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Melissa Escamilla
Professor Ditch
English 113A
8 December 2014
Dont Sweat It
As an incoming freshman to CSUN, I was preparing myself for the worst. English was
never one of my strengths. After reading Prof. Ditchs class syllabus, I felt a bit nervous. I knew
college courses are to be taken serious; it isnt like high school anymore. I knew from the
beginning that this class wasnt going to be easy. I enjoy expressing myself through writing, but
only on the subjects that I choose. What I do not like about writing is not being able to choose
my own topic. Then again being assigned a topic to write about can be a challenge to see how
well I can do. This English course has made me a stronger writer, and I will only continue to
grow as a writer. What we mainly focused on in this class was Gender Construction. Ive learned
how society has such a high influence on people. Society places categories upon us that we must
follow if not we will be discriminated against. Ive also learned how to create an argumentative
essay. At first writing and argument was very difficult for me to do. I kept writing statements
rather than a detailed argument.
Throughout this course that has been my main struggle. With help from my professor
and students at the LRC, Ive improved on writing a thesis. I had to go back and go over my
essays multiple times. The hardest part of an essay to me is writing your thesis. After you have a
thesis every other paragraph should be easy to write and itll all fall in place. Just how I have my
weaknesses as a writer, I also have my strengths. Some of my strengths as a writer are my
vocabulary and my ability to come up with ideas thatll flow from one idea to another idea. Its

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very easy for me to just go on and on about a subject, and connect them to other subjects. I
consider myself to have a high vocabulary, and I do my best to incorporate that into my essays.
There is always room for improvement, but one area that I have improved in was formulating an
argumentative essay. It is much easier for me to create an argument, than when I started this
course at the beginning of the semester. The way I structure my sentences is what I will continue
to work on. I think that seeing how much Ive grown as a writer makes me very proud. It was
very difficult for me to just organize all my ideas to create one essay. I have now gotten so much
feedback out of this course, thatll help me in my future courses as well. Without a thesis, you
dont have an essay. Being able to create a thesis and an argument are skills I have gained and I
will apply that to future papers that I have to write in other classes.
Advice that I could give other students that will be taking an English course is to not give
up. Essays wont always be perfect the first time that you write them. Dont get lazy and not
revise your paper, because it will show in your grade for that paper. Every English teacher has
different requirements, listening to your professor and what they want is also very important.
Your professor has already been down the road that you are going, taking any advice that they
might give you is very important. You can apply that to your essays and become a better writer.
Lastly, Id say to get as much help that you can get. Sometimes writing an essay can be
overwhelming, and you just need someone to help you. Seeking other people for help can be
useful, they may teach you something that you didnt know before. All it takes is putting effort
into what you write and in the end itll be worth it. This class has helped me taught me so much.
At first I was so nervous that I felt like I wouldnt be able to make it through the semester. Time
has flown by and the semester has now come to an end. I just want to say thank you to Professor
Ditch, and everyone else that has helped me on my journey to becoming a better writer.

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