Jillian Mejia

Jennifer Rodrick

ENG100

7 December 2017

My Experiences in English 115

Before English 115, I believe my writings were pretty mediocre. I went to Notre Dame High

School where writing is extremely strong there, but I never really seemed to utilize my sources. Upon

coming to California State University of Northridge, my writing capabilities seemed to take a turn for the

better especially with my professor with extremely long thumb nails. (CUT YOUR THUMBS!) I think

constantly starting with idea webs before an essay and having a first draft, peer revision, then a final

really prompted me to work on my essay. Usually when I would write, I would simply have an outline,

splurge out whatever ideas I had onto paper, and then make final edits. Though, I never considered getting

help from other students and faculty to improve my work. I mainly just thought of myself and not others.

This course has benefited me in utilizing the people around me as well as following a basic step system on

how to create an effective essay.

Another tool we had that improved my work was the They Say, I Say book. This book gave me

better insight on how I can improve my arguments as well as use templates to make writing a lot easier.

This consisted of writing down a template sentence but eventually incorporating my own ideas to make

my argument stand out and differentiate from other peoples. It has taught me that it is not about what

template you use, its about the content you put inside it to make the impact. As I have had many benefits

from this class, I also felt like I was scrambling all over the place because I would wake up frantic every

Monday and Wednesday when something was due.

Throughout this English 115 course, I recognized my incompetent work ethic and lack of proper

organization skills. Instead of starting early like a normal person would on their assignments, I would wait
to the exact last minute to begin writing my exercises, drafts, final drafts, and readings. This was probably

noticeable to you because sometimes, I didnt even end up submitting the assignment because I lagged so

much. This course has made me recognize that I need change in my life because I cant keep doing

everything last minute and expecting a spectacular outcome for half-effort work. If I spend more time on

my assignments, they have so much potential to be something greater.

Aside from my work ethic, I was glad to be able to experience English 115 with a phenomenal

professor as well as wonderful peers. If it wasnt for this class, I wouldnt have had consistent laughs

every Monday and Wednesday from 3:30-4:45 (on the days that I would actually show up), and I really

wouldnt have met my best friend Jihan. The writings were great but the full outcome of this class was

worthwhile.