Prompt #2 
Since this is my first year at UCI I have only completed one writing class which was Writing 
39A. Writing 39A showed me a different way of writing skills to implement into my own 
academic journey. For example, in high school students were not allowed to use “I” or any firstperson writing. Once I started college the teacher encouraged us to use our own personal 
experiences and life to add context to the topic being discussed. The Writing 39 series has shown me how to use effective writing skills like separating the topics into different paragraphs, so the readers don’t lose interest. Also, practicing my own writing and revising my work has helped me see the errors I made in the first draft and how to make my writing better. Throughout my first year I had to write some lab reports which were helpful in expanding the techniques I built in Writing 39A. The lab reports for my Soc Sci class were my first time ever using the APA format which was different to my experiences because all my essays have been MLA format. In my Psychology class we had to write a couple short answer questions where the organization and format of the responses were highly important. The skills I learned in Writing 39A, and Soc Sci helped me to include important information at the start and leave the more complicated concepts near the middle so that the audience doesn’t lose focus. For example, during a test in my Soc Sci class we had to rearrange a short paragraph about the solar system where the complex ideas were placed near the end and the easy concept of the galaxy was at the beginning because if a reader is completely lost at the start of the reading, then they won’t bother to continue reading. This concept is also used in writing essays because there needs to be a hook at the beginning of the essay to keep the audience captivated. Throughout my journey at UCI and being a first-year student, I aspire to continue growing and learning how to make my writing better every year and take that knowledge into my future career and personal life.