I learned many things over the course of the quarter, including things like: how to write an essay and how to improve essays I've already written, how to locate and compose better research through the use of numerous resources found in the campus library, the Internet, and the "Common Sense" textbook, such as citing research, examples, and citations correctly within the contents of my research paper and documenting it accurately according to MLA standards. Through exploring the "Topics and Strategies" textbook, I learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used correctly. Last semester I encountered many difficulties in trying to write these essays, but through the use of textbooks, the help of the teacher, and once I was able to categorize the different types and styles of essays, I found it possible to overcome . Of all the things I talked about, none were as challenging as the inevitable research paper. I was worried about the final product and the grade I would receive because I haven't had much luck writing research papers in the past. I find them too tedious when I have to cite research and citations that I have often done incorrectly. My works cited page was often messy and disorganized, and I could never find enough things to say about my topic to meet the designated word quota. This time, I felt a little more confident because I had an outlined guide found in my "Common Sense" text that helped me overcome my concern with the specifics of citation and citation, as well as the organization of my works mentioned on the page... .... middle of the paper ...... clarify the structure and where I was headed. By revising my essays I was able to make the content and message seem more important and made the final drafts seem slightly better than the originals, but the final versions were still better. The instructor did a great job guiding me and helping me find my way in writing by focusing on some of the problems I was facing and clarifying them so I could understand them better. The instructor helped me expand my grammar by helping me discover what I was missing while building basic sentence structure; the use of commas and semicolons, quotations, and how to identify book and article titles within an essay. This English 101 course I took helped me develop better writing skills as well as create deeper essays and a very satisfying research paper.