De Leon 1 Alejandra De Leon Professor Vana DerOhanessian English 114A 5 December 2013 Writing about writing I have always

had a difficulty writing essays, especially if I had to make a counter argument. In my eleventh grade English class, my teacher Mr. Kim, assigned the class to write about a personal event where we felt are happiest or saddest. I chose to write for a moment in my life where I was at my lowest. I was in a toxic relationship where I would cry every night. My boyfriend would emotionally abuse me by always putting me down. My English teacher felt my sorrows in every inch of the paper that he wanted to publish it in his book for the school. That event motivated me to work harder as writer. I like to think outside the box and use different words throughout my papers and that is exactly what I did for my first college English 114A class. Even though I like to think outside the box, writing a thesis and counter arguments are my weak point. As I wrote essays for my English 114A class, I would struggle to make my own thesis. Since it has been fifteen weeks that I have had the English class with professor Vana, I feel that my thesis for my essays has become stronger. At first, my thesis would be long and not so bold. However, after hearing the feedback that my professor told me during one of the conferences I had with her, I began to work harder on my thesis. In order for your thesis to tie-in with the rest of your essay, you have to make sure that you have both sides of the argument because not everyone is going to agree with your thesis. In my case, I always have one side, and it is the side that I am arguing about. In my last essay for the class, The Perception of Beauty, I

De Leon 2 asserted that pop culture influences society by manipulating people to believe that cosmetic surgery and being thin is the best option to enhance one's physical appearance. Some people might disagree with me, and I did not mention the other side of the argument. When I found out that we had to make a portfolio for my English 114A class of our essays instead of a final, I was actually relieved. In order to make a portfolio, I had to look back at my writing. As I read my essays, I noticed that I have learned a few things throughout this term. For instance, I know how to write better transitions throughout my paragraphs as well as making my essay flow a lot smoother. In order for my essay to run smoothly, I have to make sure that each topic sentences in the paragraphs ties in with my thesis. If they do not tie in, I might lose the focus of my readers. Also, I would be repetitive, so now it is easier for me to use different words that have the same meaning. My professor told us about a website called Purdue Owl, and it was the best thing to help me for my essays that were in MLA format. I have a difficulty with citation, and the website helped me tremendously. It has examples on how a specific source should look like in your essay. Learning new things in a term makes me feel good by proving to myself that I have worked hard. I will use the things that I learned in the future by writing essays for my future classes. Even though I am not going to take an English class in the fall of the year 2014, I know that I will probably write essays for another class such as my sociology class or maybe even in my anatomy class. Essays are always going to be assigned, but even though I know where I am strong in my writing, I am going to still have a difficulty in writing counter arguments. That is what I have to improve, and I will make sure that I will work on that in order to make counter arguments one of my strengths in writing.

De Leon 3 Work Cited De Leon, Alejandra. 2013. The Perception on Beauty. Unpublished essay, California State University, Northridge