Caceres 1

Ana Gabriela Caceres

Professor Granillo
English 103
23 May 2019
On Writing
At the beginning of this class My Smart Goal was to improve my writing skills and be

able to write clearer, concise, and according to my thoughts. Along with English being my

second language, I struggled with the organization of my works since I do not have any prior

experience as a writer. However, I believe my writing skills are much better than before I started

this class. I have improved in writing, reading comprehension, and critical thinking.

Prior to taking this class, I took English 101, which was my first English class out of the

ESL program. Even though I learned many basic writing skills, I did not have the same freedom

to express my thoughts as in English 103. Most of the time, I had to content my thoughts about

specific topics since my essays needed to be about research which does not give much room to

develop critical skills.

In contrast, this class essay topics and the discussion board posts helped me to improve

my analysis of different sources and to argue in a critical and constructive way with my

classmates. In the same way, I was able to contribute with them and received another perspective

of my work. Which has helped me to consider all the possibilities when writing about certain

social issues. Also, my reading skills have improved. At the beginning of class, it was difficult

for me to read a complete chapter, but now I can read faster than before and the most important I

retained most of the information.

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Something that I still struggled with, is choosing the primary and secondary sources and

make them fit into my essay. It is still difficult for me to write a Critical Theory paper and

integrate evidence together with my thoughts. I know that is something that I need to work on in

order to write better-supported arguments.

As I said before, this class has improved my critical thinking skills and it has helped me

to express my thoughts in a better way while writing. Also, the topics and critical theories were

interesting and allow me to understand in a more comprehensive way the world I live in. Now,

when I watch a movie, TV show, or simply listen to a song on the radio I start questioning about

the hidden messages and the overall purpose of those media. This class gave me the opportunity

to know about Disabilities, Feminism, Gender Studies, Psychoanalysis, Deconstruction among

other social issues and theories that otherwise I would not know in deep. As a nursing major, I

believe the critical theories I learned on this class are going to help me on my career because a

nurse needs to develop understanding and compassion with her patients no matter their

background. Overall, this class changed the way I think, how I express myself and to always

look for the other side of the coin of hidden purpose.