A Reflection of Learning in English 111
As a high school student taking online college level courses in order to successfully pass a great deal of work ethic is necessary. Online courses in general are difficult for students due to the students’ success being mostly dependent on the student and not the teacher. In order to turn in the assignment by the deadline, students are required to plan out when they intend to work on assignments this in addition to the fact that it is a college level course. The expectations of a college level course are different from what is expected in a high school level course. Within a college level course, there is a focus on evaluating sources in depth to determine how reliable they are, while in a high school …show more content…
The first challenge I faced was overcoming the idea that journalists who write for well-known companies can have faults in their writing. When someone thinks of a journalist they usually imagine a journalist who exposes the wrongdoings of people, companies, and even the government. This thought accompanied with the fact that I enjoy reading the news and usually read it every day if not at least every week, made scrutinizing a published article prove to be a bit of a problem. However, with the analyzing of the article and analyzing articles within and outside the classroom, I have improved my ability to look at an article and more and less determine the majority of its faults. Within a week of completing the assignment the next assignment was another news media critique but on an article of choice. When comparing the previous assignment to this assignment the amount of improvement can easily be seen. In the first assignment I could barely write a paragraph, but in the next assignment I was able to write an over 1000 word essay. Both assignments made students carefully scrutinize an article(s), however, as I previously mentioned it was difficult to do. I also had a lousy handle on MLA …show more content…
I shifted from my main argument later in my essay rather than staying completely focused on my argument. In a much later assignment I also had to argue but I was able to stay on topic and I did not shift my focus like I did in my first argument. I researched in depth and included many sources for my minimum wage argument, unlike previous works where I only had one or two sources. I expanded my use of sources, therefore, creating a more well rounded and researched paper. Also, with controversial topics such as the minimum wage nearly all sources have a bias. With the use of multiple sources, I could cross reference statistics and facts to try to ascertain which were true and which were not. This is something I had never done before with any of my essays and it proved to be time consuming but also useful when making an argument. Within an argument there is a an expectation that what you are saying is true and that what you are arguing for is better than the opposing stance. I was not aware of the biases I had but this class has made me more aware of those thoughts. A considerable amount of attention to the wording is necessary considering that without looking for those biases they can ruin the reliability of an analysis or a paper. My use of the MLA format has certainly increased, its important to properly format a paper. Without proper format, the reader is more likely to have
As a high school student taking online college level courses in order to successfully pass a great deal of work ethic is necessary. Online courses in general are difficult for students due to the students’ success being mostly dependent on the student and not the teacher. In order to turn in the assignment by the deadline, students are required to plan out when they intend to work on assignments this in addition to the fact that it is a college level course. The expectations of a college level course are different from what is expected in a high school level course. Within a college level course, there is a focus on evaluating sources in depth to determine how reliable they are, while in a high school …show more content…
The first challenge I faced was overcoming the idea that journalists who write for well-known companies can have faults in their writing. When someone thinks of a journalist they usually imagine a journalist who exposes the wrongdoings of people, companies, and even the government. This thought accompanied with the fact that I enjoy reading the news and usually read it every day if not at least every week, made scrutinizing a published article prove to be a bit of a problem. However, with the analyzing of the article and analyzing articles within and outside the classroom, I have improved my ability to look at an article and more and less determine the majority of its faults. Within a week of completing the assignment the next assignment was another news media critique but on an article of choice. When comparing the previous assignment to this assignment the amount of improvement can easily be seen. In the first assignment I could barely write a paragraph, but in the next assignment I was able to write an over 1000 word essay. Both assignments made students carefully scrutinize an article(s), however, as I previously mentioned it was difficult to do. I also had a lousy handle on MLA …show more content…
I shifted from my main argument later in my essay rather than staying completely focused on my argument. In a much later assignment I also had to argue but I was able to stay on topic and I did not shift my focus like I did in my first argument. I researched in depth and included many sources for my minimum wage argument, unlike previous works where I only had one or two sources. I expanded my use of sources, therefore, creating a more well rounded and researched paper. Also, with controversial topics such as the minimum wage nearly all sources have a bias. With the use of multiple sources, I could cross reference statistics and facts to try to ascertain which were true and which were not. This is something I had never done before with any of my essays and it proved to be time consuming but also useful when making an argument. Within an argument there is a an expectation that what you are saying is true and that what you are arguing for is better than the opposing stance. I was not aware of the biases I had but this class has made me more aware of those thoughts. A considerable amount of attention to the wording is necessary considering that without looking for those biases they can ruin the reliability of an analysis or a paper. My use of the MLA format has certainly increased, its important to properly format a paper. Without proper format, the reader is more likely to have