I have been a student at San Jose State University for 4 years now and throughout my learning I have grown and learned more than I thought possible. I came to SJSU knowing that English was my least favorite subject; I constantly dreaded the writing assignments that professors would assign in class. Studying English 1B taught me to face my fears about writing articles, whether short reviews or extended research papers, I felt more comfortable writing. I learned to write and express myself, to think for myself and find answers to things I don't know. Most importantly, I learned that revision is essential. I have always been a thinker, but during my course I sharpened my critical analysis skills significantly. I realized that stopping my research while working through my papers allowed me to process and think more critically about what I want to say in my essay. I have been told numerous times by my professors, tutors, and peers to "organize your thoughts" or "provide more support and examples." These are things I have worked on and improved over the course of English 1B and I feel like my work shows it. For example, in my peer review essay no. 1, I realized that the process and finding the information I wanted to incorporate into my essay is a critical step in clearly expressing my thoughts in my essay. I had a lot of ideas and thoughts about what I wanted to say, but I needed to find a way to put my critical thoughts in an organized way where I could express myself adequately. I found that putting all my critical thoughts on paper via a map or graph helped a lot with the organization of my article. At the beginning of the writing of the Peer Review essay n. 1 I had a lot of papers... halfway through the paper... me and useless, but the feedback and revision process was essential, it not only helped me fix my mistakes, but also allowed me to reevaluate and structure better my essay. As a result, I believe that the progress I made in writing in English 1B changed my negative view of writing. As silly as it may sound to say that my fears about writing papers have been conquered, they have. Whether short reviews or extended research articles, I have felt more comfortable writing. Not only did I learn to write and express myself more effectively by organizing my critical thoughts, but more importantly I learned that revision and revision are an essential part of the writing process. This process has allowed me to grow into a better writer. The skills I have acquired can be used for future courses and beyond.