After looking back on my year in English Composition II, I really feel like I have improved as a writer. Coming into this class, I was really nervous because I was not very confident in my ability to write a well-structured paper. In high school, I was never really taught how to approach or structure a paper because we tended to focus on the reading aspect of English rather than the writing. I had a really good English teach my junior year in AP Language, but all we did that class was timed writings to prepare for the AP exam. My senior year in AP Literature, we didn’t write a single in class paper, and we all got a grade of 95-98 on our research papers with no feedback. So, it is safe to say I was a little rusty coming into this class, and I was definitely intimidated. Despite this fact, I enjoyed this class so much and loved the Romeo and Juliet theme.

            Participating in class and going to conferences about my papers have really helped me to grow as a writer. Reviewing and editing my papers on WordPress was really fun once I learned how to work the site! Being able to look back at the comments on Turn It In really helped me. My best paper was Writing from Fiction (the first paper), and I think that is mainly due to the fact that this is the kind of writing I most enjoy. I love literature, and the analysis of books and plays are definitely my favorite things to write about. When I went back to edit that paper, I mostly focused on making it sound more sophisticated rather than rewriting or restructuring (even though I did a little of this as well). The other two papers were a little more challenging than the first, and I think it is because I hadn’t had much guidance in the past on how to research properly for a paper. The classes we attended in Manly with our librarian really helped me with the uncertainty I had on research. Using search engines like Scout made attaining appropriate research easy. When I went back to edit these two papers, I did a little more restructuring than I did on the first paper. I also added some stuff I didn’t have before. For all three of the papers, I went into WordPress and added some media to the pages! I think these additions made my page more interesting, fun, and visually pleasing.

            I am very pleased with my progress in this class, and I will very much miss our in-class discussions on Romeo and Juliet, Warm Bodies, and other similar works. Dr. Helms helped me so much with fleshing out my ideas, figuring out how to structure my essays, and feeling confident in my ability to write a good paper. I feel like the lessons I learned in this class will really help me throughout the rest of college. I have greatly enjoyed my time in English 102 and look forward to taking some literature classes!