Han 1

Bobbi Han
Prof. Corri Ditch
Reflection Essay
Dec 8 2015

How I have grown through this class

In general, I love English. Although It is my second language, It has always been one of
my prides because I can speak English fluently. In high school, english was the language they
use to teach in every subject, thus, Im familiar with this dialect than most other second-language
speakers. Im used to writing essays in English. It was not that big of a deal for me at first.
However, after this course start, I realized that my academic writing in English is not perfect.
There are so many flaws in my writing that I need to fix to be ready for college writing
requirements. Throughout the course, I learned how to argue my thesis and back it up with solid
evidences that are provided from the book: Composing Gender.

Looking back from now, I think this course started off easy. The first exercise we did was
to annotate a text. At that moment, reading the text was difficult for me since I have never try to
read and analyze a college level piece of writing. At first, the test appeared really confusing to
me. All the wordings sounded strange and so sophisticated. Fortunately, I learned and adapted
the way it is worded eventually. However, when it gets down to writing, it is easily for me to get
lost between a plethora of ideas that I have. I did not have a habit of writing a prospectus before
writing my essays. Therefore, my ideas in the essays are always spontaneous and loosely linked.

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That is what weakens my arguments. Furthermore, I learned that the way I form my thesis
statement is important as well as how my argument sounds. That one sentence can confuse the
whole piece of writing if the writer do not be specific enough on what he/she means. Thanks to
the feedbacks from professor Ditch, my colleagues and tutors at the Learning and resources
center, I now know how to write a clear and precise thesis statement and ready for my future
college writing career.

Another improvement that I have through out this course is that being able to research for
credible source to back up my argument. I learned that to have a convincing argument, one needs
to have evidence to support their ideas. Before, I would only use my common-sense logic to
argue. I remember going to the lab at the library to listen to a lecture on how to research for
credible sources at CSUN website. Ever since, It has been really helpful for me, not only in
English 113A, but also in other classes. Before the lecture, the only credible source I use is from
the book Composing Gender.

One major improvement that I have earned through this course is that being able to write
within a certain amount of pages required. This is to say that being able to convey an idea in a
certain amount of extension should be helpful throughout any circumstances in life. For example,
I had struggles to compress my ideas, during the Progression I, into an extension of three to four
pages because I had a lot of ideas in my head. Then, I also had a lot of struggles to fulfill the
amount of pages required during Progression II because I did not have a lot of ideas to write
about. In the end, I learned how to balance it and to fix my ideas into the amount given.

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During the course, I started to participated in social clubs around campus. That is when I
start to lack on school work. I may have missed one or two assignments and did not investigate
enough time to research and analyze the text carefully so that my argument are not strong
enough. However, my grades did improve through the two progressions. This means although I
might lack at a certain point but I still make progress in my writing.

To sum up, after English 113A, I learned how to write a strong thesis statement, research
and apply solid evidence to back up my thesis, and learn to express my idea in an appropriate
amount of writing. Although I might have lack during the process and might feel that I could
have got farther than I am now if I paid more attention, I am still proud to say that I do progress
and earn my knowledge and skills from this course.