Semester Report

During this semester of English I learned a wide variety of topics, including anything from how to write good essays to how to organize my writing. In this report I will cover everything I learned from this semester of English. I will be also covering the major essays I wrote and the novels I read during this semester of English.

The Things I Learned

I learned many things during this semester of English. The things I learned were: mindmapping, outlining, paragraphs, essay writing standards, timed essays with a prompt, how to write book reports, book reviews, research papers, and bibliographies.

Mindmapping: mind mapping is a great way to organize your thoughts and main points for a writing assignment such as an essay. You can always add more points to a mindmap but you can also remove points. There is really no limit to how many points you put onto your mindmap, keep jotting points down until you feel like you have enough points.

Outlining: after making a mind map you now make an outline. An outline is another step to organize your thoughts and main points for an essay. To make an outline you take the points that jotted down in the mind map, and put them in the order that you want them to be. With an outline you always need an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Paragraphs: paragraphs are what builds your essay. Having great paragraphs in an essay means that the essay is a good one. Good paragraphs need to be descriptive, on point, and creative.

Essay Writing Standards: good essays require certain standards to ensure that they are good. For example good punctuation, spelling, grammar, good points, make up a good essay. Without them your essay would not make much sense, so it is always a good idea to edit your essays.

Timed Essays With a Prompt: having time limits when writing an essay is quite normal, especially during an exam, where you have to write an essay. Timed essays test a writer’s ability to time manage and prove their quick response. Also writing a timed essay with a prompt is very common. A prompt when writing an essay is the question you have to answer in the essay.

Book reports: a book report is a way to prove that you know and understand the contents of a book or novel. So technically it is a summary of the book in your own words. Like every other essay it is structured in the same way; introduction, body, and conclusion.

Book Reviews: a book review is somewhat similar to a book report, you are covering a book or books in both types of essays. But with book reviews, you not only summarize the book, you also give your opinion on the novel, why someone should read it, and do you recommend the book(usually to a target audience).

Research papers: a research paper is a unique type of writing assignment. Instead of being based on a book or some other point, a research paper uses collected data(just as information on some type of insect), that you organize and then write in your own words. Research papers usually require quite a bit of notes, so they are a little more difficult to write.

Bibliographies: when writing an essay you sometimes have to use sources such as online articles, books, etc. When you do use a source you always have to make sure to properly give that source credit. To give credit to sources, you create something called a bibliography, or a works cited page.

The Major Essays I Wrote

During this semester of English I wrote many essays, of all lengths. Because I wrote many essays, to list all the essays I wrote during this semester would make this report too long; so I will be only listing the major essays that I wrote.

My Three Favorite Parts From 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: this was one of my first essays in this semester. Like what the title says, I gave a brief summary of my three favorite parts from the novel; 20,00 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne.

My Favorite Type of Music: this essay started out as a one page assignment, but soon I was instructed to add more pages on; which I did. Again like the title states, in that essay I discussed my favorite type(s) of music. I also added my least favorite type(s) of music when I made the essay longer. This assignment was my first three page essay of this semester of English.

Apple Pie: this writing assignment was an interesting one to write. Though the title made the essay seem like I was describing apple pie or sharing how to make apple pie, instead this essay was about; the history of apple pie, and “is it the most american dessert?” Again like the essay assignment mentioned above, this essay started as a one page essay, but I was soon assigned to add more information, which in turn made it into a three page essay.

The Characters and Character Development of the Characters From 20,000 Leagues Under the and Sea: this essay was my first book report in this semester. In this assignment I gave descriptions analyzing each of the main characters from the novel.

Out on the Pampas Book Report: this assignment required me to summarize the storyline of the novel, Out on the Pampas, by G.A Henty. My summary included the most exciting sections of the novel, the characters, and most of the plotline.

With Clive in India book review: this assignment was my very first book review during this semester of English. Like a regular book report I gave a summary of the novel itself, but unlike a book report I added things such as my personal opinion on the novel, would I recommend it, etc. 

Comparison Book Review of A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel: instead of only reviewing one novel, instead I reviewed two novels, and compared them, to see if they had any similarities and differences. 

The Life Cycle of Butterflies: this essay was my first research paper in this semester. In this assignment I wrote about the lifecycle of butterflies. I also wrote about a specific species of butterfly. Because this was the first research paper, my teacher chose the topic, and choosed most of the sources.

World War 1: this was the second research paper that I wrote during this semester. Unlike the first research paper, I had to choose the topic(which had to do with history related to the United States), and the sources, which made it the hardest report I had written during this semester.

The Books I Read

During this semester of English I read quite a few books, from a relatively wide range of genres. The books I read were: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Tale of Two Cities, Out on the Pampas, The Scarlet Pimpernel, With Clive in India, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Pride and Prejudice. This essay would be much too long if I summarized all of these novels, but I will note that my favorite novels out of the ones I read during this semester were: A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Pride and Prejudice.

Conclusion

In this report I discussed what I learned, the essay I wrote, and the book I ready during this semester of English.