Aaron Rollinson

English 1103

10/25/2010

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Before starting this semester in English I was always taught to write in the form of doing the

introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph; but since starting college I

haven’t used that form a great deal. With our weekly papers I have been able to write in several

distinctive manners, I’ve written interviews, dialogue, and plays in some of my papers. Through our

other assignments I have been able to reflect back to who influenced me to write and why I write the

way I do. Some of the writing into the day assignments truly required me to think, for example when we

wrote on what it’s like to be more interested than interesting. I contemplated on which one I was trying

to be in my writing, and which one would be more compelling to the reader should I interest the reader

with my knowledge or should I ask questions and let the reader ponder over the answers. This example

has had an impact on my writing because my conclusion was to be more interested, by finding

knowledge and presenting my findings to the reader, therefor my paper will also be interesting.

While reading the course syllabus I found it thought-provoking that when it came to the goals

nothing was ever written about becoming a better writer. All of the course goals start with words like to

use, to make, to understand, to read, to explore, none of these goals started with the words to become.

I had tried, at the beginning of the semester, to find out why a class called College Writing didn’t have

anything in the syllabus about becoming a better writer. Now that half the semester has passed I

understand that all the goals listed in the course syllabus are like prerequisites to becoming a better

writer. I can see by completing some of these goals my papers have begun to improve. At the beginning
of the semester I wondered whether my writing ability would fit into the college concept, but as the

semester went on I realized that I didn’t have to be as outstanding as a senior, when I’m only in my

freshman year of college. When I realized that this class was about raising my level and not criticizing me

for not being on a brilliant level, I started to write more freely.

With all the readings that we have done I have been able to shift the way I think. Sponsors of

literacy, Intertextuality, the Phenomenology of Error, and using textual resources persuasively all have

introduced me to concepts within writing that I have never thought of before. I thought about these

texts in my writings, who are my sponsors, what errors I look for in other works, and what texts I look to

when writing my papers. These readings have also helped me with my ability to read difficult texts.

When I glaze back to the summer before I started college I had only expected a lot of writing and

reading that I couldn’t follow. After only two weeks in this English class I recognized that we were going

to have loads of in depth discussions. Talking about the texts that we have read has helped an incredible

amount with my ability to write a solid paper. “Sponsors of literacy” was the hardest text for me to read,

mainly because it was a huge shift in the texts that I was use too. Now that we have talked about the

text it is simple for me to understand it.

Particular assignments that we have finished certainly helped me pick a question for my inquiry

paper. When we discussed the unique groups that each of us belongs to, it opened my mind up and I

began thinking about my own groups and how I write with each of them. I came up with a lot of

different ideas for my inquiry paper subject like Greek mythology, writing as a child, and writing

throughout the world. Then I started to consider all my groups, I came to realize that I didn’t know

much about how my future career would require me to write. Planning my inquiry paper will allow me

to go deeper into an engineer’s writing, my career as an engineer depends on effectively communicating

through my writing. One of the main papers that I looked back on when thinking of my inquiry question
was the paper I did on choices. This paper specifically helped me because it made me remember what

my motivation was, through this paper I knew that I would desire to write about something that would

help me with my future.

Everything that I have completed this year has helped me in my writing, from the actual papers

to reading about writing. My strength as a writer will only improve as the semester continues. I came to

college setting the goal of becoming a math and science guy not a worthy writer, but when I look ahead

into my college career I see myself becoming not only a math and science guy but a suitable writer.