Nikri Syku
Over the course of the semester I’ve learned many new skills that will stay with me and help me throughout my life, such as that my biggest difficulty when it comes to writing is the planning/setup stage. When I actually begin to write something I can usually have myself writing in a relatively speedy manner and the thoughts and ideas tend to flow through my mind and onto the paper. The main hangup is if I’m viewing the writing piece as a large intimidating task due to now breaking it down into portions. The class has helped me understand that I need to give myself a clear template or baseline idea of how I will organize the writing piece and then I can go through writing easily. A good example of this would be writing an annotated bibliography, which was something that i hadn’t done before in my school life, this allowed for me to structure each section on a certain topic or facet of the idea that i’m writing about. For example if i’m writing about among young people, i can map out my writing to where I will have each section of the piece tackling a certain subsubject, such as one area addressing effects of social isolation, another the effect of extensive internet use, and another for the effects of modern food practices on the body. This way of planning allows me to fill in each section as if I’m answering separate questions yet they still flow in a connected manner, thus I will not have to struggle with seeing the writing piece as a larger intimidating exercise.
The class has also helped my analysis skills while reading, such as being able to understand an author’s purpose or intent while reading their work. One of the assignments that helped with this was antigone in ferguson, i could read the modern adaptation and compare it to its ancient source, seeing how the core subject matter can be still apply to modern settings and why the author of the modern adaptation used it as an expression of civil disobedience and desire for change. This segments the idea that literary ideas can be timeless and apply in any era due to them being based on fundamental human desires and struggles that will be present no matter where or when the setting is taking place.
The class has also helped me understand how to properly source my writing with the correct format and how to include them in my pieces. This is a crucially important subject in not only english classes but also other classes that would have you writing source heavy assignments, such as when writing about a scientific subject or engineering concern. This is something I have used in my other classes that you would not expect an English class’s teachings to be relevant in such as science and engineering classes, it has helped me organize my writing assignments and sourcing for those classes.. This subject can further be needed in the working world as sourcing your works will be even more important because the consequences of not doing it will be harsher than a school setting, instead of risking suspension or failure, your risk lawsuits or firings for not properly sourcing and giving credit where it is due.
I enjoyed how nice it was to relate to your reflection. For example in Paragraph 1 where, you talked about how class helped you find an easy way to tackle large writing assignments. One thing you learned was how to properly understand what you are reading by understanding why the author’s wrote their work. Also how to analyze your work while reading which is great. It seems that you used the skills you learned for other classes which is cool because I too have found myself referring to the things I have learned in other classes. I don’t have any suggestions I think your draft was perfectly fine. It showed how you changed throughout the semester and how much you have learned and applied in your life.