How Composition II has Helped me Grow

I began this course the second semester of my junior year and I was very nervous about my writing ability. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount I learned and how my writing has immensely improved. Throughout the sixteen week course, I wrote an argumentative and rhetorical essay. Both essays focused on college anxiety, but each was about a different aspect of it. I learned the importance of how to pick a topic, how to write better grammatically, how to write at the collegiate level, and gained a plethora of knowledge about anxiety.

    Choosing my topic was extremely challenging for me, as I had never had to write about a topic more than once. I learned to thoroughly think through my topic and to make sure it was versatile. Professor Beth Hammett said in her instructions, “It is easiest to choose a topic you have a little bit of background knowledge on.” I did not follow these instructions well at first, meaning I had to change multiple times. I chose first to write about sports concussions, then changed to adult illiteracy, and finally chose college anxiety. I learned it is best to choose a topic you have a personal connection to and a passion about.

    The most frustrating part of the class for me was improving my grammatical skills. Luckily through the TCC Writing Center, I was able to have an impartial person review my essays. The biggest takeaway from the class was an improved ability to self-critique and fix grammatical errors. Heather Shavney, one of the writing center specialists, said, “Overall your grammar looks very good.” I was very pleased because before most of the suggestions from the TCC Writing Center were for me to work on my grammar. This improvement aided in the reader’s ability to clearly understand what I was trying to get across without the paper being riddled with small errors. 

    Also, I am pleased with the growth I made this semester because prior to this class I was not able to fully express myself through words. By practicing each week through writing numerous essays and other small assignments, I was able to see exponential improvement in my writing material. The quality of each of my essays was far better by the end of the class. Beth Hammett in the comments on Project 2 wrote, “Well organized, excellent use of research and citations, great job on sentencing and grammar skills, as well.” I was quite concerned that I did not have the ability to write at the collegiate level, but through hard work and mentorship I was able to thrive in the class.

The most shocking part of the class was the surplus of knowledge gained about anxiety. I had to research a multitude of different studies and look into the most effective treatments. It challenged me to think critically and know which information was useful in my essay. I have a personal connection to college anxiety because I am about to become a senior in high school, so learning more helped me feel a bit more prepared. I went into the course believing I would be writing about a multitude of topics, but was surprised when it mostly consisted of diving deeper into one topic. 

By the end of the class I learned how to choose a topic carefully, to peer review my own work, write at the college, and an immense amount about a new topic. In the future, these new gained skills will help me at a professional level.