GOOD LUCK INCOMING 105E STUDENTS =)

HELLOOOO YOU GUYS!

I know the last thing you want to be doing right now is reading some advice from a previous 105E student. However, I think the information I'm about to give you will be of some help =D.

First of all, please put effort into your paper and have fun with them. I know writing at times seem stressful, but you learn new things that you didn't know before. This year I learned that many things I have done on the internet is illegal (oops). Also, the mini papers are great for building your writing skills. Please work hard on your mini papers too because they do help build up to your bigger papers.

Also, I know the whole 8-10 pages may seem stressful but they wouldn't be if you do not procrastinate. Doing the research paper is a very extensive process but Liz is great at helping you get things done. Even though she will at some point stop assigning readings and say that you are on your own to do whatever you wish to do with your time, she makes us stay on task by making deadlines, and she does this with good intentions. You will notice that the hard part may not be the 8-10 pages rather than making your idea clear for your readers and making your research purposeful.

By the way, these blogs are actually helpful. At first I dreaded them because I have bad memory and I would forget that I have to do them or that I had to comment to someone else's comment, but they help with your papers and serves as a form of free writing. These blogs are not graded on structure, therefore make the best of them and ask and say whatever you feel necessary- the feedback is helpful.

Guys, Liz is an amazing instructor and has your best interest at heart. Make the best of the class and give it your all. Also, be sure to participate- I know I did not do so well at that but if I could, I would have been more open to conversation. Remember, you are all here to learn- there are no stupid questions.

Letter to next year's class.

Hiiiiiiiiiii future students of 105E (or I guess you guys would be officially in class when you read this),

First of all, BE EXCITED for this semester.
Liz is a fantastic teacher, and I don't just say that about any teacher for insignificant reasons. I'm pretty critical of classes and teachers I suppose, but this class turned out to be one of my favorites. Most importantly I became a lot more confident in my writing and my ability to write because Liz really helped take me step through step in the writing process. I was so scared coming into college and having to write "real college papers" but Liz made that so do-able. It's not as scary as it seems, trust me. ASK questions, EMAIL Liz with any help you may need (she responds super duper fast and is always willing to help until you get it). I learned that writing a paper HAS to be done in steps; you really cannot sit down and do it all at once no matter how awesome you think you are. Quality in steps. Each step should flow into the next.

Second, don't B.S. (excuse my language) any papers just to get them done. There is a reason for writing each paper. For example, the three informal papers that I had to write REALLY helped me in writing my final paper; the prompts were similar so I was writing about similar stuff in all those papers. In fact, the three informal papers made writing the final paper 100x (seriously, no exaggeration) easier. Because I put quality work into those three informal papers, I already had a lot of writing done for my final paper by the time I started to work on it. This is what I mean by quality in steps...take a giant paper one step at a time, and you'll find that it isn't so bad at all.

One thing I would have done differently was talk more in class...(wait, maybe I already talked to much...) BUT seriously participation makes class SO much more exciting. Liz asks for a lot of feedback from you guys, and the BEST part is that she really listens and takes that feedback into consideration. Seriously, participate in class when it's called for because not only will you learn so much more by being engaged, you will also encourage others to talk more too. Don't be shy. This class is so chill, and it's so small. Take advantage of the fact that the teacher will not just know your name, but actually know stuff about you! Most college class aren't this chill, and rarely do you find professors who care this much about their student's success and are so passionate about what they do.

I wish you guys the best in this and all your classes! Hopefully I can come visit you guys sometime and see how much you all will be ENJOYING this class (:

Teresa

Letter to Next Year's Cohort

Before the semester start I was kind of worried about 10 pages research paper thinking what type of research I would do and how am I going to do it. What really surprise me now is to finished this 10 pages paper without even having any panic. The way final paper was divided like intro, background, methodology, findings etc....and the direction we got from you was my best part of this class. The way we started this class talking about remixing videos, and copyright law was very interesting and I learned so much about it. As same as the beginning of the class, the ending of the class is also great.

To be honest, I would not make this progress if Liz wouldn't be my teacher. She is great, helpful, and amiable no matter if she is in class or outside of the class. The was she plans the daily lesson is amazing and something different than the writing class I had taken before. One thing I would like to advice is to have more group work so that students would be more talkative. It's just me feeling like the class would be more interesting if we would have more debate, and discussion. In overall, this class is the best class of this semester for me....!!

Last Blog

When I was coming into this class, I was scared to know that I had to write an eight page paper for this class. I am not a good writer, so the idea of it freaked me out. As I started to come to class, I realized that this class was too interesting and valuable to be freaking out about it already.
I was never a big fan in writing or reading, but this class makes you enjoy it. As a matter of fact, it was the most interesting class I had this semester. It was not an easy course but all the material in it, were things I did not mind doing, even the final paper. For the final paper, I was able to pick a topic I was passionate about even though it was not a direct topic spoken in class. I think that is the best part of this class. The assignments were flexible in the sense that it was easy to make a piece of writing interesting for me.
Another thing about this class that you will be able to benefit from is the organization of it. The course is structured in a way that helps you stay on top of your things. For the project, we were naturally forced to work on it earlier. It would have been really stressful if I would have left it all for last minute, which I knew I would of.
The only tip, I can give you is to not misuse your resources. Resources are available to you, so take the opportunity.

Letter to Next Year's Cohort

From this class, I did not only learn how to deal with writing itself, but also learnt how to think logically. Whenever you have trouble looking for ideas for your topic, you can either try to request a meeting with Writing Center online or find Liz. You might prefer meeting with your professors more, because that way allows your professors to not only learn more about you, but also learn more about your ideas/structures about your paper (it helps with your grades lol.) Liz is almost always available for extra help!

I like the class schedule. It consists of reasonable amount of formal papers/informal papers/blogs. I would almost prefer having more social events like we had with other classes :D

Final Blog Post, Letter to the next year

Looking back on my freshman writing class, I can honestly say I enjoyed taking this specific writing class. Not only were the topics intriguing, but the variety of ways we could go about our final research paper, was indeed an advantage that I feel didn't exist in other classes. As for a future student, I would suggest on getting all the extra help you think you will need, and trying to spread out your work. The format in which the final paper is set up, makes it difficult to procrastinate(which is a good thing). When picking a final research topic, make sure it's something you are really interested in, because you will be spending extensive time on it, and you do not want to be working on a paper that you care little on. Over all I think this class is very enjoyable, especially the part that deals with remixing and plagiarism. Good luck!

Letter to Next year's cohort

I was introduced to Liz, in the month of July 2011, when I was in ECO. I still remember the first day of the class that she asked all of us to write our name and where we are from. The next day she said just feel free and be open minded. She treated us more like friends and make me realize that I was grown up. From that day on I feel like to be in this class for hours. This class has been the place where I can brainstorm all my thoughts and ideas on a certain topic. When she asked us to say our Highs an Lows, I felt I had someone to share whats going on with me. So it was just so good. I don't have words to describe her organizing ability. she is on top of everything to make sure we get things done on time. Once she even told us to use the hand motion to slow her down if she was fast. No teacher .. No teacher in my life was cooler than this.. I will certainly miss this class more than anything I have accomplished in my freshman year. Other than just liking the class and the teacher this class has been incredibly great towards enhancing my writing and reading skills. I feel like I learned how to make arguments and have a stand on it. I learned a lot about college writing and reading skills.

This class has been an awesome in the context of interacting and working in groups. my only advice to 2012 freshman is be willing to commit your time and it will worth it.

Thanks So much Liz,

You are more than a teacher , you are an inspirer. you will be missed

Letter to next year's cohort

What did you learn? What might you have done differently? and any advices.

This course helped me a lot on my writing. At first, I felt that the class had so much stuffs to do. At least one paper was due every week, and when I thought those papers were graded and actually part of the total grade, it seemed like the papers were giving me too much pressure. However, once I got used to all these works, it became much easier to create my own works. I think it will be better if you choose your final research paper topic as soon as possible. Then, you will have a lot more time than anyone else in class, and your paper will be developed more.

I learned the basic writing skills, including citation, rhetorical analysis, creating arguments and counterargument, and criticism. It was certainly difficult to learn, since all those things are that I didn't learn in highschool, but I really enjoyed learning new things.

Liz is also very friendly, easily approachable, and flexible. She makes students feel free to ask her questions, and helps a lot to understand many things in class.

I am so glad that I chose this class as my writing class!

Letter To Next Year's Cohorts

What I think was most helpful to me throughout this course was peer reviews and feedback from the professor. I would definitely say that you should really consider all of the advice you receive and actually take the time to think about how you can make adjustments to your writing. I noticed that rearranging even the littlest things that your reviewer didn't understand made a huge difference in my papers. Also, make sure you do a thorough job in reviewing someone else's paper because even though it might be tedious for you, it will be of much help to the other student.

The process for the final paper involved several steps and drafts before the final copy was due. I highly recommend that you put a lot of effort into each draft. If you have the mentality that it is just a rough draft and it doesn't really matter how good it is, then it will make writing the final copy so much worse. If you do put a lot of effort into each draft of the paper you write, I promise that the 8-10 page paper will really not be as bad as it sounds.

Also, I would suggest thinking about what you would like to write about for your final paper early on in the semester. This way, you won't have to freak out when your first draft is due because you don't even know what you want to write about. It's never too early to start brainstorming ideas.