Dear Mrs. Cline,
The biggest challenge I
have had in this class so far has been in regards to my essays. I have had
challenges with coming up with a good thesis. I have also had challenges
relating my whole essay to the thesis without being redundant. I feel that I
have also had challenges relating to learning MLA style of writing. Prior to
this class I used APA style writing. Distinguishing the differences and
similarities and learning how to effectively learn them in my essays have been
challenging for me.
I feel that my biggest
success so far in this class has been figuring out how to use a blog post. I
was very nervous and afraid that I would not be able to figure this one out as
I am not as modernized and up to date with all of the social networking as
others may be. Although I had several questions that I asked you in the
beginning to help me to understand the blog posting world, I figured it out and
it was not as complicated as I thought.
The readings in the
class have been interesting to say the least. The first three readings were
very difficult to read and comprehend as I am not used to reading that style of
writing. I had to read the summaries and reviews to help me get a better grasp
of the meaning of some of the words that the authors chose to use. However, I
have really enjoyed reading Methland, Winter’s Bone, and Up in the Air. I feel
that these books had a much easier storyline to follow and the plots were much
more interesting than those in Bartleby the Scrivener, Melville, and A Modest
Proposal.
Most of the writings I
have done in other college courses have been summaries and research papers. I
have sometimes found it difficult to not allow a literary analysis to become
just that. The biggest difference in a literary analysis and other types of
writing is that a literary analysis includes discussing various components of
two or more separate pieces of work and how they relate to each other, which
deal with similar concepts. The concepts need to go beyond just a summary and
they need to relate and expand on larger aesthetic, political, social,
economic, or religious contexts, which may create an argument in the paper.
My goals for the second
half of the semester are to continue to become stronger in the areas that have
been challenging for me in the first semester. I would like to be able to make
better improvements on my drafts-final essays, MLA style of writing, and
literary analysis.
Overall I have enjoyed
English 102 thus far. Although I have put in much time and effort into this
class, I think my grade reflects my efforts fairly.
Sincerely,
Nathan
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