Gained a lot of knowledge this year taking english 1b/ English
Fix grammer, give the paper some spark, fix conclusion, make it flow great
In all my days of school, I have found English to be my tough subject. Math and Science are what I really good at and enjoy studying. The reason being, unlike English, these two subjects come rather easy to me. English has always required extra effort in the time and comprehension department but spelling and grammar are my strengths. Ive gained a lot of knowledge this year taking English 1B. The main teachings that stuck with me were reflecting the writing strategies, learning about research, and the great feedbacks from peers and teachers.
In English 1B I came upon many writing strategies. A writing habit and practice that worked well and that I will continue to use in the future is having a “road map thesis”. It shows and tells the reader what the paper is going to be talking about. In other words it gives you a map of were the paper is heading. Also it should have three parts. The last point should be your stronger one because it will be the last point that will be engraved into the reader. I also found out that I do my best work in the mourning at the library. I believe I have clearer thoughts at this time of the day and the atmosphere of a library to me is effective in enhancing a writer. Some tools that are helpful when writing is to just slowdown and brainstorm. Another one is having a strongg thesis which is “what you intend to prove in the essay, with some suggestions of the organization to be followed in the body essay” according to Dr. Rohatgi. A writer also needs to involve and sum up the thesis in the conclusion. What I have learned to like most about writing is being able to have a voice. Through the freedom of writing, it is easy for one to express his or her thoughts. In Dr. Rohatgi class there was so much freedom because a lot of the paper topics were opinionated. I enjoy writing things that are informal rather than formal. This is because when I write a formal paper, I’m not able to write with my own personality.Setting that aside, I find critical lens essays to be the most challenging. This is because they require reading comprehension and deep understanding of a passage, two of which are things that I have difficulty with. Hence the reason why I don’t have as much feed back after journal passages. My problem is that my attention span during comprehension is lost so quick if I am not into the topic which is a helpful tool to have.
Research was an area of reflection in my english 1b class. There were two points in this area that were strongly taught. The two are summary, and Paraphrase. Summaries were a big part of journals, discussions , and papers. I was told by Dr. Rohatgi that a summery is a significantly shortened version of a passage or even of a whole chapter or work that captures main ideas in your own words. Unike a paraphrase , summary uses just enough information to record the main points you wish to emphasize. Here is an example of summary:
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT #1
Crystal, Language Play, p. 180 #2
Summary: #3
Crystal argues that various kinds of language play contribute to awareness of how language works, and therefore, to literacy.
In a summary you need the following #1 Subject heading #2 Author, title, page reference, #3 Summary of source. Also I was taught that in summaries a writer needs to include just enough information to recount the main points you want to cite. A summary is usually far shorter than the original. The other big point was over Paraphrases. Dr. Rohatgi announced that a paraphrase accurately states all relevant information from a passage in your own words and sentence structures, without any additional comments or elaborations. I found out that a paraphrase is useful when the main points of a passage, their order, and at least some details are important but unlike passages worth quoting- the particular wording is not. Unlike a summary, a paraphrase always restates all the main points of a passage in the same order and often in about the same number of words.
Language play, the arguments suggest, will help the development of pro-nunciation ability through its focus on the properties of sounds and sound contrasts, such as rhyming. Playing with word endings and decoding the syntax of riddles will help the acquisition of grammar. Readiness to play with words and names, to exchange puns and to engage in nonsense talk, promotes links with semantic development. The kinds of dialogue interac-tion illustrated above are likely to have consequences for the development of conversational skills. And language play, by its nature, also contributes greatly to what in recent years has been called metalinguistic awareness , which is turning out to be of critical importance in the development of lan-guage skills in general and of literacy skills in particular.- David Crystal, Language Play (180)
After reading that a good Paraphrase would be that Crystal argues that playing with language, creating rhymes, figuring out riddles, making puns, playing with names, using invented words, and so on helps children figure out a great deal, from the basics of pronunciation and grammar to how to carry on a conversation. This kind of play allows children to understand the overall concept of how language works, a concept that is key to learning to use and read language effectively (180). Dr. Rohatgi also said that in a paraphrase you need to include all main points and any important details from the original source, in the same order in which the author presents them. State the meaning in your own words and sentence structures. If you want to include especially memorable language from the original, enclose it in quotation marks.
Feedbacks in this class were to me the most important. I received several points of advice from peer review, workshop, and instructor feedback. After each rough draft we do a peer review. I thought the peer review was a great thing to enhance a writers abilities. I would get feed back from one or two different students with different abilities as a writer. Most of my peers say my spelling and grammar is not bad. The bad part is my construction and breakdown of the essay topic. The workshops are great. They allow you to read other students papers. In return this shows you tips, clues, and ideas that other writers possess that you may not. I get some great feedback as well as a good conversation. My Professor feedback on my papers usually start with my thesis. My thesis has been my troublesome in the fact that it doesn’t explain what will be happening in the paper. This english class is the first that I have taken that shows tremendouss emphasize on thesis. This little knowledge has made me a better writer today.
It just goes to show that, most of the time I have troubles with writing papers and creating a roadmap thesis. If the topic is interesting ,I put my mind to it, and started in the mourning, I can write a good paper. In the end I have learned a lot on writing stradigies, research, and feedbacks from Dr. Rohatgi English 1B. Procrastinating and waiting until the last minute is a tool that does not work for me as I have now figured that out through past experience.
