ENGL 104 is the first English course that every freshman takes. I have already taken this course in Fall 2020. During this course, I learned about the basic principles of writing, such as the Rhetorical Triangle and framing a story. Our final project for this course was to conduct Ethnographic research on a community of our choice. I would be talking about my experiences with the course in general, and then talk about my experience with the final project- the research project. 

This course was very fun but very challenging. This was mainly because I wasn’t used to a university-type schedule. Secondly, since everything was online, I had to take some time adjusting to online classes. We wrote a lot of essays and analyzed a lot of writings. Despite the fact that everything was primarily online, I still enjoyed the lessons a lot. I was able to write a really nice story (over 3000 words) and I was able to pry deeper into who I really am and who I would want to be. It was one of my favorite courses until now.

For the ethnographic research project, we had to come up with our own research topics. The topic itself was a challenge, and thus I had to change it 3 times. In the end, I settled on ‘The effects of COVID-19 on Student Clubs in TAMUQ’. I was pretty happy that I came up with this topic because it was obviously original since the pandemic was only almost a year old. I had a lot of trouble understanding the process of researching, which led me to ask a ton of questions from my instructor. Additionally, I was (and still am) a master at procrastinating. That trait definitely did not serve me well, since I had to submit my final project at around 5 AM in the morning! However, our class was also divided into groups, for the purpose of helping each other with this final project. My group has definitely helped me so much with this final project, without which I would’ve doubted if I was able to effectively carry on my research.

However, in the end, I was very happy with the research report I have produced, and thanks to my instructor and the help of my group, my research got selected for the ‘Best Writing 2021’ which is an initiative that recognizes the best writings from all the students in TAMUQ. I consider myself to be a poor writer, but this definitely brought a smile to my face.

In conclusion, I can confidently say that I would not forget this course, which is proven by the fact that I am writing about this course in the year 2022! For anyone who would be taking ENGL 104, my tip for you is to finish all the work on time, and ask as many questions as you need!