Personal Reflection

This semester has been extraordinarily helpful to me when it comes to the progression of my writing and speaking. For most of my life, I have struggled when it came to clearly organizing my writing. Professor Mignano-Brady provided us with outlines for our papers which really helped me to visualize what an "A" paper looks like. Writing structure is by far the biggest thing that has changed for me. The second biggest change to my writing was developing the ability to make topics flow into each other. I used to always start a topic and then abruptly stop and change to a different topic. I feel that this class really had an effect on my ability to speak in front of other human beings. I was always a very shy person, and honestly the beginning of this semester wasn't any different. This class gave me more confidence in myself and helped me to become comfortable instead of fearful when speaking to others. I have always considered myself to be an introvert but now I am developing some extroverted characteristics.

This is actually the second time that I have taken EGL 102. I took this class a few years ago at Stony Brook University, but my professor was very boring and monotonous. At the time, I viewed literature as an irritant and brushed off any ideas of reading or writing. Professor Mignano-Brady's personality really changed my mind about literature. To see such a passionate love for writing and literature has been truly wonderful. I have gained a whole new respect for literature and actually started to read books for fun. The thing that I liked most about this class was the constant praise and criticism from our professor. She has helped me to distinguish between poor and strong writing and communication skills.

I will take many different ideas and skills from this class. Our lectures on egalitarianism really opened my eyes to some of the problems that humans are facing in the world today. In the past, I had an ignorant mentality, if its not my problem then why should I care? Now I have grown as a scholar and am able to truly sympathize with those that are suffering. This class has also opened my eyes to how humans really act. We make mistakes and we learn from them. We suffer inside and bottle away our emotions. Some of us go with the flow, while others stand up and fight for what we believe in. I like to view myself as the latter. Five years from now I feel that I will still look back to this class for references, I have always been a strong thinker and I feel that my knowledge will only improve over time. I truly believe that knowledge is power and I hope to expand my horizons in the future. I feel that my writing will definitely improve as I enter the workforce. Various situations will arise and will help me to improve upon my writing skills even further. This class has really helped me to expand my mind and my capabilities, and for that I will be forever grateful.