Comparing Contrasting My Abilities in the Course, Essay Example

Learning is a process of growth and development where one develops their skills and knowledge in the respective field. Regardless of the area, writing is one of the most fundamental skills one must have mastery not only for communication but also to prove their competency through documents like research papers and curriculum vitae. As a student, my writing abilities have significantly developed throughout the course. That insight is based on comparing my abilities before taking the English course and after taking the course. In particular, I will compare and contrast how my abilities throughout the course in terms of the structure of an essay paper, thesis statement, paragraphs, key points and sentence structure, and conclusion.

The first area that affected my learning is comparing and contrasting the structure of an essay and the effective delivery of the intended message. My focus has consistently been delivering the message concisely and clearly. This is reflected in my perceived abilities and actual abilities; thoughts presented in all my papers flow seamlessly. However, before taking the English course, I did not know there is a definite structure that an essay should follow. The lessons from the course have enlightened me that the proper design of an essay includes three parts; the introduction part, the body part, and the conclusion part. The introduction part informs the reader about the fundamental premises of the paper and states the thesis or the central idea of the paper. Importantly, I have learned that the thesis is also used to communicate the key idea of each paragraph. As such, the paragraphs follow the order of the ideas presented in the thesis statement.

Another aspect to compare and contrast is my ability before taking the English course, especially in developing an appropriate paragraph structure. Notably, some elements of paragraph structure have remained the same. Elements like the use of transitions and contrasting words have been helpful to demonstrate opposing points. However, most of my previous papers did not have topic sentences or concluding sentences. Main points were scattered all over, and it was hard for the reader to grasp the idea being communicated. Now I know that the topic sentence is used as an introductory sentence for each paragraph and signals to the reader what the section is about. The supporting sentences follow the topic sentence and contain an argument for or proof of the idea in the topic sentence. Supporting sentences form the bulk of the paragraph. The last part of the paragraph is the concluding sentence which sums the paragraph’s argument and sometimes transitions to the next paragraph.

The final area to compare and contrast are the key changes that I have made in terms of organization of points and sentence structure. According to Totora, sentence structure refers to the physical attributes of a sentence and the manner in which key points are presented (3). Good writers strive to have ample word choice and modify their sentence structure to develop a rhythmic pose and maintain the reader’s attention. Having a vast knowledge of vocabularies that I can continuously tap into has enabled me to expand word choice when writing essays. Referring to my previous papers, I found that word choice was almost perfectly used, giving the essays a rhythmic pose. As such, it is easy to capture and maintain the attention of the audience. However, I also find that I often overused long sentences in past papers. The problem with long sentences is that they sometimes overwhelm the reader, which makes the argument get overshadowed. With my skills getting better, this challenge has been overcome as I am now more aware of when a sentence is becoming too long. Contrary to long sentences that inundate a reader, short sentences make an argument feel stunted. This was a common issue in past essays as the arguments were never fully developed. Notably, my argumentative essays scored low marks as such papers are highly dependent on fully developed arguments to make a strong case. Thus, improving the understanding of sentence structure and organization of points has been focal to advancing my skills.

For most people involved in a journey, “Rome was not built in one day” is a common phrase. That phrase applies to my growth journey as a student as it signifies the need for patience, hard work, grit, and a strong spirit to succeed. Looking back, I am glad not to have given up, as things that seemed difficult before are now a norm. Issues like paragraph structure, topic sentences, and sentence structure presented numerous challenges, but now I am conversant with them. These are some of the critical issues that are now easy to avoid, yet they seemed challenging before. The growth of my abilities makes it easy for me to tackle more challenging tasks that I presumed to be beyond my skills. However, I realize that there is still a long way to go hence the need to continue with the learning process.

Works Cited

Tortora, Christina. Understanding Sentence Structure: An Introduction to English Syntax. Place of publication not identified: JOHN WILEY, 2018. pp3-5. Print.