The Final Essay: What I Have Learned in English Courses 1F and 2F (Seungbae LEE)

I have learned the skill to write an essay and research paper, furthermore, how to write a references and formatting bibliography etc. for 8 months by taking English 1F and 2F. Also, I have posted several blogs while I’m taking English 2F course. It is surprising that I have written many essays research paper and my opinions in English. Also, I’m very satisfied that my professor praised me of my English grammar and structure of essays improved.

Actually, since I took English 1F course, I was annoyed with writing essays. That’s because I had to write it in English, and my English skill was not good. Also, I have not written many essays even in Korean language, and I hated to write. My linguistic ability of even Korean was also bad; for example, it took too much time for me to read any articles and understand what it means. Whenever writing assignments (Essay, Research paper etc.) were given to me, I really hated to do that, because first of all brainstorming and choosing topic was very hard. When I started to write, I was very worried about how to start with the introduction. After that, furthermore, adjusting to the structure (introduction, main contents, and conclusion) and correcting grammar mistakes really make me annoyed.

Even though I didn’t like to write an essay, there were several skills I have learned. The biggest one is making an outline. Since I take English 1F, I always started an essay with the outline. When I was taking ESL course before English 1F, there were some Essay assignments, but I didn’t format the outline of any essays. The outline was very helpful to get contents and idea which do not deviate from the topic of the paragraph. Due to the outline, my several essays were well organized and graded A- which is my best score of all essay scores.

Second one I learned is bibliography. Bibliography protects us from committing plagiarism. First time, in English 1F, I didn’t know what the plagiarism and bibliography mean and how to make bibliography. Whenever I wrote an essay, I committed plagiarism many times. I used some ideas from the internet, and didn’t make any quotation mark and the research source. Also, I didn’t illustrate any graph or photo material in my essays. When I’m in English 2F course, however, I used a lot of graphs and photos and more ideas in my essays, of course, formatting bibliography.

It is the creative idea that I never forgot during writing an essay or blogs. The creative idea is essential for expressing our own characteristic opinion. Also, the professor considers it very important and it can have the great effect on the score of essay. The professor praised me of the second way for the corporal punishment in essay #2. However, it was very difficult for me to make the creative idea. Creative idea should be very characteristic and the one about which any other people didn’t think.

To get more creative writing for the other subjects, I should read many articles, summarize them and write my opinion about the articles briefly. For example, if I have read the articles about prohibiting capital punishment, I will have to write pros or cons and logical reason and then, take a solution of which I think. Then, it can help me practice writing in English and express my own characteristic opinion.

Though I finish English 1F and 2F, there will be so much writing works in the other subjects for the next semester. Still, I should make my writing skill more improved for carrying out any other writing work. Although writing is very annoying, it is very important for our future. Most tasks we take in our society are writing, for example, students have to finish the most of their assignments by writing an essay. For the present, it should occupy the most of my life.