City College of New York offers a wide variety of classes that an undergraduate student can take. One of those classes consists of English 10111. In this class we are exposed and introduced to critical and analytical evaluations, we are also taught how to better our writing process with essential steps, write effectively with different rhetorical strategies and patterns, demonstrate the ability to synthesis materials drawn from sources, and to demonstrate the ability to write research papers consisting of 2500 words which would develop a central thesis coherently. Throughout the semester the professor guided each student through each essay and paper necessary for the course. The syllabus, provided by the professor, also showed us the fundamental importance of keeping track of deadlines by showing us what we would do in class and what we would turn in on each day we had class. From the first day of class to the last day of class we were taught how to properly structure any form of writing that we were given, not only that, we were also taught how to properly uses sources to our advantage in each paper.

Before I was in this English 10111 course, my writing’s structure and process had poor consistency, but throughout the semester the professor allowed me to improve on any obstacles that would throw me off. When we completed our first paper, which was the Introductory Essay, my professor immediately figured out what was wrong with my writing. The professor pointed out several times that I should be more specific when writing and I had no idea I was lacking that previously. The professor also commented ” I would encourage you to think more about  the ways in which your creative writing habits may or may not overlap with your scholarly writing habits”. With that being said I immediately went into focus and observed everything I was taught. What I observed was, to be more specific while writing my papers I should include sources with reliable information and cite them afterwards

For my next paper I tried to include as much of the commented improvements to my paper. I added more specific observations and analysis’s and used the sources provided to my advantage. The professor left new comments to help improve my future papers as well. The professor noted ” You make great a observation about the author’s attitude and how it shifts, but you don’t explain the significance or meaning of that change. At first when I read the comment I was in disbelieve that I did not include what was necessary for the paper but when we gathered back together in class the professor gave us all the necessary help and tools to  produce the significance and how to explain properly. Some tools the professor provided were links that she sent out to every student that showed the step by step process of evaluating and explaining, the professor also brought hard copies so every student had access to the help they needed in front of them.

Since we understood what we had to do in the professor’s expectations we wrote our papers in that manner, but the professor realized that we needed peer review as well to help incorporate our ideas better and to learn new techniques from each other. Our first peer review session, the professor sat us with another student in the class and made us read and review each others papers. in doing that, we helped each other find our minor and significant flaws. After our peer review session the professor told us to turn in the exact same paper but with an additional paragraph or two explaining what we fixed in our papers and how we incorporated the changes told. This additional step helped us reconnect with our writing and make the best improvements before submission.

Follow those papers, we knew we had a bigger paper coming. The professor expected us to learn from the other smaller papers and produce a larger paper that consisted of 2500 words. In this paper we went through three different submissions before our final draft submission. The first submission was the Proposal and Annotated Bibliography, the second one was the Exploratory Draft, the third  one was the Format Draft and the final one was the Final Draft. The Proposal and Annotated Bibliography built our understanding of what was expected in the paper by helping us build our research topic with the key sources. The Exploratory Draft was our first rough draft that had the most errors and mistakes. Following that was the Format Draft which was the much improved version of our rough draft which incorporated all the fixes we needed to place. Lastly the Final Draft was the one that showed us that we were able to complete a difficult task with the proper steps. The professor noted on the Final Draft, ” You’ve done an excellent job bringing together reliable sources and analyzing them in your own authorial voice. Your essay is focused and well organized, including smooth transitions between ideas and clear connections between paragraphs.” Reading the last comment was more than just a relief, everything the professor taught us throughout the semester was incorporated best in the last paper. The strategies, techniques and skills that were taught made the professor’s comments better and better.

The English 10111 course at City College of New York taught us a valuable lesson in writing better. Throughout the semester the professor showed us every step that is necessary in obtaining a good written paper. Not only was the learning outcome achieved throughout the semester, my writing style has improved significantly.

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