My Progress in English 101

As my second semester at North Carolina State University is reaching its halfway point, I find it important to assess my progress in my English course thus far.

So far in English 101, we have completed two major projects, of which include a literacy and learning narrative and a visual argument. Both of these assignments have been essays that span from around 1000 to 1500 words. At the high school that I attended, I was rarely required to draft more than one essay throughout the entire year, so it has taken some adjusting to get used to almost always having a writing task to complete, on top of completing difficult assignments for other classes. Alongside of the major assignments that we have had in English 101, we also have been completing blog posts almost every week. Just as in high school I was not accustom to drafting essays regularly, I was not familiar with creating blog posts and inserting them into a webpage in a creative manner. Throughout this semester, I have had to learn a lot about time management in order for me to submit all of my assignments on time and to a standard that I am content with.

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For my visual argument I analyzed this photograph. I broke down what I thought the meanings were for different elements included in the picture. For example, the McDonalds ad may have been placed on the babies stomach to evoke the feeling of hunger within the people observing the ad.

Upon completing my visual argument essay, I am more confident in analyzing visual arguments and trying to find the deeper meaning that the artist of the visual may be trying to convey. I have learned about the different aspects of visual arguments and how it is important to stay open minded when analyzing arguments, as there are so many different ways in which they can be interpreted. From camera angles to the colors used within visual arguments, almost everything within them are intentional.

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I still find myself struggling to meet the requirements of prompts and rubrics supplied to me. I find it quite difficult to be creative within my pieces of writing, which is reflected in my grades. In order for me to improve on these weaknesses, I will need to meet with my professor outside of class with the hopes that I can grasp where exactly I am going wrong.

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Something that I have really enjoyed doing throughout this class is designing a webpage. I know that this will be an important skill in the future and this webpage could even serve me well in the future. I find it somewhat fun getting to design and insert your own ideas into a webpage, and then getting to publish your work for the world to see.

For anyone looking to create a webpage using Wix, here is an informational video that may serve as help:

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“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”

Dr. Brothers

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