My name is Bipasha Saha and I am a freshman at City College with a major in Psychology. As a person, I am simply curious and constantly seek out new knowledge to zestfully develop my skills. This English class has essentially helped me flourish to become a better student and writer. I have gained immense knowledge and experience in various writing styles and have even demonstrated this in my major writing assignments which include: Letter of Recommendation, Peer Interview, Field Observation, and Research Proposal. And, all of the skills and experience I attained from this will help me with my future endeavors in my academics. I have also come to realize that my strengths and weaknesses in writing are what make me unique and as I put more work into the process it will only make my writing that much stronger and beautiful.
As I previously mentioned, I take great interest in learning and wanting to actively become a better writer. So, this is a skill that I brought to the class which has helped me throughout the never-ending process of writing. Once I became interested in a topic it made me want to learn about ways that I could improve my skills to write a great piece. Furthermore, I became interested in learning everything about that topic which would be a great start to have a better style in my writing. Another key point, throughout this class, I learned that the more I allow myself to experience, the more I will have to write about and can use it to my advantage.
This writing class has brought numerous changes to my writing style. I have learned how to be more analytical and resourceful. In particular, how to work on drafts to create the best possible piece of writing. Some struggles that I always had with my writing were with grammar and even now it is something that I struggle with because I never really worked to become better at it. I remember growing up all my teachers would have a lesson on how to focus on grammar and the technicalities of it but I don’t think I quite understood it. It becomes confusing for me when you are typing your own paper and have to find grammatical errors. But with experience and more effort, I know that I can become better at my writing talents and in this case grammar. I remember this one time I went to my friend’s birthday party and she introduced me to her aunt. And funny enough her aunt was an English teacher and she began to quiz me on parts of speech and testing me to see how much I know about grammar. I felt very embarrassed and felt that it wasn’t right of her to put me on the spot. It made me feel like I needed to buy a grammar book and focus and make sure I know the basics of grammar.
Some skills that I really worked on in this class was my ability to talk with my peers and share my thoughts. Often times in my previous classes I would feel intimidated to share my thoughts or didn’t feel comfortable sharing because of the uninhibited atmosphere. However, in this class, the teacher made it comfortable for us to take part in activities that were always unique. And allowed us to work with each other to discuss intellectual thoughts with an open mind. I definitely challenged myself to open up with my peers and converse and ask questions about things that I wasn’t sure about.
We also spent a lot of time in this class reading various texts from journals, magazines, books which have helped me incorporate these styles into my writing. The more I read the more I am able to better my writing with techniques rather than have the same nonchalant style of writing. Discussion board posts were also a major part of this class which allowed me to get more exposure to differnet types of reading and writing styles. And, to then respond to the task gave me the chance to express how much I learned or what my thought was. Moreover, I was able to better my writing through the drafting and editing process which was really important in this class. I never put much importance to drafts and in the past have submitted a final piece without a draft. This class has taught me the importance of utilizing all my resources to make sure that I am able to produce my best work. Often times I have all the ideas written down but just need a little touch up with editing that allows me to put my best work forward. And, going to the writing center as well as having my peers and teacher help me out was great. Peer editing in this class was always delightful because it gave me a chance to have multiple people with different perspectives look at my work. As well as giving my peers helpful and positive feedback that will leave them with something to think about and work on. Engaging in a collaborative aspect throughout the writing process was very helpful. Something that I want to also work more on and I think this semester I have gotten better at would be how to incorporate sources into my writing. Using these skills properly in my assignments was a struggle but with the right guidance and practice, it became much easier. By the same token, learning to correctly cite, paraphrase, analyze sources, use research databases to make my writing better as a part of the writing process in this class. All of these skills and lessons have made me a stronger writer who is more confident.
