Having completed my first official term of university, I would like to take some time to look back at the things I have learned from ASTU 100 with Dr. Laurie McNeill. Although ASTU showed a significant content and expectation difference from high school, the skills and knowledge I take away from that class is incomparable. In particular, I want to talk about the analytical skills I have learned from ASTU.

Throughout the term, our class has looked into many articles and researchers, ranging from scholars such as Hillary Chute, Gillian Whitlock, Carolyn R. Miller and Dawn Shepherd and various others. As a class, we engaged in discussions and textual analysis with every article. Comparing it back to my experience with previous English and writing courses, my high school teachers never educated me as in depth as ASTU has. Personally, ASTU has taught me the English skills that I have always wanted to learn. The first semester may have been a challenging one; however, I’m always learning from mistakes in hopes of correcting them. 

From techniques such as gist noting, summarizing and connecting scholars, it has opened my perspective in looking at scholarly writing in a whole new way. These skills and knowledge are (in my opinion) essential for any student writing at the university level. The idea of reading scholarly articles has vastly differed since the beginning of the semester. As of now, I am confident in analyzing scholarly articles and relating scholars together from different text. In addition to analyzing text, classroom discussions have also played a role in providing insight and new knowledge. To relate, Professor Chris Erickson of the Politics Department had always emphasized the effectiveness of studying in groups. Nevertheless, ASTU has been a blast first semester and I can’t wait to get back with the class once second semester starts.