Tellez 1

Juliet N. Tellez

Professor Corri Ditch

English 114A

10 May 2019

Infinite Ladder of Amelioration

Being a good rhetorician and communicating effectively through writing is no walk on

the park. We often times overlook this when being entertained with a good book or reading our

daily news articles. A lot of time and vigorous effort goes into the making of Throughout my

journey of writing in my English 114A class, my writing has improved by expanding my

analysis, improving both my introduction as well as conclusion, and finishing off my essay with

a meaningful take-away.

Coming into this class I was not a very analytical writer. During my first progression of

the course, I provided minimal analysis in my essay. An example of this would be in my first

progression Everlasting Treasure, “ Happiness is in the way people think. However, this may be

difficult because of external distractions” (Tellez 2). In this essay, I briefly explained my idea

and jumped right back into another quote without expanding on my analysis. To improve this,

my professor, as well as academic tutors at the LRC suggested that I take a step back and view it

from the perspective of a reader. By the way I presented my analysis, the reader would be

confused and have analytical questions. Therefore, while writing my second progression, I tried

to ask myself those questions and make my ideas and analysis as clear as possible for the reader.

Tellez 2
 Another thing I struggled with was my introduction and conclusion paragraphs. I often

did not know how to begin and towards the end, I did not know how to close. For my

introduction on my first essay, my professor suggested I simply start with my body paragraphs

and the rest of my essay and in the end come back to the introduction. This worked well for my

first essay, however, it was not the same case for my second essay Money vs Love. For some

reason, I found it really difficult to introduce my topic and even after taking my professors

advice, the introduction I provided was an idea that had nothing to do with the rest of my essay.

The only connection was the idea of happiness. However, after going to the LRC, the writing

tutor suggested that I broadly introduce the novel and how it connects to my thesis. This helped

me a lot and even though I introduced the topic, I did not completely give away the details.

Lastly, I had a hard time with conclusions and closing off the essay with a meaningful

take-away. In my first essay, I simply restated my thesis, explaining how the ideas of the authors

were similar and different. I also briefly stated the main ideas of my body paragraphs, but that

was it. I did not have a strong take-away. In my second essay, I also restated my thesis and

presented main ideas. However, I also presented a take-away from it. I had to ask myself why my

ideas mattered. Even though I presented my argument and backed up my ideas with evidence,

why did it matter? Therefore, aside from simply explaining which character was unhappy and

which character was not, I also presented ideas as to how the unhappy character Mark Reynolds

can become happy. In this way, the reader may see my argument but also consider applying the

same ideas to their own life.

Tellez 3
 All in all, I have seen my writing drastically improve throughout the semester. Even

though I struggled with writing, by the end I was able to gradually see how I have learned to

expand on my analysis, have an effective introduction and conclusion, as well as close my essay

with a take-away. The advice form my professor, academic tutors and the LRC, as well as my

peers, has all helped me learn to write in a different way and overall give more meaning to my

work. Although I have improved, I still have a lot to learn because after all, practicing how to

become a better writer is like an infinite ladder of amelioration.