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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

19 September 2018

Final Reflection: Growth and Improvement

In English1010 class, my struggle was with writing the most. With all the assignment that I have been writing, at some moment it was hard for me to just sit and write another paper. Since English is not my first language, it was harder to start writing anything like, finding the right topic, having an idea what I am going to write about or how I am going to write it. These were some of the major points that I struggled with in the class and in writing in general. Also, my struggle with writing affected my way in thinking because a lot of time I would have many ideas in my mind, but when I start typing it come out differently or it does not come out the same way that I was thinking. The reason for that is because my English is not that good, and I do not know that much vocabulary. And because of these things, I struggled in this class. Especially, this class needs a lot of working even for native speakers and writers, so I believe anyone can imagine how hard is going to be for someone who does not know the language or the vocabulary of the language that well.

Although, with all this going, I think this class was challenging in a good way. For me, I was able to learn a lot of new things in this class such as how to write a position paper, how to write an interview paper, how to write an argument paper, and how to add sources for my paper and cite them correctly. All these things I learned them in the class because I did not do any of these paper before, and I did not know how to write any of these before as well. Especially, with my first paper, I did not know how to starts, and it was not that good because I was not ready, and I did not have that much time to think about my topic and what I am going to write about. But after few days of struggling, I was able to understand more and more because I pushed myself to the limit in written every paper, and I pushed myself to the limit because I want to feel good about what I am writing and if I was able to express my thought in an understandable way, so when my teacher or anyone else would read my paper they would understand. After the first paper things started to be more challenging because every paper was harder, and the pages/words number were increasing, so I had to write more and more. Which was another struggle for me because I did not know if my grammar or my way in writing was correct or not, but I still had to write no matter what and that was based whether or not I wanted to get a good grade. Eventually, I managed to write all these paper in a way or another.

It was very important to me to take and to pass in this class because now I can be more confident about my writing. Because that will help in my next classes, I would not need to worry that much about my writing, and I can focus more on writing the paper rather than focusing whether or not my writing level is good. I needed that boost of confidence before I start other class because I will feel more comfortable in writing any assignment that I will get in the future. Another benefit of this class is that I had the chance to know and learn the different types of paper such as the interview paper, research paper, argument paper, and etc. Also, I had to know the different types of writing like narrative, pros and cons, cause and effect, problem and solution, and etc. All these things that I learned it will help in the future in any class that I take, and it became part of my English knowledge as well, even if I did not have to use which I am sure I will need it.

As an illustration, the class was very hard and challenging for me, but I got a lot of new information and I got educated more about the writing process and how to become a good writer. For the class, I think it was very good and educated the way it was, so I do not think that there anything needs to change because the way how it went it was very effective. There was one major topic, but still, it was enough to push me to the limit with all the different ways and positions and stance of it, based on every student topic and his/her stance about it. Every paper, I had to go deeper and deeper to understand more about the social issue that I chose which it benefits me. Because it was only one major topic, I was able to focus more on it. And I did not feel that it just a paper that I will write and after few days I will have a different topic and so on, it felt that each paper had a purpose of writing, and I get more attached with the topic every time I understand and learn more things about it. And of course, miss Doty was brilliant because of her way of choosing the assignments and how she made it about one topic. It was very hard even if it was one topic, but it made me feel that my paper is important, and I had a purpose of writing it which educated other people or student about the social issue that I chose.

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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

10 September

Argument Paper with Sources Reflection

My last project was to write an argument paper with sources, and my topic did not change. In this paper, I did not have to write from the scratch because I had to find sources and add them to my third paper which was the argument paper. My stance in the last paper did not change. I still think we should refine our gun laws and make them more restricted and less accessible to bad people.

In this paper, my argument points and reason were the same. The only thing that I had to do is to add sources that fit in my paper and analyzed and explain why I add that source. Some of the sources were from EBSCO and other sources were from online sites. I add these source materials in my introduction and in each of my paragraphs.

One thing I struggled in this paper was how to fit in the source material that I found in my paper. Another thing that I struggled with that I did not know if the sources I found would work and would make sense and be understandable or not. Other than that, I was glad that I did not need to start from scratch in this paper which made it easier to write this paper.

For the grammar issue, I would go back to my previous papers that the teacher graded and find what was my grammar mistakes and where they were at like which paragraph, sentence, etc. In that way, I would be able to prevent these mistakes from happening in my fourth paper, and I would be able to prevent these grammar issues from happening in my other papers in other classes.

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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

31 August 2018

Argument Paper Reflection

My assignment was to write an argument paper, and my topic was about gun control. I had to use my previous two paper to be able to write this argument paper because I used my three reasons from my first paper and the viewpoint from my second paper. My stance in this paper still the same, I still think that we should have more restricted gun regulations laws.

In this paper, my argument points were about why we should have more restricted laws and what some of the suggestions can help us to do that. One of the suggestions is by having a division of the police who would act as a task force in bad areas. Other suggestions were about expanding background check and I explained what I meant in more details.  That leads me to my last suggestions which it was to vote for a governor who cares about people. I think without the third point the first two points, they would be only suggestions on paper.

I faced some obstacles in writing this paper because it was my first time in writing an argument paper. Since I used my reasons from my position paper and my viewpoint from my interview paper, it was easier to start. One of the obstacles was about if my paper was argumentative, and if I was able to make a clear connection between my argument points and the opposite viewpoint. But with the help of my teacher, I know how to do that.

For my grammar issues, I'm still having a hard time with it. Some of the ways that I deal with that issue is by using different website to help me to develop my grammar writing, for example, Grammarly correcting website. In that way, I was able to become better at catching my grammar mistakes and fixing them.

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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

19 August 2018

Interview Paper Reflection

My project was to write an interview paper. I had to interview a person who had a different opinion than mine about gun control issue. I learned and understand more about the issue because the point that my interviewee talked about and explain which make look to the issue from different side.

My project steps start with interview my classmate to know his idea about gun control issue and what he thinks about. After that, I start my first draft based on the information that he gave me. Then, I wrote my conclusion and add to my introduction to make it better. In the end, I profred my paper for grammar mistakes and fix them.

The interview paper essay was a new challenge for me because I did not write an interview paper before. I did not know how to interview someone or what the questions that I need to ask, so I get enough details, examples, and evidence to write my essay. But I learned how to do that in the composition class, miss Doty gave me a paper that guides me in this process and teaches me how to write the interview paper.

Although, I'm still struggling at the grammar issue. But I'm still working on this issue, so I can become a better writer and be able to notice and fix my grammar mistakes such as run-on sentence, past tense, present tense, and other mistakes as well.

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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

3 August 2018

Position Paper Reflection

My assignment was to write a position paper which was about gun control. I talked about the damage that guns can do, so I talked about three reasons which I think they was important and related to my topic. My three point that I was arguing about were jail time for offenders, to expand background checks, and to use voting power.

My writing process in this essay starts by brainstorm which it helped me to write all the point and ideas about my topic, and that was my first draft. After that, we start workshops in my class which it helped me to focus on my mistakes in my writing, whether or not I mentioned good thesis statements, if a had three understandable reasons, if I have enough examples and evidence or not. One of the ways that proof my writing, was by visiting the student center and work with them. After this long process, I start editing and proof writing which it was my last step before I submitted my paper.

One of the suggestions that I got was from a classmate which was very helpful. She mentioned that my three reasons are not understandable which it was right, so it makes me focus more about clearing my ideas, so I start to organize my paper and make it easier to read and understand. Also, the suggestions that I got from writing center about my paragraphs, grammar, transition sentences, and revising and organizing which it improves my paper.

My purpose of writing about gun control is to make the people more aware of what is happing in bad areas in the country. I argue about guns and when it gets in the wrong hands and what are the reasons that people use the gun for. Also, I give three reasons that help us to reduce gun violence which they are, jail time for offenders, expanding background checks, use voting power, and I expand about these things in my essay. I also add some examples and share my opinion about the issue and share other people perspective on this issue.

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Alan Saeed

Amy Doty

English1010

15 July 2018

Nothing is Impossible

Winter of 2016, that was the time when my hate for writing to begin. One week after my new English class starts. I went to the class, as usual, and I prepare myself for the class, I take my book out and wait for the teacher. After the teacher arrives, she asks us to take our notebooks out and write a summary response about the book pages that we red. Everyone in the class took his notebook out and start writing except me. I was looking around and seeing all the students start writing with no effort, none of the students were having a hard time in writing except me. So, I decided to give it a try. After ten minutes my paper is still blank, and I have no idea what I am going to write about or how I am going to write without any mistakes with my Grammar. At that time, I realized that I was a bad writer, or I couldn’t even call myself a writer at that time.

Since I was new to the country and I had no experience with English, the high school principal decided to sign me in ESL and ELL class. They were good classes for me, and I felt it was easy because I didn’t have to write an essay, and the homework's were just reading chapters and answered or being a part of the discussion, all that is to let me learn and understand more English. But suddenly it all changes when they sign me in the freshman English class for my next semester. I was the oldest person in the class, and all the students were fourteen years old, and I was seventeen at that time. After my first bad experience with writing in the English class, I lost my confidence, I lost my desire to learn how to write any more.

After the teacher saw me struggling with the class, she talked to the principal and he decided to put me back to the English learning class. I felt disappointed and I lost my motivation because I knew it was impossible for me to learn how to write like the other students. But even when I lost faith in myself, my teacher didn’t lose faith in me. So, with my teacher and friends help, I started to become better in English day after day. I started to work harder and spend more effort so, I wouldn’t let my teacher and my friends down, and neither myself. After a few months, I became a college student who feels more comfortable in his writing level, I felt more confident about writing essays. In the main time, I still have a lot of grammar problems, wrong sentences, past tense and present tense problems and other mistakes, but this time I was positive I won't give up, and I told myself that I will study harder, so I wouldn’t regret in the future.

Lastly, my first experience of writing was bad which I lost faith in myself but, with help, I got from my teacher and my friends, I returned to the right track. I started to get better in English, also my level of writing got better, and I got more comfortable and confident in writing as well. As an illustration, nothing is impossible, if you spend a lot of time and effort and work hard to achieve your goal then you will get there eventually.