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Ricardo Salinas

Jon Beadle

English 115

04 December 2017

Approaching University Writing

My writing has improved throughout the semester because of the class, English 115:

Approaches to University Writing. For example, in my major writing assignments, Project

Space, Text and Media, they include selected subordinate ideas that support and reinforce my

central idea. These elements of good writing involve focusing on a clear, manageable idea,

argument, or thesis all in which organizes my essay. But of course, it was not an easy task to

improve my writing as I was not a strong writer when entering the class. Even many would say

that my writing cannot possible change in the duration of a semester class of English 115.

Although this may not be the case for most students; hard work, patience and learning from my

errors enhanced my writing as a whole. My writing has improved through writing clear theses,

analyzing and answering a prompt, organization, supporting my evidence through research and

finally, having an efficient work ethic in writing my essay.`

Project Space was my first major essay in my English 115 course. First and foremost, I

did not have a title to my essay. Furthermore, it failed to have a clear thesis, proper analysis and

answer to the given prompt. I merely summarized the main point of my Project Space essay but

lacked a development, explanation, evidence and outside research. After receiving a terribly low

score on my Project Space essay, it altered the way I approach writing. I decide to go to my

professors office hours to receive assistance and constructive criticism. It helped me improve
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my thesis statement to become a better guide to my audience when reading my essay. During

office hours, my professor, Jon Beadle, pointed out problems that opened a new world to writing.

He explained that my thesis and paragraph must be coherent and arranged in a manner that keeps

the readers attention. It also allowed for the thesis and subordinate ideas to be effectively

identified. There were many other suggestions given by my professor such as grammatical

errors, but the improvement on having a clear thesis was the key element that was missing in my

Project Space essay. Therefore, the only thing that was left to do was to apply this information to

my upcoming essay, Project Text.

I put effort into Project Text to apply my professors advice into my second essay,

Godzilla: A Tale of Two Monsters. There are multiple reasons why my Project Text essay

received a higher score than my Project Space essay. For example, my essay, Godzilla: A Tale of

Two Monsters, was given a lot of time and effort as it strongly emphasizes the topic of Godzilla

in old and modern times. I focus heavily on having a clear thesis that states my argument,

emphasizes the central idea and leaves the reader with a sense of completion. This leaves room

for meaningful discussion about my essay. For the first time, I spent countless hours on finding

credible resources to help support my claim and answering the prompt that was given to me in

Project Text. Although, my essay for Project Text received an adequate score there is always

room for improvement in my last essay, Project Media.

Project Media was surprisingly one of the most difficult projects out of the three. Not

only did it involve a three page essay, but we also had a presentation to do based on our topic.

My topic was sexism and zombies. This topic is not something you would normally consider

when watching a zombie film and or TV show, but I enjoyed taking on this challenge. Project

Media was based on how monsters reflect American issues. It was hard to find crucial resources
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to support my evidence, in this case sexism, but I eventually interpreted the issue of sexism

through zombie films and TV shows. The presentation was not hard, as I prepared well. I felt as

if effort matters the most towards making a good presentation and essay.

Project Space, Text and Media have changed the way I approach writing. English 115

with Professor Beadle has impacted my writing ethics and writing process as a whole. Many

students in my class are likely to agree that he gives an excessive amount of writing assignment.

Regardless, I knew that it was for a good cause. That is, to become a better writer in the eyes of

the university. Unfortunately, I cannot give all the credit to my professor. It was I who ultimately

decided to put in the time, patience and effort in order to improve my writing. This can also

apply to all students as we must come to the decision of whether or not we want to put in that

extra mile of effort for improvement. However, I learned from this class more than just writing.

Instead, I ultimately learned the process it takes in order to improve on a given task. Overall,

English 115 changed my writing for the better. I came into the class with little to no skill or

confidence in writing. Now having my final days in this class, I believe I have changed as a

writer and can now approach university writing.