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Man Pham

May 25, 2018

AP Literature

Ms. O’Keefe

Capping It All Off

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.

An essay is comprised of multiple paragraphs working together to support a claim or

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

on to literary analysis, which proved to be more challenging. To demonstrate my mastery, I

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

techniques used to write a paper.


Now when I say techniques, I don’t mean that there is a right or wrong way to compose a

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.

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