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Milana Albakova

Holly Batty

English 101

26 May 2019

Improvement as a Writer in English 101

When I was a little girl in Kazakhstan, I had no idea that I would ever live in the United

States and be a fluent english speaker. Everything changed right after my tenth birthday when

my mom brought me to California to live with her. Although I could understand a lot of what

people were saying to me after eight months of living here, I had no vocabulary to express

myself fully. It was a frustrating and lonely experience for me. Elementary and middle school

were brutal. I was constantly bullied for looking foreign and I had no way of defending myself.

Girls would bully me and I would always get in trouble for it because they would all twist the

story to seem like I was the one to always start the problems. But that was ten years ago, and I

am no longer that little vulnerable girl. I told myself that I will never be a victim again and that

motivated me to be very attentive at school, talk to people, and read books in english. As a result,

my english is much better, but it’s not perfect. There is always room for improvement which is

why I am happy to be taking this English class in college. This semester in english 101 I learned

more about how to write an MLA style paper, the importance of critical thinking skills, and how

helpful peer reviews are.

It is pretty embarrassing that being in an English 101 class, the only thing I knew about

the MLA format was that it was Times New Roman and size twelve font. I am pretty sure that

my high school teachers discussed this in class but I was not paying attention. I had no idea how
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to space my paragraphs, write the headings, and do citations. The professor gave us links to great

websites that help you cite sources MLA style and a tip on typing an MLA style paper on google

docs that saves a lot of time. I never went over this in my English 28 class. Thanks to this class, I

feel fully prepared for any other English classes I will have to take that require writing.

Another great thing I learned this semester was the importance of critical thinking skills.

Critical thinking is very important because it allows me as a writer to form my own opinions on a

source and write a detailed persuasive essay. It enhances the way you present your ideas, makes

you think systematically by analyzing texts, and is incredibly important for self reflection.One of

the assignments that helped me a lot with critical thinking this semester is reading the novel by

Alex Espinoza “Still Water Saints”. We were put in groups and had to analyze the chapters and

characters in the novel. We had to look deeper than the actual text to completely understand the

characters and their situations. It made me realize that the more critical thinking I do, the more

substantial my writing becomes.

Another very important thing I learned in this class is how helpful peer reviews are. The

assignment that made me realize this is when we had to post our drafts in the forum on canvas.

Not only was it helpful because I could compare my draft to other people’s, but also because of

the feedback my peers gave me. It helped me make my essay better than what it would have been

without the peer review. Peer reviews are a chance for students like myself to get feedback from

multiple people and improve your essay before submitting it, resulting in a better grade. Another

reason why peer reviews are a good thing is because it makes you start on your draft earlier to

get feedback from others instead of waiting until the last day to submit it.

Overall, I think this class taught me many important things that will benefit me greatly in

my future as a student. If I had to take the same class again, I would. I had a great time having
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class discussions, thinking critically about the novel, and doing peer reviews. I hope to keep

improving in my critical thinking skills and overall writing.