I have to say my experience in English 110.01 was very helpful. I had always thought I was a good writer, as high school seemed to prepare me more. However, I feel that throughout this course I learned even more tid-bits about how to become a better writer. Luckily for the course we had an interesting theme, food, which was easy enough to talk about.
I feel throughout the course I learned in specific ways how to become a better writer. Each day in class we focused on a specific part of writing. For example, we spent one class talking about how to make a better opening paragraph. Another class we spent the whole time talking about how to make our thesis statements better and practiced different thesis statements over and over again. I particularly liked one class when we talked about persuasive papers for Commonplace and we spent the whole time debating on different real-life topics. It really showed us that how you persuade someone through different word usage is very important and effective.
There is much advice to be given for success in this class. For one, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! I know it is very hard not to and I myself am a procrastinator. However when you have an 8 page paper, try to work on it well in advance instead of less than a week beforehand. I'd suggest working on your papers a little bit everyday and it won't seem overwhelming. I'd also strongly suggest going to office hours, if your teacher holds them, because it is here where you'll learn exactly what your teacher expects of you and your paper. I know it made some of my papers so much better just because I spent a half an hour to take the time to sit down with my teacher and talk about my paper. Other than that, I believe you'll get a lot out of this class and it truly will make you a better writer.
Sincerely,
English 110'er
I completely agree with your point about procrastination. It's terrible to be writing the night before and not being able to get feedback from the teacher. I always like to see what the weak points of my paper are, but by then it's too late. Going to office hours are a good idea too. I didn't really go in this class because I had another class but for chemistry I went to my professors office hours and she was really nice. It's a good idea to get to know professors on a personal level too; it's easy to forget they are people too.
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