I took an English class “Asian American Literature” last fall. Although I took a couple of literature classes back in high school and I am a literature lover, I found this class very challenging for me.
I found it hard not because I could not understand the materials we were reading but because I did not know how to express my thoughts effectively and accurately through academic writing. I felt like every time I finished reading the book, I had so many ideas in my head but when it came to writing a paper or a response about it, I did not know where to start and how to organize my thoughts into a logical way that others could understand. This was the biggest challenge I had in this class. I remember we read a book about the childhood of a Japanese American girl, which discusses the influence of the identity of Asian Americans on children. I knew this book was related to many topics, such as morality, citizenship, gender, growth, and race, but I really had a hard time writing down my thoughts in a clear way.
I initially thought this was just my problem because I saw my classmates generating such profound ideas in class discussions and felt overwhelmed by it. I tried to figure it out by myself. I tried to spend extra time reading the books the professor assigned and revising my responses again and again. These ways definitely helped, but they were so time-consuming that I almost spent my entire free time working on this class and did not have enough time for my other classes and extracurricular activities. And at that time, I realized that I might need to seek help.
Therefore, I talked to my professor about my confusion, and she recommended that I write down important quotes while I read and organize my ideas based on the sequence of events or the quotes I wrote down. I also talked to my advisor and peers who are English majors. They all gave me helpful suggestions on how to write down my thoughts effectively. They recommended some structures of paper that I can use and also some YouTube channels that talk about academic writing. With all these resources, I found academic writing much easier than I thought, and I became more confident in my writing.
The final project I worked on for this class was a 9-10 page paper about the comparison between two books. This was the first time for me to write such a long comparison paper. I needed to talk about ideas I have about the two books and organize them logically and complete a clear 9-page paper. I felt pretty nervous, but after I broke down the steps I needed to do, I felt better. I applied the skills or ways I learned from others to the writing of this paper and found the process easier than I thought.
I think this experience is important for me because it taught me to seek outside help if I cannot solve problems with my help. I used to feel bad about seeking assistance, but now I do not think so. Seeing help and letting others know I am confused can always be a good thing. Even if others cannot help solve my problems, I can also learn from them!
