- English 110 has taught me to approach writing as a recursive process that requires substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading. As someone who had previously despised anything to do with writing and reading, I can now say the importance of this learning outcome. This learning outcome has taught me much more than just an approach to writing but it has also taught me that writing is more of a fun puzzle that you slowly piece together. The best part about this puzzle is when you solve it and put it together, seeing your masterpiece. This has given me a better understanding and love for the writing process and it because of what I learned in English 110. Thank you for reading, Learning outcome #1.
- Before English 110 I would not state my own opinion and integrate it into my papers. I would also fail at successfully integrating others’ ideas into my paper and it would feel all over the place and thrown together. But this course has taught me that giving my own opinion in my work is not only a great idea but also it makes the writing much more fluid as what you are saying can’t be wrong because it is what you think. This also makes it easier to integrate others’ ideas and summaries making your writing much cleaner and intensive. This is shown through my essays. Thank you for reading, LEarning Outcomes #2.
- In high school I never read the writings that was assigned to me critically, and I definitely did not actively read. I did know the basics of highlighting words I did not know but I would not properly analyse the readings. I believe this lead to my dislike for english as I would not look deep into the readings and only saw them at face value which was a lot of words that school was forcing me to read. But in English 110 I have learned to employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking. In the readings we were assigned I employed these techniques and found myself asking questions after every paragraph, and wanting to continue to read more. For the first time in my life I wanted to read. I did not just take the readings at face value. I would analyse the writing and think to myself, “what does the author mean here” and “what is the point of this point they are making?” For example, While reading Micheal Chabon’s, “My Son the Fashion Prince”, I critically analysed the reading and found myself really loving Micheal and his son’s story. I saw the stroy as not just a story of his and his son’s trip to the Paris Fashion Week, but as a story of Micheal’s son finding his identity. Going deeper into the readings made me love the material and I honestly don’t know if this would have happened without English 110. Thank you for reading, Learning Outcome #3.
- At the end of English 110 us students should be able to critique their own and others’ work by emphasizing global revision early in the writing process and local revision later in the process. I rarely would critique mine or others’ work. The most I would do in high school is fix small grammar mistakes, but I would not critique the thoughts and ideas that the writer has. This year I have now learned the importance of this skill. I now believe that peer review is the best way to start an essay. Having others read your work is always important as getting others’ perspectives increases the quality of your work. And this also goes the other way around. When you critique your work and others critique your work as well, you can find yourself rethinking your writing for the better as you now may have new ideas. When I first heard that in English class others would be critiquing our work, I was terrified. I thought I was not a good writer and others would judge me for my writing, but this is not any further from the truth. Having others critique my work allowed for me to further my writing and make a much better essay, one that I am now very proud of. These critiques helped me to create a better flowing essay. Thank you for reading, Leading Outcome #4.
- As shown through my three essays for English 110(shown in the “significant writing project” tab in the eportfolio), I have documented work using correct MLA format and conventions. My work shows correct headings, page numbers, quotations from websites, books, essays and other forms of writing, as well as a works cited page at the end of my papers. My MLA conventions have gotten more precise and accurate with each major writing assignment. This progression of my skills in using correct MLA format has improved with each major writing assignment. But I have not always been this way. When I used to write my essays I would commonly mess up the title by writing the date in the incorrect format, I would always forget to add the page numbers, and I would especially incorrectly use quotations, or even sometimes not use quotations at all. This would make my writings unorganized and because of the incorrect use of quotations, I would be flagged for plagiarism. The date and title not being in the correct MLA format would start off my essay very bad and the reader would be put off instantly. But after my first semester at UNE, I am much better at using the correct format because of English 110. I am now much more confident in my formatting and though I still make small mistakes here and there, I am much more consistent, and ultimately a better writer because of it.i Thank you for reading, Leading Outcome #5 .
- I have definitely completed Learning Outcome #6. In English 110 I have a much more defined controlled sentence-level error(grammar, punctuation, and spelling). I am not the best speller, and definitely did not win any spelling bees, but after this class I am much better at spelling. Spelling has always been a struggle of mine, from words like definity that always end up as definetly and gorgeous that end up as gorgoues to even simple words such as acceptable. But I am now a much more capable writer due to my advances in these categories. English 110 taught me to slow down and reread the sentences I write and after I did this, I saw that the common spelling mistakes that would previously make were now gone. Thank you for reading, Learning Outcome #6.
