My goals for this course when I first began were to become a better writer and to learn more about different rhetorical techniques and strategies I could use in my own writing. The work I’ve done for this course consisted of the Language Literacy Narrative Essay, Discovery Essay, and the Multimodal Creative Project, which are all uploaded to my CAC website at https://monster.commons.gc.cuny.edu/. We wrote a lot of essays, did some peer reviews, and read a variety of texts. We discussed the different types of languages that people use. I found this topic to be interesting and relatable to me because my first language is Bengali and thus, use English differently than others. When I first started this course, I thought I would do okay, but not exceptionally because of the language barrier. However, I realized that language shouldn’t be a barrier to success. I worked on my essays by visiting the writing center because I was determined to improve. By visiting the writing center, I got to work on my grammar and on how an essay is structured. I also worked on the clarity of my sentences.

Professor Conroy talked about using our critical thinking skills and using logos, pathos, and ethos in our writings. Before starting this course, I knew some of these terms but did not know what they meant. This class has been challenging for me because I’ve always had trouble with writing for this class and coming up with ideas but I did get help on it and was able to do everything I needed for this class. Now I have a better idea of what some these terms mean. One way I was able to grasp some of these concepts was during group work, where the professor asked my group to read an article and write a summary by finding evidence of the author using pathos. Furthermore, I used logos in my discovery essay about video games to convince my readers. For example, I used 6 sources on my essay to support my point. I also used proper citation and learned more about APA formatting. For the language and literacy narrative essay, I had to think critically how my life related to English. I think I may have improved on my writing and reading skills because my sentences are a little clearer and better, and I can read more fluently now.

I know I usually have to fix my writing and explain my sentences for people to understand, so I want to continue to learn. I wrote about video games in my Discovery Essay and Multimodal Creative Project because that topic was easy for me to write about. I will need to work on improving my writing because I sometimes don’t write in complete sentences. I also  have trouble thinking of ideas and being specific about what I’m writing. I would usually use my research when I’m writing essays because I’m good at doing research. I want to see if I can learn the skills of being better at taking notes and writing clearly. I think I can get better if I keep working on it and put my mind to it. We’ve been doing so much work in this class like discussions and writing short summaries. I’ve enjoyed taking this class, even though it’s been challenging, because my writing has gotten a little stronger and it has developed my ability to brainstorm.