When my first semester started as a freshman in college, no doubt I was nervous, I did not know what to expect. English, without being at a college level, is my weakest subject. I have never been an extraordinary reader or writer so one can imagine how diving headfirst into this composition class could have made me uneasy. When I would write for prior English courses it was always dreaded, rushed and unclear. I knew the ideas I had but was never good at putting them down on paper. After taking this composition course the method and processes I use to write are completely different. When it comes to brainstorming now, I start with broad ideas, and then do further research on each of my ideas. After researching whichever ideas has the most material, I end up choosing because I clearly have been the most inspired by that topic. Now taking my information and putting it into a format is simple if one has brainstormed right. I now keep those bundles of information that correlate together rather than shoving it in one paragraph or breaking it into too many paragraphs. When typing my first draft it is important to follow one’s creative flow. Do not stop the words just get everything down and it can be revised later. I have learned that one’s essay is never done after the first draft. Now revising and drafting are the biggest changes to how I used to write and have been the most beneficial to my writing process. When revising one wants to cut out useless words phrases and keep everything straight to the point because when drafting one can type excessive amounts of unnecessary information. All these slight changes and tricks I have learned throughout English 160 and have taken me from the high school to the college level. The main assignments in this course sufficiently strengthened my organizational skills and has helped me reach my audience through writing. My organizational skills prior to this course were weak and making my papers integrity suffer. I have now learned strong ways to set up the information to keep the reader focused on the point/points I am making. Organization and reaching the audience go hand and hand because with weak organization the writer had lost the audience from the beginning. Skills such as revising, and a strong claim is what keeps the reader engaged whether they agree or disagree. The audience wants to hear the writers voice along with research. Something I was doing wrong in my high school years is the packing of facts and my outside information. Although I have now realized the reader can always go and read the same article I did. The whole point is to give your point of view therefore it is extremely important to keep one’s voice as the writer heard. This will lead to the audience staying very engaged and not lost in the writing. Somethings I still wish to strengthen is my use of rhetorical appeals consciously. I say consciously because when writing my research paper, I found that rhetorical appeals insert themselves naturally. Although it is never intentional. Rhetorical appeals when used correctly can be extremely beneficial to strengthen ones writing. Something else I continue to struggle with is conventions. I have gotten better over this course, but there is always a stronger way to word a statement or better grammar that could have been used. For example, in the first essay we wrote my language use and sentence struck was weak simply because I was still in old habits. Although, one can see the improvement over this course in word choice and overall stronger, more meaningful phrases. The idea of making the digital portfolio at first was nerve racking because releasing my writing to the public was something I had never done. It changed my writing because it forced me to speck with a wider voice. By this I mean direct my information in numerous different ways and considered the countless viewpoints on said topic/topics. After taking English 160 I feel immensely able and grounded going into English 170. This is all because the course tough me how to break down steps when it comes to writing and how to truly appeal to one’s audience. Not only has my writing improved but as a writer I feel more confident. This course will has helped me for classes this semester and will continue to help for the rest of my New Paltz career. With the skills taught to me this semester my writing in future can be done properly and affirmably without me having to worry. Outside of English 160 I am a singer songwriter, so I am constantly writing. Appeals and different modes had expanded my creative flow when it comes to song writing. I love writing lines with deeper means or some that might take some extra though and composition 1 has helped me with that. I will continue to use these skills as a musician and I cannot wait to see where it takes me.