As the semester draws to a screeching halt, it dawns on me that I am finishing my freshman year already! First year composition really has developed my skills as a writer and student. When I write papers my purpose and direction are much clearer from the beginning. I have also gotten a lot better at relating my body paragraphs to the thesis through their topic sentences. When it comes to organizing my paragraphs, I used to be very unsure and didn’t really care where the paragraphs were placed and I did little to smooth the transitions between paragraphs. The skills of rhetoric analysis developed in FYC will stay with me all of my life whether I notice it or not. I feel the ability to analyze a piece of literature or even an advertisement or a movie is a great skill to have. When the audience understands the author’s purpose, the art becomes clearer. The greatest writers of all time share the quality of clarity among their stories. I have taken this semester to develop my voice and understand how to use my tone to get my purpose across to the readers. By reading other books and understanding different styles of writing, I was able to create my own style of writing more easily.
Five pieces of advice I would give someone entering First Year composition are:
1. DO THE READING because it will help your skills as a writer and as an editor, both peer and self.
2. Take the journal assignments seriously because they are a great way for you to explore your abilities. It is a great testing ground for you as a first year writer.
3. Edit your peer’s papers as if it were your own and really spend some time giving them sound advice from an alternative perspective.
4. When asked to choose a topic, choose something that interests you so that you can enjoy your analysis.
5. It is much easier to make a paper a bit shorter than a bit longer. If a student tries to cut corners it becomes obvious and simply looks stupid. Aim for a page or half page longer than the requirement so that when you go to edit your paper you can truly trim the fat. A paper with the weaker parts edited or cut out is better than one splitting at the seams from filler sentences that don’t support your thesis.
Five pieces of advice I would give someone entering First Year composition are:
1. DO THE READING because it will help your skills as a writer and as an editor, both peer and self.
2. Take the journal assignments seriously because they are a great way for you to explore your abilities. It is a great testing ground for you as a first year writer.
3. Edit your peer’s papers as if it were your own and really spend some time giving them sound advice from an alternative perspective.
4. When asked to choose a topic, choose something that interests you so that you can enjoy your analysis.
5. It is much easier to make a paper a bit shorter than a bit longer. If a student tries to cut corners it becomes obvious and simply looks stupid. Aim for a page or half page longer than the requirement so that when you go to edit your paper you can truly trim the fat. A paper with the weaker parts edited or cut out is better than one splitting at the seams from filler sentences that don’t support your thesis.
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