This English 112-226 class

Improvement in Writing Skills

One of the most educational classes I’ve ever taken in my complete academic career has been English 112-226. I was able to learn a number of new writing strategies from my English professor, Dr. David Hawes, who also provided me with direction and appropriate instruction. I now know how to effectively use the abilities we go over in our writing process. It has been simple to understand the new information taught by Dr. Hawes because of his fantastic and fascinating teaching style, which makes it difficult to lose interest in the middle of the lesson. However, this did not come as easy as a, b, c, and d since when I entered this class, my writing skills was weak thus interfering with the flow of my first essays. This can be attested with my first essay “Warfare Summary” done on 3rd February 2017, which when compared with the second one “Disobedience to authority” presented on 21st of March; a lot of improvement will be noticed. Finally, the last one “Infrastructure” presented on 18th April also shows an improvement from the previous ones. All the writing techniques that I did not use and later on employed them in my final paper indicating the transition of my improvement in my writing skills will be discussed broadly in this paper from essay one to three with proper evidence given.

Essay One: “Warfare Summary”

In the first essay “Warfare Summary,” I rushed it thus did not take it too seriously making me commit errors like failing to apply the 8th edition MLA formatting on the header. For instance, I used a different-first-page header that is commonly employed in APA style instead of the papers MLA format (“Warfare Summary”). However, my improvement in essay two “the short synthesis on disobedience” can be noticed since I took my time to read it over multiple times. For example, in the paper’s header, I followed the MLA 8th edition format required on the paper unlike the first essay (“Disobedience to authority”). This can also be confirmed in essay three whereby the header also follows the right style definition.

Essay Two: “Disobedience to Authority”

In essay one; I also had a problem with not using a semi-colon in the right manner to complete a sentence thus causing several sentence fragments in the majority of my paragraphs. For example, Mead is also the author of an essay, Warfare: An Invention – Not a Biological Necessity; published in Asia, 1940 (“Warfare Summary” 1). However, in essay three, this was corrected. For example, Airports are out of date; they lack renovations exposing a significant challenge to the government thus showing an improvement in the use of semi-colons (“Infrastructure” 1).

Essay Three: “Infrastructure”

In essay two, I used page numbers in the HTML sources that I used in the paper in in-text citations. For example, in Disobedience to Authority page 2 (Fattori et al. 199). However, after learning from my mistakes, in the third essay, I avoided the use of page numbers again in the web sources and employed the use of years to adhere to the right format as seen in Infrastructure page 2. For instance, (Infrastructure Report Card 2017).

In Disobedience to Authority page 3, essay two, I had a problem with placing periods before citations instead of after and also inserting quotation marks after citation instead of before, for example, Saks idealizes morality when he asks, “What determines what is good and what is evil? (222).” However, in infrastructure page 1, essay three, the error was not repeated. For instance, “One of the more remarkable aspects of infrastructure is how little we think about it. Hardly anyone grasps that infrastructure is to society what the circulatory system is to a human body” (Gerencser 34).

In the paper one, I employed so many repetitions of words unnecessary thus making the paper monotonous. For instance, Mead uses facts about Eskimos to prove her claim of fact that warfare is an invention (“Warfare Summary” 2). Nevertheless, in paper three, I avoided the use of many repetitions of words to make its flow coherent and understandable (“Infrastructure”).

In essay two works cited section; I had a challenge in underlining both the URL and the date part. For example, Lefkowitz, David. “On a moral right to civil disobedience.” Ethics, vol. 117, no. 2, 2007, pp. 202-233. Academic Search Premier. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.owens.ohionet.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=35c89ea0-8768-4b90-910b-c52650cd7fa9%40sessionmgr4006&hid=4207 8 Mar. 2017. Indenting the sources was also another issue since I did not indent left at 0 and hanging at 0.5 (“Disobedience to authority” 6). However, in essay three, this was not repeated since indenting was done the right way and also no underlining of both URL and date. For example, Algarni, Ayed Muhammad, David Arditi, and Gul Polat. “Build-operate-transfer in infrastructure projects in the United States.” Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 133, no 10, Oct. 2007, pp. 728-735. Academic Search Premier. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.owens.ohionet.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=33&sid=4c9f2641-2912-40f2-bb8a-445a4653620c%40sessionmgr120&hid=128. Accessed 10 Apr 2017 (“Infrastructure” 10).

Shortage of Time in Essay Three

However, in the third essay, long synthesis of Infrastructure, I did it in two days thus failing to proofread it due to the shortage of time. The errors I committed include; I also had a problem with plagiarism. For instance, in 1988, the concept of evaluating and rating the nation’s infrastructure originated with the congressionally chartered, National Council on Public Works Improvement report (“Infrastructure” 2). I had also a problem with one of my sources since one of the works cited entry was wrong. For instance, in infrastructure page 2, Fragile Foundations: A Report on American’s Public Works (Infrastructure Report Card 2017).

Works Cited

The English 112-226 class has been productive, and this can be proved with the above points in my essays that have been highlighted with evidence. However, I believe that the teaching and learning in this class could be improved if enough time is given for assignments to be completed thus helping students avoid the rush for fruitful results. Nevertheless, my heartfelt gratitude goes to Dr. Hawes for sharpening my writing skills thus making me believe more in my dream of writing my autobiography and several novels to achieve the status of great writers like Mark Twain. I could not wish for a better teacher like him or classmates that have made my learning superb. All I can say is a big thank you to everyone, and I wish we could remain together as a family until the end of my studies.

Works Cited

Hixson, John. ”Infrastructure.” Unpublished essay, 2017. Print.

Hixson, John. ”Warfare Summary.” Unpublished essay, 2017. Print.

Hixson, John. ”Disobedience to Authority.” Unpublished essay, 2017. Print.

The Reflective essay paper (#5)