My farewell to English

Taking English 240 was a challenge for me. English has never been my strong subject. When I think about writing, I generally get sick to my stomach at the thought of having to write a well organized paper. The research part is easy it’s just putting it into words. I was surprised that this class was a little less difficult for me versus my English 101, but I believe it had to do with how well organized Mrs. Jennings was and so quick to help. I was uneasy about the APA format but she made it extremely easy for me to wrap my mind around it. I believe because of this class I been able to refine my writing skills. I also learned about blogging which I thought I would never do, and I learned that I write like I talk, which results in wordiness. I really learned a lot about euphemisms and enjoyed reading my fellow classmates euphemisms. The inductive and deductive was something else that was new to me. I am glad I learned these and feel that I definitely have better understanding of the writing process now.
In weeks ones writing assignment, my goal was to get better at English, which I feel I have accomplished. Although I know I will always be weak this area, my self esteem is a little higher when it comes to writing. I feel I exceeded my expectations and learned more than I thought I would have with less stress than my former English class. I believe my expectations were exceeded by the fact that I had to push myself into learning a new writing format, APA, which proved difficult for me. Even though I was pulling my hair out at first, I am glad I was able to conquer it because I might have to use it in my Engineering classes and would not want to struggle with the paper format in that type of class.
If I took this class again, I would try to get a better grip on all the writing formats to be better prepared. I think I would have also tried to spend a little more time on the research for my research paper to make it stronger. I felt I could have done a little better had I not had such a difficult time with understanding the APA format; it took more of my time than I was expecting. I think everything else I would do the same. I felt confident with all my blogs and writing assignments.
As for my grade, well of course I would like to say an A, but if I were the Professor, according to the work displayed I would most likely give my work a B+. Although taking into consideration the amount of time and frustration I, the student, put in and went through, plus how much I learned, which is the real point to this class, I would consider a low A-. Considering this is my weakest subject and I strived to learn what was at hand and actually learned a great deal.

week 4

Dr. King’s letter would definitely work this day and age as a blog. Because a lot of what he talked about had already happened in the past making it factual while expressing his deep passion for his cause. He is also trying to lay out arguments that support his view while trying to express to his audience the necessity of it.

week 3

I don’t think the documentation with MLA or APA is too difficult or vary too much. There seem to be just few differences. I am use to the MLA format and really like. I guess because it is the way I have written form High School on. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the APA format. I think my biggest problem with that is separating the different topics whereas with MLA it just seems to flow in one method. Now I understand since the Professor explained that APA is more of the science writing format and MLA is more of the humanities. I will most definitely use MLA in the future unless I am forced to do APA. All documentation is vital to research in order to back up your facts and obtain credibility. The easiest documentation for me seems to be online sources; the most difficult is citing them. Many resources are readily available such as: online journals, articles, blogs, news sources, and books. The internet has made finding sources much easier as well citing them. Here is a web site to back up my thoughts.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/history/resources/pubs/usingprimarysources/index.cfm

unit 2

I would have to say my last three English classes I have completed have helped build my understanding of writing essays. So far in week one of this class, I have worked on several exercises that have also helped build upon the skills that were learned in the previous courses. This class has helped deepen my understanding of writing research essays; the Summary/Critique, though very nerve-racking, was a great exercise that has helped me to understand how to better write a research paper. I am realizing that I am a little to wordy. This is a very difficult task for me because I was always taught to use a lot of adjectives and metaphors to express my thoughts. Now I am learning that I need to be more precise and less wordy. Language has always been my weak subject but I am looking forward to strengthening it. I definitely feel smarter.

unit 1

My name is Seth Weimer, I’m 33 years old, married, have one child and live in Southern California. I am a construction superintendent and have been in the construction field for 13 years. Of those thirteen years, I have been a building superintendent for six. The last few years have been rough on a lot of industries; the construction industry being one of the hardest hit. In 2007 I was laid off form the home builder that I had worked for, for 5 years. I was lucky enough to pick up anther job as a building superintendent in the commercial industry, but even this area of construction has greatly slowed down.
School has never been my strong point, but in order to keep up with the construction industry, I realize that further education is required. For this reason I have chosen National University for my Bachelor of Science in Construction Engineering (BS degree). Having this degree will not only build my self esteem, but educate me, while opening up many other career opportunities. A Bachelor’s in Construction Engineering degree can be used for many other jobs as well, such as: a traffic collision office, building designs engineer and materials engineering, just to name a few. Although my goal is to us this degree for construction, it is good to know I have other options.
I hope that by further educating myself, I will learn the tools I need to get back into the construction industry for further advancement. Having a Bachelor’s in Construction Engineering will allow me to get a job paying at least a hundred thousand or more while allowing me to stay in the career field I so greatly enjoy. Although this industry has dropped dramatically history has shown it will come back around, and I would like to be ready for when it does.