I am really glad that I joined the English 100 course by Professor Andrea Actis at Capilano University this summer. These classes taught me so many things that I’m going to find beneficial in the long run. I have certainly improved my writing skills because of this great course which will help me with my assignments in other university courses as well.
On the first day, I learned about citations, which was an excellent start because citing is a crucial part of our writing. Giving credit to the individual whose work we are using is a mandatory duty. We must ensure that everyone who reads our piece recognises that the work was done by someone else and that we too have done our research thoroughly. The use of citations implies that we do not plagiarise. Therefore, learning this important skill is useful for my future works as well. After that, we were taught about the proper usage of quotations. As quotes are a useful feature to utilise in our compositions, it is essential to use them accurately. The professor is so helping and supportive that she provided us with notes about using good signal phrases and transitional words which I found to be very beneficial. In addition to this, the readings assigned in the class were beautiful which gave me some great life lessons as well. The publications taught me to be aware of my own self and my surroundings. Moreover, I learned how to really be free from the negative emotions around us by being more mindful and finding the root cause of the problems surrounding us. As Lama Rod Owens in his essay “A Sermon on Love and Anger” states that “the path of liberation through anger” (18) is by building a relationship with it… by building a relationship with our hurt. Lastly, I gained a good amount of knowledge because of the research project assigned to us, in which I had to choose a recipient for my care package. I chose my boyfriend as I am angry at him for not understanding my current life situation and being very demanding. With the help of the sources I have selected, I am hoping that we can work things out between us.
Overall, this journey has been wonderful for me and I’m really grateful to Professor Andrea for being such an amazing instructor and guiding me throughout.