Blog 5

Writing is quintessential to communicate our ideas, thoughts or opinions in life; therefore, it is important to develop good writing abilities since an early age. Having taken this course has helped me to improve my writing skills in English as well as to learn how to use appropriately this language. Due to the fact that English is not my first language, sometimes I find it difficult to express my ideas in a coherent, cohesive and effective way. Before taking ENGL 082 I was not used to write essays in a language different to Spanish; consequently, this class meant a challenge to me. As I look back to see my initial papers, I can notice a big difference. Reading and writing in this course helped me to think and organize my compositions, enrich my vocabulary and improve in general my fluency in English. Furthermore, writing made me aware of using synonyms and forced me to stop translating into Spanish. Sometimes when trying to say something in English I wrote it as if I was saying it in Spanish, such in the case of my prepositions.

I found it useful when we had peer workshops and they gave me suggestions to correct my essays. Likewise, while reading my classmates’ papers I learned different writing tones and styles. In addition, the individual conferences were so effective when I had questions or doubts. I received a great feedback that encouraged me to correct and improve my final essays. I liked the fact we had the whole semester to keep checking and revising each of the assignments.

ENGL O82 not only gave me the tools to improve my writing, but also opened my eyes to different cultures when reading the essays in Signs of Life. I found interesting the concepts of counterculture, consumer culture, mass media and advertising. Similarly, I liked the readings regarding the outlaw hero and the hero archetype.

Finally, this course taught me diverse strategies to start a research paper. I learned how to differentiate between an academic source an a popular one. Now each time that I want to look for a credible source I consult first Temple’s library database. It is a great place to find books, magazines, journals, films, and so on. A last aspect to mention is how useful I found our book “A Pocket Style Manual.” It is a handful source to consult MLA formatting and in text citations.
Overall, having taken ENGL 082 was an enriching experience that I know will help me in future courses.