This ENG1101 course introduces concepts of critical writing and thinking along with skills integral to constructing and documenting a college-level essay. As a First Year Learning Community, we will pair with Psychology 1101 to explore the emotional impact of the first year college transition and consider ways to identify and deal with new stressors.

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Course Resource 32: Ta-Nehisi Coates Interviewed on NPR’s “Fresh Air”

This interview with Terry Gross on her NPR show Fresh Air was recorded in July 2015, right after the book Between the World and Me was published. In this discussion, Coates discusses many topics discussed in the book and the excerpt we are reading, “Letter to My Son”: his close friend Prince who was killed by the police, the complicated politics and risks of walking down the street as a kid in Baltimore, and an incident in which he was arrested for threatening a teacher while in high school and why he did it.

We won’t have time to listen to the full interview in class (though I hope to get at least to 20 min.!) Ā but you can listen to the whole length on your own:

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422554778/ta-nehisi-coates-on-police-brutality-the-confederate-flag-and-forgiveness

Looking Back At My Writing And What I’ve Learned

Writing has never been my thing, but I’ve done much improvement at it, for example,I have learned how to address “you” on my thesis, instead I address it by including to whom exactly I am directing the writing such as “students”, “residents” Ā or “college” etc. Like this I get to make a clear point of view and provide a better understanding to the reader. I still have a lot to learn about college writing, for example, I have problems on the way I structure my sentences, which may cause the reader to get lost and not get the full point of view I’m trying to direct to them, but thats part of the college experience the “struggle”. One thing I mostly enjoy of academic writing is that I get to express my way of thinking towards any topic and at the same time gain knowledge through it, since I have to integrate many sources in the writing and most of these sources contain good info towards the topic from both sides, the pros and the cons.

College Writing

In the last 2 and a half months i feel like my writing skills have improved immensely since high school. College as helped me to expand Ā the idea of the topics. Like instead of just aimlessly writing it helps to involve yourself. Ā Like in the gentrification topic Professor sears asked us to look in the areas you know that have gone through gentrification. In high school that would have probably asked to just write about gentrification and talk about how it makes you feel instead of doing research finding out when it started and more information pertaining the topic. Also, in my college experience my Vocabulary has furthermore expanded since high school. Ever since high school i tried to always use bigger words to enhance the essays or papers I’m writing about. Thats just a personal goal that i think would be good for me throughout life. But thing thing that I’m mostly excited about when it comes to my college writing is that is isn’t over yet and won’t be for a while because this is just my first semester at city tech and it should get better and better from here on out.

College Writing

College writing compared to high school writing is noticeably very different. In high school I felt like I could get away with more when writing but in college a lot of things are factored in. For example grammar and the way I transition through sentences and paragraphs. Although this is something I believe I have gotten better at since the beginning of the semester. They way I transition to new topics and paragraphs in my essay has gotten a lot better.Ā  One aspect of college writing that is still challenging to me is expanding on my ideas.Ā  At certain points when writing my essays I don’t know how to continueĀ  so end up ending the paragraph abruptly.Ā  Doing this hurts my grade in the long run so its something i have to continually work on. One part of college writing that i enjoy is writing the first paragraph.Ā  It sets the tone for the rest of the essay and depending on how well it is written it could make writing the rest of the essay easier.

College Writing

In my English 1101 class at City Tech, I think my writing in Essays has improved a lot. Feedback from my teacher is hugely important for my writing. Having someone read over my writing can highlight these issues and help me to clean up my work. Having someone else read my work really helps at this point. Usually, though, I find my work improves from teacherā€™s suggestions. I improved my writing since beginning of semester, by getting feedbacks from my teacher. One of the academic writings that is still challenging me is starting off the essay or get first few words on a paper and using transition words in the essay. Usually I forget to use these transition words. And one of the hardest parts of writing is how to start writing the introduction in the essay. One aspect in academing writing that I enjoy is writing conclusion, because by writing conclusion I know that I am finally finishing my writing.

MLA Format: Directions and Links for Samples

Your next essay must incorporate elements of MLA formatting. Here is a quick overview of what is required this time around:

General Paper Format

  1. One inch margins
  2. Double-spaced
  3. Font: 12 pt Times New Roman or another standard font
  4. Heading double-spaced on the upper left corner of the first page:

First PageĀ Information

  • Your name
  • Your instructorā€™s name
  • Course name
  • Date

Page Numbers

  • HeaderĀ (upper right hand corner)
  • Your last name and Page number

Title of Your Essay

  • Centered above your text (no bold or italic fonts and no quotation marks)
  • Make your title original. Avoid single word titles or those such as Cause and Effect or Essay 2.

Refer to these online resources from the Purdue University On-LineWriting Lab:

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