On September 26, 2015
I wrote a paper on the “Forty Signs of Rain” novel which used to be my summer assignment. Undoubtedly, there would be drastic changes of my essay from the point of summer season 2015 until winter 2017. I am correct as to my information that I had learnt a lot since I last wrote my summer essay.
In my summer time of 2015
I was a lazy high schooler who expected a three-month lengthy vacation without any interruption; however, when my school ended, and summer season began, I received an email from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) indicating the required tasks earlier than entering the UCSC. The first part of the email mentioned the requirements of an essay to be written at the beginning of fall 2015. The moment I read “summer assignment”, I started feeling stressed. Thus, the same day I remember going to the library to check out the assigned book to be able to finish my summer assignment within the next few weeks. I checked out “Forty Signs of Rain” and planned to start the next day. Nevertheless, no such luck. When I realized that I had already needed to finish this assignment, it was just two weeks until my fall semester. That was the moment when I rushed to read the book and write the essay as soon as possible. This haste led to a substandard essay, which, when looking at it after a whole year, could have had many changes to make it an excellent essay. The main concern of the essay being not the best was procrastination, which is one of the primary things that I have changed since then not only as a reader but as a student as well.
Having taken writing courses at UCSC
made me believe that procrastination is not the way to go about doing work. I realized this after my first quarter of the UCSC career. I read all of the articles after they were assigned so that I had time to annotate, re-read confusing parts, and understand. These things helped me become a better reader as of 2017 because, if I had started to read the “Forty Signs of Rain” novel earlier, I would have had enough time to annotate. Annotating articles or even books makes one understand the book in the appropriate manner because you are highlighting important or confusing parts to relook. These are the aspects, to which I currently adhere while reading my articles. Had I achieved such points in summer, I would be able to understand the book more thoroughly.
The first day of fall 2015
was the first day of my writing courses at UCSC which continue until now because of taking four more UCSC writing courses. I am confident to say that since summer 2015 till winter 2017 my writing ability has changed drastically. Firstly, I passed my Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) in fall 2016, which I was not able to pass in summer 2015. While passing ELWR may not seem as having changed, I have still learnt many tips throughout my UCSC writing courses that can be applied to improve the essay that was written in summer 2015. It is not only about being able to use tips to write a better essay but also having tutors available at school to help with writing and having friends to look over my draft. Regarding my goals in summer 2015, my primary objective was to pass the ELWR; however, in 2017, my goals are to improve grammar, sentence structure, and much more, which will make me a better writer.
With the paper about “Forty Signs of Rain”
that I have in my hands, I am not happy with my essay because just rereading it led me to realize that I can write a better draft even now because with time I can produce more detailed thoughts and better sentence structure. These changes in my reading and writing ability are all due to being passionate about becoming a better writer. I hope to see many changes from winter 2017 until future just like the changes that I had carried out from summer 2015 to winter 2017.
