123's of English

It is very essential for many students to go through an English course in their career as a college student. It is their duty to fully understand what has to be known when wanting to write an essay. In order to understand these things, I came to the University of Saint Mary with some knowledge of how to properly write an English essay, but now that I have gone through my first semester here at USM, I have to honestly say that I have been taught the proper way to write an essay. I was taught how to just put sentences together, how to put together a paragraph with those sentences, and take those paragraphs and make them into an essay.

At the beginning of the semester, we started from scratch. On August 24, 2006 we were told that "letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make paragraphs, and paragraphs turn into essays" (Bowen). It is highly important to know how to write a sentence. There are some things that make a sentence correct and incorrect. For example, if a sentence does not have a subject, a verb, or both; then it is not a sentence; it could possibly be a dependent clause. A brief definition of a dependent clause sentence is, "a dependent clause cannot stand on its own" ("Sentence Structure"). In order to determine if it is a dependent clause, it should begin with a special word. Some of these words can be found on the sentence structure handout. On the other hand, a sentence that does have a subject and a verb is known as an independent clause. It is very essential to know exactly how to correctly write a sentence.

There are four different types of sentences that can be found in any written document. These different types include "Simple Sentences, Compound Sentences, Complex Sentences,

After learning how to properly write a sentence, it is now easy to put them together and make a paragraph. Throughout this English Composition course, I learned eleven different rhetorical modes and how to write a paragraph using nine of them. The eleven rhetorical modes include narration, description, example, definition, division, classification, comparison, contrast, cause, effect, and process ("Rhetorical"). I used these modes to properly write paragraphs. These different rhetorical modes can be found throughout essays. Rhetorical modes help to improve the intelligence of the essay. It is good to know how to write a paragraph by using the different rhetorical modes.

An essay is a combination of both sentences and paragraphs. Without these two things, there is no essay. The sentences must be grammatically correct, and the essays should be interesting enough to get somebody's attention. There were two essays that we needed to write. The first was essay that we had to write was an expository essay. In this essay I learned how to include some of the rhetorical essays into it. I noticed that the different rhetorical modes flow properly and make an essay into its best. The second essay that I was required to write was a research paper. In writing this essay, I learned how to formally cite a research essay. I also learned how to correctly place in-text citations into the essays. By citing all of these sources, this makes the paper not plagiarized. I know that if a paper is plagiarized; then any student who does will get expelled.

Now that the semester is coming to an end, I have realized that I have learned a lot this year. I did learn some of the information last year in high school, but I now understand what I am doing even more. I learned how to write sentences properly, how to turn the sentences into paragraphs and then turn those paragraphs into essays. This course has really helped me to improve in writing my essays.

Works Cited

Bowen, Julie. "In Class". English Composition I. Leavenworth, KS. 24 Aug. 2006.

Bowen, Julie. "Rhetorical Modes in Paragraphs". Course Handout. EN111 English

Composition I. University of Saint Mary. Leavenworth, KS. Fall 2006

Bowen, Julie. "Sentence Structure". Course Handout. EN111 English Composition I.

University of Saint Mary. Leavenworth, KS. 05 Oct. 2006

Bowen, Julie. "Types of Sentences". Course Handout. EN111 English Composition I.

University of Saint Mary. Leavenworth, KS. 05 Oct. 2006