that is kind what the definition of ideology is.
However, reading the novels should not be simply a matter of staying awake, but fully understanding and enjoying the novel. Personally, I fall asleep annotating. Another common argument that is pro-annotation is that annotating helps ace the book tests. As a student, I can honestly say, about eighty percent of all English classes who have novel tests utilize Sparknotes, Cliffnotes, or other student novel guides to achieve good grades on their tests. The other twenty percent may go back to their annotations, and get the same grades as students who “sparknotes” it.
Garrett McCloud Writing and Composition II Professor Dilkes Me as a Reader and writer My experience as a reader and a writer is very interesting. A lot of the times when I write I usually have a very good understanding of what I read and write but sometimes I rush and do not go over what I write. As a reader I would take the insight of the author writings and then try to incorporate or compare it to my life to see how I can relate to it. Try to put it in my on perspective in order to have an idea of what theme should be for that paper. Learning about how the theme of your paper should be related back to in every paragraph is important to the flow of the paper.
Commentary After reading Alice Walker’s novel ‘The Colour Purple’[1] I was heavily influenced by the theme of identity manipulation and oppression. Several other novels including ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’[2] and ‘Fingersmith’[3] helped further my understanding and thoughts around this theme, whilst also shaping my own attitudes and ideas on this subject. The oppression and manipulation of identity, a theme which neatly links the pieces together, was an appropriate foundation for my writing and was additionally developed by my wider reading. The non-fiction piece ‘Confessions of a People Watcher’ is a personal response to this theme; written in the form of a narrative essay it attracts a well-educated audience who have an interest in the personal opinion of such subjects. Although the primary purpose of this piece is to inform the reader, it was also created to inspire the reader’s own opinions around the themes.
I also passed along the passion to read and write. As an adult I used this knowledge to apply my reading to researching and allowing me to attain better jobs and further my career, teaching my child. My career involved working with the Internal Revenue Service and eventually steered me to apply for a job at the Clovis-Carver Library. Attaining the job made reading become a big part of my life again. I was able to become more knowledgeable about the authors and their style of writing.
In fact, every time I just hope that my brain will come with something creative that I could start with. Writing assignments, sometimes it makes me feel as the world is conspiring against me; on one side of my brain are the negative thoughts and fear that keep me away from writing a great paper, and on the other side, instead of positive mind, I encounter with the thoughts like, “Do I ever going to present a really great essay?”, “Will I pass the class?” But, not everything had been unfavorable on my writing experience. Although of all these dissection, I have accomplished great things as well. For instance, I learned more about myself; I have learned things I needed to improve and change on my writing, and about my fears. Additionally, I have noticed tremendous progress on my writing skills, that is, I write much faster now, therefore, I get better papers and grades.
The Many Aspects of English 112 English 112 has been an interesting, and challenging experience for me. From the demanding amount of work listed on the syllabus, reading from the textbook, and Mr. Smith himself, I have learned a lot from my first semester in college. Although there have been many positive experiences along the way, I feel there are a few areas that could use improvement to help students be more successful in English 112. On the first day of class I was given a syllabus, which was an outline of topics, and assignments the class would cover during the semester. The syllabus included: chapters from the textbook, in class essays, grammar exercises, a final exam, and a research paper.