Giordano 1

Michaela Giordano
Professor Jackie Hymes
English 114B
7 May 2015
Then and Now
Writing styles differ for every person in the literature and writing world. Over time,
writing styles tend to transform into more mature and organized styles with a hint of personal
character. No longer are there silly grammatical errors, or a lack of parallelism, but organized
thoughts beautifully painted upon the paper. My personal experience on how I have formed as a
writer has not been the smoothest ride. Since finishing my final semester of English 114, I
believe I have significantly grown as a writer.
Though I have learned to enjoy writing essays throughout high school, writing was never
my strong suit during my middle school years. I used to never be the stand out student in my
English class, especially in the eighth grade. The lady who turned my thought process around
was my eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Sharpe. She continuously spent time with me revising
my papers and she genuinely cared about my growth as a writer. I then went on to take honors
English classes in high school and shockingly excelled. Her belief in me was what allowed me to
strive to be the writer I am today. She allowed me to prepare myself for not only college papers,
but for my necessities in order to attain a prosperous career. The most important lesson she
taught me that I can use with all my writing assignments is to never use dead words. Examples
of these dead words are got, it, and other plain words that hypothetically make your paper

Giordano 2
dead. I take advantage of every chance I come across to be versatile with my words in order to
keep the reader intrigued. In addition to my change of interest towards writing, I have grown
through this semester of my freshman year in college by learning the proper way of citing
sources.
When entering this college English course, I was not extremely educated on in-text
citations, or even the correct way to cite a source for that matter. In my persuasive essay
challenging the stereotypes placed on superheroes compared to how the characters are portrayed
in the novel Watchmen, I incorrectly cited an in-text citation, Ethicscanbeunderstoodasthe
behaviorofacollectionofpeople,andmoralsaretheindividualisticandpersonalnatureofaperson
(Thadani).(Giordano,SuperheroesChallengingStereotypes).Icitedtheonlinearticlebyusingthe
authorslastnameinsteadofproperlyusingthearticletitle,MoralsVs.Ethics.Ilearnedthatcitinga
sourcetheproperwayisextremelyimportantbecauseplagiarismistakenveryseriously,especiallyatthe
collegiatelevel.Onecouldbeaccusedofplagiarizingforanincorrectcitation.Asawriter,Iamableto
understandthepotentialfrustrationapublishedwritermayfaceifalazystudentdecidedtocopytheir
ownprofessionalwork.NotonlyhaveIproperlylearnedhowtocitesources,butgrownwithmydiction
asawriter.
Diction,thechoiceofworduse,definesthetypeofwriterapersonis.Thedictionthatawriter
possessescanjudgethetypeofpersontheyareanddemonstratehoweducatedtheyperceivetobe.Inone
ofmyessaysonthecontemporarysatireAngryBlackWhiteBoy,Idemonstrateagrowthinmychoiceof
words,Almostinthesamefashion,Maconwasassassinatedforhisefforttosimultaneouslyattaina
blackidentitywhilestillbeapartofthewhitecommunity.(Giordano,SaltoftheEarth).InhighschoolI
wouldneverthinktousemultipleadjectivesinasentence,letaloneknowwhatthewordattainmeans.I
havecreatedthehabitofusingathesauruswhenwritingapaperinordertonotoverusewords.This

Giordano 3
respectablehabithasallowedmypaperstobemoreinterestingandhasenabledmetogainknowledge
aboutwordsIhaveneverevenheardof.AlthoughIallowmyselftobelazyattimes,mydictionhas
becomemoreintellectual.
Writingmaycomeeasytosome,butformeitrequiredmuchworkandpracticeinordertoform
beneficialhabitsforsuccessfulpapers.Istruggledintheeighthgradewithsentencestructurebutwasable
tolearnfrommymistakesandgrowfromthem.WithoutmyeighthgradeEnglishteacherinfusingnoble
habitsintomybrain,IwouldnotbethewriterIamtoday.Inadditiontotheessayitself,thecitationsare
veryimportantaswell.NowthatIhaveproperlylearnedhowtocitecrediblesources,Iamnotworried
aboutincorrectcitationsandpossibleplagiarism.Withamorematureandscholarlydiction,Iamableto
writemorelogicalpapersthatmyprofessorswouldapproveof.TosumupthelessonsItookawayfrom
thisEnglishcourse,IimmenselygrewinmyknowledgeofwritingthatIcancarrywithmeformyfuture
accomplishments.

Giordano 4

WorkCited

Giordano,Michaela.SuperheroesChallengingStereotypesProjectWatchmen.17Feb.2015.
Giordano,Michaela.SaltoftheEarthProjectText.26Mar.2015.