English is one of the subjects that I have never been good at, and writing is one of the things I used to hate the most. To become a good writer; I need to have best word choices, decent organization, and good ideas in order to support my essay. Given that I am not good at English, it is hard to improve my writing. After I had come to the US, I improved my English a lot especially when I got to English 100 class. This course helped me in improving my writing skills (Johnson-Sheehan 360).
During this quarter, I have learned techniques on how to organize and edit my work. I was having problems in developing the body of my written work. Before I learned how to be a good writer in this quarter, I always scored lower grades than my friends. This small performance was due to my poor organization. My teacher said that I got the ideas, but I lacked the techniques to present them. I was poor in arranging my ideas systematically not following the required order. Therefore, the bodies of my essays were never attractive; it used to confuse my readers so much. After I attended the English 100 class, the bodies of my articles and their organization have started improving. Johnson-Sheehan suggests that you need to figure out what you are going to say before you start writing (359-360). This thought makes sense to me because sometimes I always started writing without figuring out what I was going to write or to develop my ideas first. This result was due to the poor organization of the body of my essay. In addition to the body, development of the introduction and conclusion is very vital. I also know how to write a thesis statement in the introduction correctly. Now I am more confident to do organization of my essays (Johnson-Sheehan 360).
Other than improving the structure of essays, I also know how to edit, or proofread my essay. I used to spend my free time to go to the writing center to check my grammar. I was not sure about my revision since my grammar was not enough. Nonetheless, since I learned how to edit or revise my essay correctly this quarter, I now rarely go to writing center to check my essay. Peer preview also helps me a lot with my essay. People’s ideas are helping improve my essay due to different people having different ideas. Their comments could help me to develop my ideas on the essay. I have never done this peer preview before, so this would be great if I do it during my future essays (Johnson-Sheehan 360).
In conclusion, English is one of the most globally spoken languages. Due to this versatility, people have the sole role of embracing it. They should develop the skills to read and write English well. The English 100 class has assisted me develop these skills.
Works Cited
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today: Books a La Carte Edition. Harlow: Longman Publishing Group, 2011.
