IUPUI SSA - English

Stephanie Street
I have always loved reading, so people like to tell me that I should like to write and that i should be good at it. I usually just nod my head and try not to let them see the confused and horrified look on my face. It is not that I do not like writing, because I do. I have written a couple of (very) short stories and I have a blog where I post my them and share random stories from my life, dreams that I have, and whatnot. Writing has just never come naturally to me. I think the majority of it is an organization problem, my brain is just not wired in the correct way for me to connect all the words and sentences and paragraphs together and have it come out to make sense. I feel like this course has helped me come to this conclusion that I have an organization issue. This means that now when I head into English 131 I can go in knowing how to help myself succeed.
When we wrote out our summaries I just picked out what I thought were the main points and slapped them down into a paragraph and called it a day, I did not realize until one day in class when I was forced to rewrite my summary for the article, Affirming the Self Through Online Profiles: Beneficial Effects of Social Networking Sites by Catalina L. Toma, using the transitions; first, second, third, finally how much easier and clear the paper was to read and write. Because of this I know how to go about writing papers for my class; I will come up with an organization method. I guess it is like writing the thesis sentence before you start the paper, you need to know what you are going to write about before you just dive right in, and diving right in is how I like to write a paper. Writing is a lot more methodical then I ever realized.
This course has been good because it has given me a glimpse into what my real class will be like, I will go in having a good grasp on what the teacher is looking for and I will have a better idea how the teacher may grade assignments. This program has also given me a chance to get a grasp on my ability to manage time. I learned that while I have the ability to do a given assignment in ten minutes, the end result will just always be lacking something. When I took the time to think and organize a paper it came out actually being something I was not ashamed to turn in.
I also learned that when the going gets tough, take a break to doodle and brain storm. I believe that this is totally going to help me with the way my brain works. I always thought that when I am writing a tough paper that if I just sit there and stare at the key bored long enough that eventually something magical will happen, but the process works so much faster if I just stop, get out a piece of paper and pen and draw or start writing down random ideas. I think I can compare this idea to a camera, I have the camera pointed at an image but the image is out of focus so I have to turn the lens a little to the left and right until I get it perfectly in focus.
I once told my friend, “College is not about being cute, it is about being resourceful.” We were talking about rain boots at the time but after starting this program I keep coming back to it, trying to hold on to it and remember. I guess I have been using it as my mantra. I know that I can succeed if I take what I have learned and I apply it. I also learned that there is a place in the Liberal Arts building I believe where they help you edit your papers, I am sure I will be spending a bunch of time in there. As you get older it seems like it is not so much about learning new things, but learning new ways to apply old things.