In high school, it was a constant competition to see who could take the most difficult

classes, receive the best grades, and be admitted to the most prestigious universities. Due to this

overwhelming competitiveness, I took as many AP courses as my schedule permitted. It called

for a very difficult junior and senior year, but I knew if I made it into the school of my dreams it

would be worth it. Two of those AP courses were English courses: AP Literature and AP

Language and Composition; on both of which I ended up failing the AP exam. Needless to say,

when I achieved my goal to be admitted to my dream school, Florida State University, I wasnt

looking forward to taking English, at least not if I could expect it to be anything like the material

in the AP classes I had taken. The most prevalent problems with my writing according to my past

AP teachers were: developing a strong thesis statement, an interesting introduction, and a

conclusion which tied together each of the topic sentences in relation to the thesis. Surprisingly,

throughout the semester in which I took freshmen English Composition and Rhetoric (ENC

1101) I seemed to improve in each of these categories, with the help of my instructor, Ashley

Humphries, and my peers. I even managed to develop some of my former weaknesses into

strengths.

The first paper we were assigned was a Digital History Narrative in which we choose a

technological median and developed a story that showcased how this particular median affected

our lives or personality as a whole. I expressed how the element of photography affected my life

through a sequential description of the different devices in which I used to take photos. When

writing the paper I struggled the most with organizing it to where the transitions between the

analysis points and narrative elements didnt seem so abrupt and distract the reader. After a

meeting with my instructor, she suggested I use a more unique transition in order to display a

clear distinction between the narrative elements and the reflective analysis points. I then included

a ~ symbol as the transition from narrator to analysis. When moving forward in the course and

looking back at this essay, I decided that the ~ provided confusion as to who was supposed to

be speaking at what times. As a result of this, in the final revision I replaced the ~ with text

bubbles containing the analysis points, attempting to make it appear as though I was telling the

story and making small side notes reflecting upon the past, with my knowledge of the future.

This attempt would again make a more distinctive representation of who is saying what at what

time. Throughout the editing process of this particular assignment I realized that every essay I

write doesnt have to be the typical essay in which every professor expects from their students,

but that sometimes creating a more unique format or layout can benefit the quality of the work as

a whole. Where in this case, creating text bubbles with analysis comments made the essay more

effective in allowing the reader to understand the reflective points being made.

The topic of the second paper was a visual and textual analysis, which sparked my

interest in the class because what I wrote about and analyzed was completely up to me. For this

assignment we chose a video containing visual and textual elements and analyzed the manifest

and latent functions, which contributed to the message of the artifact as a whole. I chose to

analyze a cover video by Dani Shay, of the song Pumped Up Kicks in which points out the

possible catastrophes caused by bullying. At the start of this paper I had similar problems to that

of the first paper: organizing the outside sources to support my argument in an effective manner.

After visiting the ACE Reading and Writing Center at FSU, I overcame this issue with a simple

rhetorical analysis formula: topic sentence, data or example, explanation of why the data or

example proves my topic sentence, relation back to the thesis, and a transition between

paragraphs. With the help of this formula, I was able to create an essay in which all the points

worked together to form an argument. In this particular assignment, I feel I improved the most on

developing a strong thesis statement and introductory paragraph. The nature of the topic forced

me to embed context about the organization the video was made for and message of the video

itself, which allowed the base of a very strong introductory paragraph and thesis statement that I

then expanded with more details. The development of a strong thesis then caused the remainder

of the paper to be stronger and allowed it to be organized better to fit the argument.

My favorite paper was the third paper, where we were advised to pick an advertisement

which we thought had something wrong with it, we then recreated it in the form of an anti-ad,

either pointing out the issues in the original advertisement or fixing it to be a more efficient

advertisement. This paper presented me with the most difficulty, at the start of the assignment I

had chosen three different original advertisements before I finally settled on one, and even then I

had no idea if I would have enough to write about. This is where an assigned reading known as

Shift First Drafts helped me the most in the class, by pointing out that a first draft isnt going

to be written well, but rather a way to get ones ideas out on paper and decide what works well. I

created first drafts for each of the topics that I was considering and I ended up choosing an ad

from the Body by Victoria Secret campaign. The particular advertisement I chose overly

sexualizes women in an offensive nature, so I created an anti-ad that points out the various issues

which make this ad inhumane. I found it interesting to develop this argument and take apart each

and every detail of the original advertisement, which in result made it easier to complete the

assignment and contrary to what I had originally thought, it gave me more than enough to write

about. With this particular essay I believe the amount of time given to compose and edit each

draft is the cause for my improvement. It gave me enough time to contemplate and discuss with

my instructor and peers: which ad would I have the strongest argument for, which arguments

should be my main points, how I should organize and order the analysis points, and what creative

concept would best contribute to the anti-ad in order to place the largest emphasis on my

argument. Within this assignment, I feel as though I developed my former weaknesses:

introductory paragraphs and organizational elements, into what is now my strengths. I worked

hard to set up a strong introduction with describing the cause and effect of advertisements like

these on women of all ages and then I went on to organize my points to where each paragraph

led to the next with smooth transitions and relating ideas; something I had a problem with before

the start of this class.

Contrary to the expectations I had developed in my high school AP courses, I enjoyed

this class and believe I learned a great deal from it. Even though I still feel as though I need

improvement in my writing, specifically when writing conclusions, I have a better understanding

of what belongs in the ending paragraphs or conclusion of a piece, and how to lead up to it,

which is a better understanding than when I had began the course with. Each paper we wrote, I

felt as though I improved in my writing styles. In the first paper the organization of my writing,

in the second paper the organization, cohesiveness, introductory paragraph and developing of a

strong thesis statement, and in the third paper I was able to build on my improvements and create

a strong argumentative essay. At the end of the course I feel as though I am a completely

different writer than I was when I started, a more developed and complex writer.