What I hope to learn in English 150

What do I want to learn from English 150? That is a question that even God might not be able to answer. Coming into this class, there were no specific things that I wanted to learn. Like most students in this course, I am taking it because it is required, and not because I am particularly interested in the subject. In fact, when people ask me what I am majoring in, one of my typical answers is “not English.” Despite this fact, I realize that this course is geared toward teaching me how to become a better writer and critical thinker. With that in mind, if I happened to learn something along the way to the end of this semester, I think some of the items that follow would probably be of help to me in my future.

I would like to learn different techniques to make the reader of my paper more interested. This is extremely general, I realize, but I would like to write in such a way that monotony and eye-rolling never go hand in hand with my papers. In other words I would like a divorce from these issues, and in the process gain custody of my readers. I would also like to become more proficient in writing my papers. It seems like every time I have to write a paper, I die at least several times. Perhaps if I were better structured in my writing (and didn’t wait until less than 12 hours before the paper was due), the task would not seem so tedious. I highly doubt this to be possible, but like science I am an open book and I am willing to listen to suggestions.

There is another thing that I would hope to learn, and that is why we use the APA format instead of the MLA. We are not in a science course, nor are we in a psychology course. And yet, for some reason, we are using APA. To be honest I don’t really want to know the answer to this question. This was more just ranting after having to learn how to do APA last semester in my human development class, after four years of MLA in high school. Maybe I should be upset at my high school instead for not teaching it to us. Better yet, I will take the pessimistic route and be angry at both. Either way it’s not a big deal and I am still just ranting for ranting’s sake.

I am sorry that I wasn’t able to come up with more things that I would want to learn in this course. My plan of attack is to roll with the punches, take time to smell the flowers, cross my fingers, close my eyes and hope to come out on top. I really don’t particularly like English. Dare I say that English is the bane of my existence. However, at the same time I do realize its immense importance and that if I am to become a competent member of society I need to know its essentials. Better yet, to become a persuasive, intregral and important member of society I need to know and understand its details. Even though I have not mentioned many specific things, I do hope that this class will prepare me to be a better writer and critical thinker. I know that response is incredibly cliché, but so is this assignment.