Immigrating to America three years ago and starting high school with a whole different learning system here is not that easy. Since elementary school, throughout middle school, and going into high school, “ELA” class and especially essays have never really been something that I like to write about because I am more like a math guy. I never really understood and paid attention like how I should start, how my paper should go or how it should end because teachers did not require that much from us.
When I first entered this class I would say I was kind of “scared” because it was my first ELA class that I was taking in college and I did not know how hard it would be. But it actually went really well and I learned a lot from it. We learned how to first analyse an article or a book that we chose to write about by using rhetorical analysis with finding the Summary, Exigence, Purpose, Genre and Stance with which you break down the parts of the source that you are using and give the opportunity to articulate them. I also learned what information you should search for so your essay will be well written and articulated so the reader would like to read your essay and he will easily get your point.
The most important thing to understand while writing a paper is first to know the audience that you are trying to convince or inform, how to do a proper research of information in your topic, to know how to break down the information that you have got so you know in which part of the paper you will use it.
Something that has really contributed to my theory of writing while taking this class was to understand the topic that I will write about, analysing the source that I am using.
Something else that I learned with the time was to write down as many things as come to your mind and then you can start to “shape” them so your writing will get a meaning. By doing this I am able to get different thoughts about my paper and it gives me options for what or how I should write.
While doing the 3rd assignment for this class which was to write a Research Paper, I chose to write about Electric Cars. I wrote about how electric cars have developed since the 19th century and what their impact is on our environment today. For this paper, I was able to write six pages and while writing this paper I could see the confidence that I had gained in writing from the beginning of that class till then. I was able to do a proper research for the topic that I was writing, I was able to easily analyse my sources, and articulate a meaningful paper so for whoever reads it will be an essay for him/her to get the point of the essay.
Regarding where else i can use theory of writing to other writing situations both inside and outside the classroom, I hardly believe that the theory of writing is great skill to own because you going to have to use not only to write a essay but you are going to use it when you have to give a speech, to write a formal email and in many other cases. This theory of writing will really help to know how to make a point in your paper, speech or even while speaking, it will help on how to use an attention getter so you will get the attention of whoever you are speaking or writing.
In summary, my theory of writing has improved a lot by taking this ELA class. It was really helpful to me because in the beginning I was not that sure of how to write an academic paper or how to use rhetorical analysis and different factors related to an academic paper. Before writing to me used to be boring and like something that I just wanted to get done as soon as possible, but now I feel like writing is a great skill to own and it can help you express yourself allows you understand your feelings and thoughts