I think that ENG160 has been a good opportunity for me to Improve on my essay planning skills and my brainstorming skills to get me closer to a university-satisfactory level. Before this course I rarely brainstormed, and I would only brainstorm if my high school teachers Made it an assignment. Since I’ve entered college and most of the work that I have done isn’t turned in, because a lot of the writing process isn’t technically “mandatory” to turn in, so there is a lot of the writing process must be on me and I’ve had to make myself do the work such as brainstorming. When I originally started brainstorming by myself, it didn’t work out too well because it would be very vague and wouldn’t hit all the points that I would think about while I write the essay. This caused some parts to look more detailed and well developed and others that were half idea and more thoughtful, which would affect my editing process because I would have to go back to these parts and add more and organize them. Since then, I’ve been taking longer than 30 minutes to do a brainstorm for my essay and will allow myself to take around 1-2 days to see it in completion. On top of this, I have also improved my editing critiques. I’ve gotten somewhat better at grammar since the start of this class, for example I would not have even known what to use a semicolon for until I entered college and learned the proper uses for both a colon and semicolon. I have also started to get better at proofreading my essay to make sure my argument made sense and flows properly, and I have even realized that peer review is super important to write a good paper. Not only do I now actually check my papers, but I also read it multiple times throughout a few days to make sure I like what I’m reading. I also have found myself using language I would have never used in a paper ever; I have started to become more descriptive with my imagery and I have made it flow well. On top of that, I have become a more creative writer in terms of language, creativity and even adding my own personality to my writings without making it academically inappropriate. Finally, I can confidently say that my writing has improved.

I feel as I would be ready to move onto English 170, as I am able to effectively recognize points in writing where I am lacking and correct them. Of course nothing I’ve produced is perfect but I have the skills necessary to become an effective writer.