DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

WRT 103:  Intermediate Writing 1B

Professor Thomas Tousey

 

You know what?  Entering Stony Brook my freshman year, I really did not look forward to a writing class.  I just wanted to get it out of the way for my degree requirement, so I made sure to take it up in my first semester.  But, because the WRT 102 courses that freshmans would normally take filled up fast, I took a higher leveled writing course (WRT 103) just to get it over with.  Honestly, at first it sucked.  But, when it came down to it, I gained a much much greater appreciation for writing than I ever thought I would.


I came into that class straight from high school thinking, you know, that I'm not too bad of a writer.  I mean, I took Advanced Placement English courses throughout, so what the hey, I thought I could write.  But, in the first few weeks of school, I learned that I really was nowhere as good as I even thought.  It's kind of embarassing to admit, but when we wrote our first essay, I was pretty proud of it, thinking "This should be good for a fresh out of high school paper." 


Oh boy, was I wrong.  When I got my paper back from my professor, I had all these critical comments written throughout and, if I remember properly, they stated how my essay was stiff and my thoughts were not coherent.  I was like, "ouch."  I mean, I really thought I did a good job and I've never had someone be so critical of my work like that.  So, it's easy enough to say, that class did not become my immediate favorite.


We had to go to an advising session with our professor after that paper and when I met with my professor one on one, he told me that it lacked voice, that my structure was off, and my sentences were poorly formatted.  He told me that the thing about writing in high school is that you always write in structure: an intro, a body, and a conclusion, without giving too much thought into making it interesting.  Consequently, he advised me to break from that shell and learn to write, essentially, from the heart.  Write basically almost how you think, so that your audience can actually hear what you say as their eyes glance past each word.


And, from then on, I learned.  I learned to break through the wall and write freely; give my papers an essence of me and let my words speak for me.  I had to break free if I ever wanted to be heard, so now I have.  However, I will not say that I am great at writing, but, seriously, after having taken this class, I saw the progress in my work.  I'm not the best, but my pieces did get better; and looking back on my first essay, I'll tell you, I can nearly vomit.  He was right.  It did suck.  But, its okay, because my style of writing has changed and I'm more confident as a writer now than I was back then. 


In the end, I really looked forward to that class and it made me feel like my writing is more worthwhile.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.