Week 1 1_15_16 Previous writing experience

      I can say that my previous writing experience in writing wasn’t as strong as it should have been. I took English classes in all four years of high school. The high school I attended was overseas in a country called Palestine where I grew up as a child, so the criteria was a lot different than what they have to offer here in the United States. The reason for this was due to the fact that English wasn't their primary language. Although the school material is all in English, Arabic is the Primary Language. So it was a little hectic learning two languages at the same time. Here in the United States taking a second language is mandatory in high schools but for instance if I took Spanish classes; you weren't expected to write a two or three page essay in Spanish like you were in English. In Palestine it was expected in both Arabic and English. That’s what caused it to be a bit overwhelming but overall a great experience. The negative thing about it was that it definitely did affect my writing skills in various ways. It felt as if i wasn't gaining the knowledge I needed to become a better writer because of the pressure they force upon you to focus on two languages simultaneously rather than English being the primary focus.

 The English classes I took focused a lot more on novel reading and vocabulary than it did on rhetoric and research papers. Don't get me wrong, we wrote plenty of papers, but not as much as was needed to help develop the skills and to explore the different styles in writing like this class offers. The papers we wrote were more of reflections on what we read in class or novels we took home, very little to do with research. The positive thing about it was really having the opportunity to learn a language I had no skill in at all, which was Arabic. Also the English helped me ideally with my vocabulary and reading skills in getting the primary message a passage is trying to tell you.

Although now I am a sophomore in college I did and still do till this day struggle with writing research papers. This is my first semester here at Saint Louis University. I transferred from Saint Charles community college. One thing I can say is that it really is a challenge. SLU is a great school with highly competitive students. Selecting a class that just focuses on writing will be a great challenge that I hope brings out the best in me and everyone else in the class. Our work now is what matters most; each and every one of our  futures is literally in the palm of our own hands. Hopefully this class  gives each of us the opportunity to finally learn what true research is about and how it is done; by developing the skills needed to becoming a better writer.