Reflections Of My English Journey!

My English journey with ES1102 is almost coming to an end. After 10 weeks of lessons, there were many skills and tips that were picked up along the course to better prepare me for my education here in NUS. This course made me emerge out as a different writer as before when the course started. Here are some of the main points that were picked up during the course.

One of the main aspects learnt during ES1102 that was most beneficial to me was to write without the use of the pronoun "I". The reason being that the multiple use of the pronoun causes must disturbance to the reader and also makes the essay appear less credible as the use of "I" seems to come from a opinionated point of view. We should be able to write in a way that conveys and convinces the readers that without the use of the pronoun, the readers are still able to relate it back to the writer. Looking back at the reflection that was completed at the start of the course, the excessive use of the pronoun indeed causes disturbance when reading my work. Although the skill of my writing may not be as perfect yet, this invaluable skill will be continued in my future writings.

The next important skill that was learnt during ES1102 was the organisation and structure of different types of essay. Through the various assignments done during the course, majority of the feedback given was that my essay is not properly structured and organised. After multiple feedback and conference sessions, the organisation of ideas and the structure of my writing is indeed crucial in every piece of writing in order to let the readers understand my work. Comparing on my drafts for my final essay assignment and the final essay that was submitted, there were many changes made along the way in terms of my organisation, in order to allow the essay to easily understood by readers. This skill is exceptionally important because as a writer, it is our job to make sure that we guide the readers in an orderly fashion through our writing or else the readers will just lose interest halfway. This aspect of writing was one the weakest area in my writings during the start and now, it has become one of my greatest takeaway from this course.

As the course is coming to an end, the actual journey in fact has just begun for all of us. ES1102 was the most rewarding course during this whole semester despite the numerous amount of assignments. The skills that was picked up along the way will definitely prepare me for my remaining years of education in NUS. Many thanks to Dr. Misty who made English such an enjoyable and pleasurable experience in all of our lessons.

**There are no students who are not clever, but only students who are lazy (Cook 2014).

My Reflective Essay

Ever since my schooling days from Primary school to Secondary school, my command of English had not been the best. I always hated writing compositions because it was such a long process. The planning of ideas, the choice of words and finally writing them down in an interesting manner takes up so much time. The main goal that was always in my mind when writing compositions was to hit the word limit so I avoided writing lesser than i was requested in examinations.  

Following that i went to Polytechnic in a design-related course called Landscape Architecture. It was not a writing intensive course but we were still required to write essays on theories of Landscape Design. I was happy as i left the academic field of study to a design field of study. However in the second year of my course, we had to take this module called "Report Writing and Presentation" to train us in our skills of writing reports. I remembered clearly that it was one of the modules that i dreaded the most. We were introduced to many things such as report layouts, citations and writing a CV. I must say that throughout the entire module, I was just going through motion and submitted everything that was required without learning much from the lecturer. Not long after, I regretted not giving much attention to the materials taught because I had to complete a report which was part of my design work. As a result, the report was not done in a correct manner and layout which resulted in me receiving a low grade for it.

Coming on to University, I was taken aback by the amount of academic work that was required of us even though I was still in a design-related degree. During the first semester, I had a total of three essays and a report from all of my modules. I realised that I was not equipped with the skills some of my course-mates possessed like the skills of approaching and writing an academic essay. It was an uphill task for me but nevertheless with the help of some of my course-mates and my friends that I was able to pull through. I believe that it was not the best of effort and I could have definitely done better. Now that I am enrolled in ES1102, I hope to learn as much skills that are required to prepare me for the remaining years of study in NUS.