Christopher Bernstein

Professor Giambanco

English 170

May 1st, 2023

 

Cover Letter

Before I took this course, I felt like my writing was not the greatest, I always hated writing because the topics never interested me, and I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to write anything good. In my first paper, my topic proposal, the thesis was not clear at all, and the paper was all over the place. I had a lot of sentences that just end randomly that could have been expanded on with greater detail. I was able to fix some of my usual mistakes in my research paper where my information was used to a great extent and my thesis was strong and clear. For example my thesis in my topic proposal stated, “Renewable energy is now the only option for energy supply and fossil fuel usage should stop immediately if we are serious about protecting the health of our planet.” Which is not as strong of a thesis statement compared to my research paper thesis statement which stated, “If humans continue to use fossil fuels as their main source of energy, Earth will continue to be polluted, and eventually there will be no source of energy; humans should switch to renewable energy because it is more beneficial for the environment and is more resourceful.” This thesis is much clearer and is a call to action for the readers, which is something that I didn’t even know about before this class. This class helped to teach me to be a better writer, and it helped me to get better at revisions as well.

One of the main things I learned to do better was revising my writing; when I used to make drafts, they would be almost the same as my final paper with almost nothing changed. I hated drafts when I first started as I felt as if they were useless and just a waste of time, I see how wrong I was with thinking this. Drafts help you get an idea of what you’re writing about, and it allows you to get a basis of your information on the page. This process helped my writing because it forced me to start writing earlier than I do which in the end helped me write my final paper. Another aspect of writing that I have improved on due to this class is the research part of it. To get information for my research paper I had to look online at the library for multiple sources and explain how they all relate to my topic. This can help me in the future because once I graduate, I want to work in a lab which can require tons of research and I have to use what I learned in this class to cite my sources correctly and know how to extract information from texts. One of my strengths is rhetorical appeals in my essay. I always tried to repeat my main topic and tried to persuade my readers to understand the dangers that are caused from fossil fuels. Another strength is my research process. When I research, I try and read the abstract and a couple of the first paragraphs to see if it works for my essay. Whenever I find a source, I plan on using I would favorite and then read the article or book while taking out some of the main details I can use and quotes that can help improve my thesis. Throughout the year my writing has gotten better, compared to the beginning of the semester. I never thought my writing would get better but because of this class it helped me improve immensely.