By: Trevor Sooy, ‘19
Most students coming to Hope College are required to take a semester of English. Like me, they may have thought, “I thought this was the time to study what I’m interested in and get as far away from writing lengthy papers on material that means next to nothing for me.”
This thought turned out to be quite the opposite, as taking English 113 allowed me to fully understand how to utilize the VanWylen Library, learn how to navigate through their databases, and most importantly, learn to write successful college-level papers.
With the VanWylen Library having four floors and a basement containing a plethora of books, articles, and journals, incoming students may find themselves confused and discouraged in finding the material they need to write a paper for a certain class. Every English 113 class has multiple library information sessions that show students how to use their website to find the appropriate and necessary books needed to find what type of document one may need. Another great resource that students learn how to use is the Klooster Center for Excellence In Writing. This department of the library helps students with writing projects of all kinds, and you can learn much more about the Center here.
Yet another tricky thing in college is trying to navigate through databases. Without proper instructions on how to do so efficiently and effectively, this can be a headache. Hope College allows its students to have access to a myriad of databases. Again, in every English 113 class, they teach the benefits one can have by using this resource. At the end of the semester these skills are then put into action by writing a research paper.
Every professor has high expectations for their student’s papers and projects. But English 113 is designed to help you succeed. There are various workshops throughout the semester such as sentence style, word choice, revising, and properly citing. These concepts may sound mundane and repetitive, but these aspects of writing are crucial to understand.
Hope College is fortunate enough to have a wide range of English 113 classes that cover an array of topics. There is not an English class alike. Students are able to choose what sounds interesting to them, whether that be spirituality, American presidency, and even Jurassic Park. While the core of all of these classes all teach students about the things mentioned previously, they all have their own overarching theme.
English 113 allows students to clearly understand the writing resources available on campus, lets you explore different writing techniques, and makes sure every student is comfortable writing college-level papers. All of these things are beneficial in the short and long run. So, despite the initial dread that you may have felt about have to take another English class, it will help in many other areas of college writing and researching.