This semester I learned so much about the writing process.
As an advertising major with an English minor I thought, I’m not going to have to write any more literary criticism in college
again! But what I didn’t realize was that this class would help me in a lot
of other aspects beyond literary criticism.
On the literary front I learned a lot about what a thesis statement is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do for a paper. Granted,
I still have a lot of work to do there (my theses are interesting to me but I still have to work to take them in a more controversial direction so my paper
has more umph), but now I can recognize a good thesis. Overall, I am still not
an outstanding literary critic, but I am better than I was (sometimes I focus
too much on the style and research and lose the importance of the primary
text).
On that note, I loved doing research! I learned a lot about
effective ways to research and I loved getting into the library! Too often I
find myself doing all my research online; I forgot the allure and beauty of the
library (which sounds weird but is real!). My research really improved as I
explored more methods of gaining insight.
But what I improved the most in was learning creativity and
drafting skills. I loved in class assignments with partners (I loved getting
feedback and learning different styles of doing things) and I loved all the
different ways we attacked the drafting process. In other areas of my
schoolwork I have applied some of the different methods we used (stickies,
drawing pictures, handwriting) and it has made a big difference in the caliber of
my ideas and brainstorming.
