Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AP Literature
Ms. O’Keefe
My journey as a writer has grown throughout the course of time since 10th grade. It
developed from a standard idea that essays were written with 3 or 5 paragraphs, no inbetween.
The essays should start with a clear introduction that proposes a claim. From there, a total of 3
body paragraphs are placed in the middle, which are used in order to separate the support for the
claim, or buckets. Finally, the essay is ended with a conclusion that wraps up the essay as a
whole. As I began to progress through high school, my English classes have challenged me to
expand my literary knowledge. My classes have taught specific skills that will help me in
English both in the present and future. In order to differentiate and create these papers, I need to
understand what the prompt is asking. Knowing the prompt, I could write a paper meeting what
the criterias asked for. Whether it is the type of paper, the techniques used or analyzing then
evaluating a literary work, I have learned to choose the best option when writing my papers.
point that the writer has. In order to create a paper, I need to know when to use certain essays and
how they are structured. This is key because writing a paper with the wrong style can affect the
turnout. There are narratives, papers that come from a defined point of view, usually the
author’s, that gives feeling and sensory details, literary analysis, which is the practice of looking
closely at small sections to see how it affects the work as a whole and argumentatives, essays
that make the writer defend a position. To begin my journey with English, I had to learn how to
form a narrative essay. By doing so, I had an assignment to write about gender roles and when I
came to realize there was a difference between the two. As I had demonstrated my experience
with an incident that changed my viewpoint, I needed to incorporate dialogue and sensory
details. Whether it was touch or smell, it had to be descriptive enough that the audience could
feel as if they were in my shoes. From there, the journey in which I came to realize that gender
roles had limits due to society began. Understanding more about narratives, it was time to move
wrote about fear and how it can change anything it wanted. As fear is an emotional state of being
that people bare, I analyzed society and the media’s influence. Fear can be started from a rumor,
which is then spread all around society with the thought of truth. With the help of media, they
exaggerate the news and portray it with bias that spreads fear even quicker. In the end, that sense
of fear will overcome everyone until society has adjusted to it. Now wrapping up, argumentative
essays were more straightforward. They required a claim with firm support as to why it is correct
and let writer counter the opposing side. As we finished up “The Crucible”, it seemed that there
were many factors building up to the events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials.
However, one stood out more than the rest, and that was the scientific setbacks that they
encountered. In this argumentative, I assert my position on the scientific perspective and explain
why it was the setbacks that caused the most problems to Salem’s community. Writing different
types of papers were not the only things I learned to become a better writer, I studied the
paper. What is meant is the devices that the author use and the way they are styled and
structured. In order to create a paper, I had to understand different appeals I could have to the
audience, which can be ethos, pathos or logos. To appeal to ethos is to convince the audience
with credibility, where it can be from someone who is specialized in that area of studies or the
proper grammar and syntax used. Unlike ethos, when appealing to pathos, it invokes the feelings
of sympathy, pity or anything the author would like. Finally, the appeals to logos is to convince
the reader by using logic and reasoning. This could be demonstrated by the use of theoretical
language or citing facts because it would make the audience piece things together. However,
using different devices is not the only technique to make a paper. By altering the structure of the
paper and making it a script or a poem would change it too. A script is interchangeable, it can
demonstrate the author’s ability to be creative, yet serious about a subject that is being spoken of.
As I created one, it was based on “The Crucible”, where I had to explain the key ideas leading up
to the Salem Witch Trials. This could be taken and used to create a video, which I did, with
added effects and props to make it enjoyable. A poem is versatile, due to the meanings it could
portray through its words and phrases, people can perceive it in different ways. In one of the
three poems I created, it was called, “To a New Home.” At first, reading the title, it may seem
like a happy poem, where a family may be settling down. However, it’s about death and how the
new home is a casket in the ground for those that passed away. The poem changes from a
cheerful and flowery mood to a serious one once the audience understands the true meaning
behind the chosen words. This made my writing become more unique in the sense that I know
how to play with words and their meanings literally and figuratively.
In conclusion, the English classes I have taken during high school has benefited my
writing in various ways. It has taught me that there are different types of essays from narratives
to argumentatives that I could write. In addition, there are plenty of techniques the author can use
to create their paper. Taking this to further my education, I hope that college would open my
mind to more ideas and topics that will challenge me. I would like to be a curious student who
explores any new concept that would expand my knowledge. As I finalize high school, my
experiences have shaped me as a scholar by improving my writing significantly since 10th grade.
And as a person, I have grown to become more confident in speaking and focused when
listening.