Sylwia Gaca
English 101
Self-reflective Essay
Dear Future 101 Student,
I’m writing this letter to you, to tell you about my experience in my English 101 class. Before taking this class I was convinced it will be an easy class, just writing essays and reading materials. During the semester I learned that it takes lots of hard work with constructing essays, and a lot of work outside of class. Although I needed to dedicate significant amount of my time for this course, it was a pleasant experience.
When it comes to readings I would advise you to take time and annotate them. Mine second essay was about to compare ideas in two different essays. When I was trying to rush through reading those essays I got confused all the time. The ideas were unclear to me, and it was hard to find a deeper meaning. At first I was trying to find one quote in one essay and the one quote in the other essay, and then compare them to each other. It wasn’t a successful process, I wasn’t sure if the comparison was accurate, because I had trouble to interpret quotes. The most helpful thing was to pull out quote on the separate sheet of paper, and then slowly analyze it. To improve my reading skills I also researched words that had trouble to understand in dictionary.
Presence in class is very important, I advise you not miss any classes. You can become a better writer through many in class activities. For every essay thesis statement plays key role in introducing your idea to the reader. At the beginning of this semester I had little knowledge about thesis statement. In class we were divided into groups, and we received pocket with few thesis statements. Our job was to determine which statements were the best ones and fix those that were missing elements. Through the group and class discussion I learned that thesis statement has to be specific and inform reader what the essay will be about.
Writing essays requires writer to develop ideas and organize them in the essay. Before even starting essay I struggled with bringing together my ideas. When I felt like giving up on writing I tried on working with an outline. It was a brilliant idea, it saved me some time and helped organize my concepts. The most helpful skill I learned throughout this semester was to write my introduction after finishing my body paragraphs. I always had trouble to come up with a good introduction, I didn’t know how to start my essay. After writing my body paragraphs I had an idea how to introduce my essay to the reader.
I never felt 100 percent confident about my essays mainly because English is my second language. I advise you to take an advantage on Writing Center especially if you are not sure about your writing skills. For the first essay I didn’t go the Writing Center which I regret, because my essay was lucking in proper sentence structures. When it came to write next two essays I appreciatively went for help. Tutors in Writing Center are really friendly and helpful. They gave me few tips about writing and use of the articles. My last advice for you is to avoid doing everything last minute. Writing your essay the day before it is due will only result with a weak draft. It happened to me, I was busy rushing with my writing so I didn’t even have time to read it over and check for mistakes. I hope you will take the advantage from my advices.
Sincerely,
Sylwia Gaca