Ryan Seaton

Laura Cline

Eng 102

4/1/2012

Mid-Term Check In

  So far, my biggest challenge in this class has been in some of the expectations involved with literary analysis.  I have gotten really good suggestions from Ms. Cline about how to properly write a critical analysis paper and her suggestions of visiting the tutoring center where at some visits I received a lot of help, and other times not so much.  Another challenge of mine has been procrastination.  It has been hard for me to fit in all the work I have in my other classes, as well as work outside of school.  It has been difficult timing the hours I have available to work on assignments, and a lot of times the assignments have taken longer than expected.  This is also the first class that I have had where we have had to use blogging which I have never done before now.  I have had trouble with PIE paragraphing and have had to go over the material several times and I still seem to have difficulty with it.  Also, my works cited page has fallen short of correct formatting a few times.  I have always done very well in all of my English classes, but somehow I am not doing as well as I think that I am when writing the essays.  I think that I am putting more time and effort into this class than my others that would seem like they would be more difficult, but I am not doing as well in this class.  My biggest success as far as the comments on my writing has been a good understanding of the material, characters in the book, and writing style, although I am having problems with the correct analysis.  The readings h

ave affected me by really looking into the readings and characters in new ways, and critiquing the writing.  I enjoyed “Winter’s Bone” a lot, and read it in 2 sittings.  The book held my attention, and I could relate to the authors style of writing having spent some time in the south.  “Up in the Air”  has been very difficult for me to relate to the authors style of writing and the subject matter is extremely boring to me, and it has been hard for me to hold my attention.  My goals for the 2^nd half of the semester are to keep learning all I can to write a good analysis paper, and develop my skills on writing the works cited in text, and at the end of the paper.  I hope to accomplish a more effective balance of my time, and making sure I am dividing my time equally to get the best results from all of my obligations.  I hope to have a broader understanding of analyzing different types of writing, and hopefully be able to pull my grade up to an A.