Aria Manley

Instructor Nicole Short

English Composition Fall 2019

12/9/19

Cover Letter 

This year I have really enjoyed the English composition class. The structure of the class allowed me to research and discuss topics that I really enjoy. I thought the transition from high school to college English classes would be extremely difficult, but this class allowed for a smooth transition. I feel like I have improved my writing skills throughout the year and I hope to continue throughout the next semester.

English Composition 160 allowed me to have a smooth transition between high school and college writing. This course allowed me to explore my interests through writing due to the open structure of the essay topics. For most of the essays in the class, we were given the opportunity to find and research an essay topic. I believe this class structure allowed me to develop my writing skills through the immediate feedback from Ms. Short and without the interference of having to read a book. In high school, the majority of essays that students were allowed to write were based around reading a book. The problem with this is that the books were chosen for us and we were judged on our understanding of the book rather than our writing skills. 

I have enjoyed writing essays in this class and I have learned a lot about myself. My confidence in my writing ability has also grown due to this class as well. This class helped me develop my writing by allowing me to write about topics I am passionate about while challenging me to write essays in different formats and with different requirements. The essay that I felt challenged me the most was the rhetorical analysis based on a film or book of my own choosing. I was able to learn how to reformat my essays based on a film and learn to do my own research about a topic I was interested in. 

The writing skills that I developed in this class will help me in my future writing classes and beyond. I learned how to reformat my paragraphs and write with a proper progression of thought. I was never taught this formally so learning this now has been immensely helpful.