Dear English Composition Department,

Prior to this semester, I was worried about having to take this course. I have always liked my writing;  I believe that when I give a piece my all, it turns out successful. However, the “giving a piece my all” is where I struggle. I enjoy writing but have a history of it being difficult for me to sit down and do an assignment for an English class. In my first semester at New Paltz in fall 2020, I took ENG160 online from my home – and ended up S/U-ing the course. Having no class time to force me to sit down and work left me falling behind and repeatedly missing assignments. There were many different factors that I believe led to my downfall in the class, and I knew it meant I would have to take an English course again. These problems I have with structured writing assignments are what led me to dreading this class as the semester began.

During the course, I was able to learn skills that lessen my stress when it comes to writing. The most notable one to me would be outlining and how I’ve learned to use it to my advantage. With my dislike for the structure of writing assignments as stated earlier, I often procrastinate starting a paper. I leave them for last minute and therefore, often do not have the opportunity to make an outline. During my time taking the course, I got used to having to make them in various ways: in my notebook as scrawls, in more structured, “step one – step two – step three” formats, and just typing up a page of so of basic points I’d like to cover. I have been able to experiment with all these different types of outlining and over time, I have learned which ones help me.

Thus far in my college career, I hadn’t been a big fan on college level reading. I haven’t had much to go on, but reading philosophy pages online with no annotation tools did not do much for me, for example. It was hard to comprehend, and there was no way to make it easier on myself. In this course however, the program Hypothesis was introduced to us. We did not use it very much throughout the semester but it stuck out to me because of how helpful it was. I loved being able to highlight text and write in the margins. I liked the ability to collaborate with classmates and comparing my notes to theirs. I still do not know much about the tool, but I would like to use it in the future for any classes I take with online readings.

As the semester comes to a close, I have been able to recognize my strengths and weaknesses and improve both. Throughout the semester, I struggled with making clear arguments in my writing. I have been able to develop this skill, learning how to decide on something specific instead of general and unclear. I have learned how to back up said arguments better as well. This course has also helped improve my introductions and conclusions in writing. Before the semester, I struggled writing the beginning and endings of essays because they felt superficial, or meaningless compared to the body paragraphs. This class has taught me how to develop them more and how they are just as important as the interior.

I feel very prepared regarding college writing expectations and professional contexts. I will still continue to get anxious about these types of writings, but it is all due to my personal issues I stated in the introduction. I have learned a lot from this course that will help me in all sorts of ways. Outlines will aid me in preparing and will ease my stress before having to begin. My development in making arguments will directly help in my writing process, making me more concise and clear. These skills I have learned make me more confident in my writing, and make me less dreadful of future writing endeavors.