Guan-Bok Kwok
English 101H MW 9:30-10:55 am
Professor McKeever
13 December 2013
Word Count: 933
In Reflection
I never put much effort into academic essays before I began this class. I used to write generic topic sentences for every paper; even now, sometimes I still catch myself trying to write one. My paragraphs were not very organized and I used some colorless, empty words to get a higher word count. Also, my conclusions were always lacking or confusing; I still have some problems summarizing my papers. However, throughout this semester, I have strengthened my essays, improved my writing skills, and also learned how to analyze different writings.
You taught me how to catch a reader's attention by writing captivating ledes; it takes me time to think past the dull and obvious ledes in order to create a good one, but it's worth it to help build interest in my works. I also learned that if a well-written thesis follows a good lede, the reader will have a better understanding of the paper's perspective and main topic. Before taking this class, I thought a strong topic sentence was all I needed to capture the audience; combining both interesting ledes and a concise thesis results in a strong, clear introduction to my essay.
Taking your class helped me develop organizational techniques in my writing and classwork. I never wrote outlines or brainstormed prior to writing a paper; I used to sit down in front of my computer and try to type a paper off the top of my head. Many times I would lose my train of thought, or I would not know what I am going to say next. After writing like that for the first three or four papers, I decided to try out this idea of writing an outline or even brainstorming, this helped me tremendously in organizing my thoughts into words on a paper. The application of these techniques has saved me hours of staring at a screen not knowing what to write or constructing poor paragraphs.
While writing essays in the past, I have always been tempted to use empty, colorless words to stuff my essays and also to increase word count. When writing essays now, I automatically condense sentences in order to get to my point and move on; learning this has improved the content and clarity of my essays. Not only did I learn that the use of colorless, empty words aren't favored by professors, but the reader gets bored reading an essay with no meaning. After reading the article How to Write Nothing in Five Hundred Words, I realized that it is a tedious task to read something of that nature. Since the first day of taking your class, you never appreciated a paper with obvious padding, and this has inspired me to put time and effort into my works.
Taking a unique approach on a topic to interest the audience is a technique you taught me; even though the approach may be from an unlikely angle, I realized I can still convey the same message I would have from the boring, obvious point of view. In my previous writings, a unique approach never crossed my mind; I almost always wrote very generic papers and wondered why I did not receive a higher grade. After I started thinking of different approaches to a topic, I was more excited to write a paper because I know it's different, and I won't be bored while I'm writing it.
I realized this semester that without a schedule for classwork, it becomes difficult to keep up with the workload; once I fell behind, I had to force myself onto a grueling schedule. In high school, I rarely missed assignments, but in order to complete any assignment I would stay awake until the morning of the due date finishing the project. For future semesters, I now know the importance of planning ahead and pacing myself and my work in order to succeed and stay on course.
taught me how to set up a schedule, though I still don't follow them.
I improved my conclusions steadily throughout your course. In the beginning, I had a poor grasp on how to summarize my whole paper into a few concise statements. Therefore, my conclusions came out weaker than I intended, and I was not sure how to improve them. My efforts in trying to improve my conclusions involved much time spent reading and re-reading my paper trying to summarize my main points into a logical last paragraph. Though I feel as if I improved, I still struggle with conclusions.
By the end of the semester, I feel I have greatly enhanced my writing and comprehension skills. I learned how to draw a reader's attention through intriguing ledes and explanatory theses. I also started organizing my thoughts on paper before I attempted to type the essay. In addition, I learned the use of empty, colorless words does not actually add any content to the paper, and that it is much more effective and interesting to include relevant and worthwhile content; this ties in with taking unique approaches to the topics assigned which will interest the reader as much as it will interest me into writing it. All these improvements would not have been possible if I did not revise my schedule to focus more on my writing. It wasn't easy to change my writing style, but your instructions and encouragement helped me to accomplish all this. In the end, I have immensely enjoyed the benefits I reaped from your teaching and my hard work.
English 101H MW 9:30-10:55 am
Professor McKeever
13 December 2013
Word Count: 933
In Reflection
I never put much effort into academic essays before I began this class. I used to write generic topic sentences for every paper; even now, sometimes I still catch myself trying to write one. My paragraphs were not very organized and I used some colorless, empty words to get a higher word count. Also, my conclusions were always lacking or confusing; I still have some problems summarizing my papers. However, throughout this semester, I have strengthened my essays, improved my writing skills, and also learned how to analyze different writings.
You taught me how to catch a reader's attention by writing captivating ledes; it takes me time to think past the dull and obvious ledes in order to create a good one, but it's worth it to help build interest in my works. I also learned that if a well-written thesis follows a good lede, the reader will have a better understanding of the paper's perspective and main topic. Before taking this class, I thought a strong topic sentence was all I needed to capture the audience; combining both interesting ledes and a concise thesis results in a strong, clear introduction to my essay.
Taking your class helped me develop organizational techniques in my writing and classwork. I never wrote outlines or brainstormed prior to writing a paper; I used to sit down in front of my computer and try to type a paper off the top of my head. Many times I would lose my train of thought, or I would not know what I am going to say next. After writing like that for the first three or four papers, I decided to try out this idea of writing an outline or even brainstorming, this helped me tremendously in organizing my thoughts into words on a paper. The application of these techniques has saved me hours of staring at a screen not knowing what to write or constructing poor paragraphs.
While writing essays in the past, I have always been tempted to use empty, colorless words to stuff my essays and also to increase word count. When writing essays now, I automatically condense sentences in order to get to my point and move on; learning this has improved the content and clarity of my essays. Not only did I learn that the use of colorless, empty words aren't favored by professors, but the reader gets bored reading an essay with no meaning. After reading the article How to Write Nothing in Five Hundred Words, I realized that it is a tedious task to read something of that nature. Since the first day of taking your class, you never appreciated a paper with obvious padding, and this has inspired me to put time and effort into my works.
Taking a unique approach on a topic to interest the audience is a technique you taught me; even though the approach may be from an unlikely angle, I realized I can still convey the same message I would have from the boring, obvious point of view. In my previous writings, a unique approach never crossed my mind; I almost always wrote very generic papers and wondered why I did not receive a higher grade. After I started thinking of different approaches to a topic, I was more excited to write a paper because I know it's different, and I won't be bored while I'm writing it.
I realized this semester that without a schedule for classwork, it becomes difficult to keep up with the workload; once I fell behind, I had to force myself onto a grueling schedule. In high school, I rarely missed assignments, but in order to complete any assignment I would stay awake until the morning of the due date finishing the project. For future semesters, I now know the importance of planning ahead and pacing myself and my work in order to succeed and stay on course.
taught me how to set up a schedule, though I still don't follow them.
I improved my conclusions steadily throughout your course. In the beginning, I had a poor grasp on how to summarize my whole paper into a few concise statements. Therefore, my conclusions came out weaker than I intended, and I was not sure how to improve them. My efforts in trying to improve my conclusions involved much time spent reading and re-reading my paper trying to summarize my main points into a logical last paragraph. Though I feel as if I improved, I still struggle with conclusions.
By the end of the semester, I feel I have greatly enhanced my writing and comprehension skills. I learned how to draw a reader's attention through intriguing ledes and explanatory theses. I also started organizing my thoughts on paper before I attempted to type the essay. In addition, I learned the use of empty, colorless words does not actually add any content to the paper, and that it is much more effective and interesting to include relevant and worthwhile content; this ties in with taking unique approaches to the topics assigned which will interest the reader as much as it will interest me into writing it. All these improvements would not have been possible if I did not revise my schedule to focus more on my writing. It wasn't easy to change my writing style, but your instructions and encouragement helped me to accomplish all this. In the end, I have immensely enjoyed the benefits I reaped from your teaching and my hard work.