Camille Valentine
Roseann Fino-Murtaugh
Eng 160-29
December 5, 2022
Who am I Today as a Writer?
Hello, I am Camille Valentine, and this is an intro to my Hawksites for English 160. I never liked English class, I was always a bad writer, and reading has always been a struggle for me. I have had a comprehension problem since I was very little, so English papers and essays were always big milestones for me, and I would usually turn them in at the last-minute hoping for a passing grade. Since joining the Eng 160 class I have made great leaps in my writing, and I enjoy coming to class each Tuesday and Friday.
I have gained tools to help me before even writing the essay or paper at hand, outlines have become my best friends. In high school I was always taught outlines were optional and the teachers would expect us to write a 4-page essay just off the top of our heads. Thanks to my professor now, one of our first Homeworks was an outline for our first assignment. So, since we were forced to do it, I developed a love for outlines. Yes, they are not the best part of the essay process, but it makes the writing process go so much faster and smoother. I have received better grades then in the past and I am more confident in my writing process. As time passes my grades for my essays are getting better and better, by the end of the semester I am hoping to get at least close to a 90%.
Of course, there are things I would do differently, for example, my transition sentences are zero to none. I will bounce around from topic to topic with no explanation or connection, and I don’t realize until it is pointed out by an outside person reading my essay, which is usually my professor. Nevertheless, there is a solution: I could ask my roommate, a friend, or a family member to read my essay and give me pointers on how to create a better essay. I also learned this lesson in class when my professor had per review, it really helped and made writing essays that much easier and better. The best essay I believe I wrote was the research project. I put a lot of time, effort, and planning into that essay and the grade shows it. Now it’s not my best grade but for English with my problems in reading and writing it is really good and I am very proud of it.
In my research project, I am most proud of my details and description of evidence. I am also proud that I was able to share my story and experiences with mental health. It was honestly really hard to describe what I went through, but with encouragement from my classmates, I was able to willingly write down my past experiences. The essays weren’t the only projects that helped with my writing, free writes got me inspired to work and got rid of my writer’s block. Free writes were actually my favorite part of class, they were always interesting topics and were just fun ways of getting ready for class. I have grown in some areas of my overall work, for example, meaning and organization. Along with my newfound love of outlines I have found new organization skills and that overall helps me find more passion in my writing. But in others I have fallen short, for example, development and language/punctuation. I still need to work and develop skills for my work. Like I said before I jump from topic to topic with no transition making my essays clumpy and language use unintelligible, most of my points are taken off due to the punctuation era and that is just something I have to work on. I have to learn to take things slow and reread essays out loud to help me find my errors.
But overall, I believe I am ready and able to move on to the next course. I have grown as a writer and a reader; I can write solid essays and have good organization and revision skills. II have places I need to improve but I am able and willing to work on that. My citations are always key to my essays and in my time in ENG 160 I have been very persuasive during our class arguments which grow from some of our free writes. I am free and able to move onto course 170 and will be excited to join my new class.