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Wen Zhao Yang

Professor Alder
STACC English1A #32474
4 May 2016
Ending of English1A and the Beginning of Another Future
As the semester is coming to the end, it is hard to notice the change that has gone
to a paradigm shift for the better like Jimmy Santiago Bacas life has. English1A
consisted of essays that need thorough planning and understanding of rhetorical devices
to write an essay. But in reality, it is always easier said then done. Essays are an
opportunity that is given to show what an individual has learned and show how you can
progress even further has a writer. But not as someone who is writing for a grade but as a
critical thinker. The essays in English100 are different compared to the essays in STACC
English1A because the essays in STACC do not just make you regurgitate whatever
readings you have done. It makes you create a much more complex idea that must explain
with your own thoughts. In this class, I have wrote essays regarding writing about
writing to analyzing what a discourse community is and what specific language they
use. These types of essays have made me realize how critical thinking can change the
way you feel about writing. Because these essays was not about spewing back
information that you have just the other night reading I became to develop an open mind
towards different essays.
The first essay was about writing about writing or show why society today
people write. The key concepts that were talked about in class were change of writing
which came from Mary Pipher. She believed that writing has the power to effect and

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change the way a person views the world. When we write we connect with the
reader and persuade the reader to see and feel what we feel, this is the concept
of change writing. In my essay, I wrote about how writing can change people but
only if they have an open mind about life or things. Because by being open
minded it will create a different mentality that you will began seeing things in
different perspectives. Jimmy Santiago is an example of what change of writing
is capable from he went from a convict to a poet. By having an open mind, he
escaped from the reality of prison to writing literature in his prison, which helped
him evolved into a different individual. I believed that I used this effectively in this
essay because I was able to integrate Pipers idea and support by using Baca as
a clear example of how change of writing can be used to help improve peoples
situation if they are open to new ideas to reform themselves. However, I feel that I
lacked clarifications in some of my connections with the authors and the main
point that I was trying to get to. If I was able to develop a better structure for this
essay, I believe that I might have been able to further strengthen my argument
and present at a much stronger and much clearer perspective.
My least successful essay in my opinion would have to be essay number.
The purpose of this idea was to apply Piphers change of writing while
connecting Bacas text Singing at the Gates with any of the readings that we have

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done in class. I chose Martin Luther Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail
because Baca alike has gone to jail due to his cultural differences. I compared
Kings letter to Bacas poem The Young Men Laughing because they both
connected somehow to cultural differences. In this essay, I used how King was
facing the issue of having equal rights because of his skin color and in Bacas
poem I analyzes how the young men were being discriminated by their
appearance. I used this comparison to show that equality and rights can be
perceived different by peoples appearance or their culture. The points that I used
in this essay was supported by analyzing the readings itself with my thoughts.
This was my poorest essay in quality because I did not fulfill the page
requirements. However because of this, I learned that to write an essay such as
this one needs proper planning. In addition, this essay help me become a critical
thinker because I had to analyze the poem thoroughly and reflect on the meaning
is because the poems meaning can be different from my meaning from the
authors.
I think the most difficult essay would have to be the discourse community
essay because it required the most planning and research in order to write a
proper essay with findings that support your thesis. I picked the International
Economics Development Council because it is associated to my major, which is

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Economics. The IEDC is a discourse community that exists to help prevent the
nation from having another Great Depression. In order to prove that the IEDC is a
discourse community, I applied Swales categories that he uses to distinguish
discourse communities. But I only used three of his categories, which was if they
have goals, genres of tools they use, and if they had intercommunications with
their members. The positive part of this essay, is that I had enough information
that I can use to support my argument and I was able to use past experiences in
the United States economic situation to enhance the IEDCs goals to improve the
economy. The issue that I had with this essay was with the conclusion because I
struggled to efficiently conclude the data that I have gotten from my research with
Swales ideology. I feel that I discuss about it separately well but not when it was
combined. I think I would have been able to do it if I used other articles to
integrate my research to provide a smoother transition through paragraphs to my
conclusion.
But from this essay, I was able to gather further information on what my
major will be used for. By writing challenging essays in this class has helped me
become more of a critical thinker with an open mind. Along with this I was able to
work on my networking with the people in the class. The most important thing is
that I was able to understand my major even more and narrow it down to what

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kind of business major I would like to pursue a career in. Like a critical thinker in
English, people in economics will need to think out of the box to create more
efficient and successful methods to help the economy evolve. By being a student
in this class ultimately made me a better student.