When I learned I did not pass the U.C. Analytical Writing Placement Examination, I was
taken by surprise. I had always considered writing to be an area in which excelled, but I came to
realize that my writing in high school was graded in a very lenient manner. I feared that my lack
of experience with rigorous English classes would result in my failure to meet the university's
expectations.
On the first day of class, my professor recommended that we reevaluate our approach to
reading and writing. She encouraged the class to be creative when developing arguments and
stressed the importance of avoiding the basic five-paragraph essay. I had trouble avoiding the
introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. I learned that this
approach is not the most effective because it restricts each piece of evidence to only one
paragraph and only permits the writer to use three pieces of evidence to support a claim. In
regards to reading, the professor introduced the idea of active reading. She claimed that a crucial
step for truly conceptualizing ideas embedded in readings is to annotate text. In order to strongly
grasp the readings, she recommended rereading. I thought it was a waste of time that a professor
was dedicating class time to teach a group of college freshmen how to read, but little did I know
My first assignment was to read and take notes on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The
professor said that after reading the book we would be assigned an essay. I found it difficult to
take notes on a book without being given an essay prompt; I was uncertain of what to search for
as I read. This caused me to dissect the book for textual evidence that could be incorporated into
an essay. Through active reading was significantly more time consuming than simply reading the
book, it helped improve my understanding of what I read. This approach to reading made me
This course forced me to dedicate more time and effort than I had in my high school
English classes. I was used to earning As on all my English papers, but in this class, I realized
that my writing needed lots of improvement. I often struggled to keep up with the rigor of the
class, but I prevailed by taking advantage of my professors office hours and reaching out to my
peers for help during the review process. Apart from using resources available to me, I learned to
implement new techniques and steps into the way in which I approached reading and writing.
The fact that this English class was composed of only fourteen students made it very easy
to receive feedback from the professor and ask questions. The small class size also made it
discussions helped me to gain an idea of how other people interpreted the readings. I found it
fascinating that even though everyone in the class read the same content everyone had their
ideas.
I started off the semester with experience in writing rhetorical and literary analysis essays
but in this course, I was introduced to writing film analysis and synthesis-analysis essays.
Throughout the semester, I have been introduced to new concepts such as the importance of
sentence variety and subordination, but the most important concept I have encountered this
semester was the revision process. I have been familiar with it but never implemented it into my
writing process. In high school, I would often submit an essay and never look at it again. I never
had teachers who revised my writing with such scrutiny. I found it helpful to understand the
weaknesses in my writing and have the opportunity to reinforce them. Through the process of
revision, I have learned to form reverse outlines. To create one, I write a preliminary outline and
then begin to shift around the structure in order to find better combinations of content that create
a strong sense of subordination between paragraphs as well as help the argument develope
exponentially. This process results in having to reorganize my use of evidence, overall structure,
Through the process of making countless mistakes and spending innumerable hours
revising, I have reconstructed my writing process. The concept of active reading has allowed me
to approach difficult readings in a more efficient manner. R1A College Writing was a very
rewarding class, and I feel that the time I have spent throughout the semester is clearly reflected
in my portfolio.