Dear Reader,

Before entering English 101 Freshman Composition, I perceived myself as a decent

writer, but I felt that I was lacking something from making myself a good writer. At the start of
the semester I had some major weaknesses in my writing. My grammar was terrible. I also didnt
proofread my papers, which was awfully careless of me. I blame this on my carelessness in high
school. It got into a very bad habit. I did not pay attention, so I never learned the correct way to
write a paper with proper grammar, spelling, and technique. Over the first few weeks I listened
carefully to everything my instructor had wanted us to do. At first it was hard to get in the habit
of completing papers in time to submit them to Blackboard, and then turn them in on time, but
after I figured it out, everything became easier once the first essay was turned in and graded.
Comparing my instructors class from the previous English classes I have taken, I was
able to enjoy incorporating my voice in my all essays than just writing the essay with no
connection to receive a passing grade. Before taking this course, I always thought writing was
only to fulfill a required assignment. Previous classes were not challenging enough for me.
Former classes before English 101, I was able to cruise my way through the semester by doing
everything the night before its due date. I did not have to think as critically as I should. Every
paper I turned in was not satisfying as I hoped I would be. Knowing that if I took the easy road I
would not have learned anything and my grade would not have been satisfying. I decided to take
my instructors class to take up the challenge in hopes to learn more about my writing skills.
Spending the last 18 weeks with my instructor has taught me the missing part of my writing that
will distinguish me from being a decent writer to a good writer is that writing is a way of
communication that is essential to various aspects of our lives. Over the course of this 2014
spring semester, I learned a lot more about myself as a writer and as an individual to succeed in
both my academic and medical field careers.
On writing my first assigned essay, Its a Hard Knock Life: Cyborg, I had some high
points, but I also had many low points in my essay. My high points are found within my
Introduction and my conclusion. In my Introduction, I was able to define the term cyborg and
make connections from articles and real life situations. Situations that prove human beings being
machined like. My low points were the inconsistency I had by connecting my body paragraphs to
my thesis. The cause of inconsistency was the result of procrastination. A trait I knew I had to
change and did change after writing this essay. I have had the outline finished the day the prompt
was handed out, but failed to consistently write my paper throughout the following days before
its due date. The build-up of anxiety and worrying on how long I have until I have to turn in my
paper caused me to blockade my ability to think beyond the surfaces of a philosophical or critical
interpretations about my paper.
I had realized that my constant waiting was not giving me enough time to produce a good
final product. I always wanted more time to finish my essays. So I began to work on my
upcoming essays one paragraph a day to ease my thinking and to generate more ideas I may
come across to. Allowing myself to work one paragraph at a time helped me write more
interesting papers.
My second essay, Release Your Innovations, I was able to connect my personal interest
and incorporate them into my essay. For this essay, I was able to think more critically about my
ideas. Slightly changing my habits from a procrastinated writer to a consistent writer had helped
me generate more creative ideas that will fit well into my essay. Although this was my most fun
essay I have ever written, it was the hardest one to start. When I started the paper I felt like I was
staring at a blank word document for hours. Not knowing where or how to start I closed down
Word Document and would start again the following day in hopes to have some type of
inspiration where to start. I had gone to a writing mentor to help jump start my paper. After 30
minutes of trying to figure out what or how to begin my paper, I walked out with little
knowledge. That is until I drove back home when a song that reminded me of a friend and Is
past relationship sparked ideas on how and what to write on my paper. I decided to talk along the
lines about how humans have the ability to create any type of genre music that can affect ones
life. Writing this paper taught me that all essays are not only meant to educate myself, but to also
write with deep feeling and connection to the topic(s) I was writing about.
My third written paper was, Human Augmentation: An Annotated Bibliography, this
was an assignment to help guide me through my research paper. Being the first annotated
bibliography I have done in a while. I wanted it to be as meticulous as I could be with it. Making
sure everything little detail on each source was mentioned and pointed that it will be used into
my research paper. Being the first annotated bibliography I have ever done since coming out of
high school, I had little to no experience on how to organize and develop a well thought out
summarization of each source listed. I did what I believed was right. I took it to an instructor and
long behold I was hammered on what to fix. I needed more of how I will be using the sources
listed than what exactly each source is explaining about. With that said, I was able to pick out the
exact information I need throughout each academic journal, article, novel, or movie.
My final paper of the spring semester, Cake Face: Why Plastic Surgery is becoming a
Social Norm, was the first research paper I have done since coming out of high school. I kept
changing my theme multiple times from processed foods to plastic surgery to what is the
meaning of love back to plastic surgery. I chose plastic surgery because I felt like that it was
something that bothers me personally so I wanted to learn more about it to better understand why
so many people undergo these procedures. Although it was a topic I was never fond of writing
about. I was able to continue to think critically without going out of context and having to create
untruth full meaning to my paper. With the previous assignment, I was able to find and write my
information a lot easier than having to stress myself on where to find the exact information I
needed. I was able to go to a writing instructor to help clarify to what exactly I need to be writing
about on why plastic surgery is becoming a social norm. With all the information and help that I
seek helped for, I still managed to have many mistakes on my last crucial paper. My paper was
done a few hours before its due date, yet I managed to forget to revise it or spell check my paper
after submitting it. After I received my corrections and rereading my paper, I was purely
disappointed on my actions on not proofreading before turning in the final product.
Over the course of the semester in English 101, I have learned how to critically think
beyond my expectations. Allowing myself to be more open minded about topics I may have
never touched upon in the future. Although I fixed my procrastination, I still do wish I had at
least more time to revise my papers to be surely satisfied with my final product. I would now say
that I have become a good writer but not a terrific one. Because there is always room for
improvement. I will always need that extra bit of help, but I know I will have instructors who are
willing to help guide me through my situations.

Sincerely,



William Vitin