Final Pathway Reflection Paper
In my studying period in pathway program, I learned many useful courses including EAP and PROV. I am an international student in the US for the first time, so everything around me made me feel very strange and unfamiliar especially in the academic field. I wanted to use the courses of EAP and PROV to improve my English language skills and communication skills. And I also wanted to understand the background of this new sociality and culture including the western classroom expectations and writing styles through these courses. Finally, I achieve some goals I made and I am struggling to achieve all the goals what I want to finish.
When I firstly stepped into this new strange place, I was afraid of many things. I was afraid that I was not able to communicate with foreigners and was not able to follow the path of my major courses. Because I will live in this country for 2 years, If I am not able to communicate with others, I can not live here well. And the communication skills include the English language skills so I have to improve my English skills. For the reason mentioned above, the English language skills and communication skills are very important to me. So I took these courses very seriously.
In EAP courses, I learned many useful things about the academic writing. For example, I understood that plagiarism is a very bad action in western culture and I learned many ways of citation from other existing sources. I experienced an event about the plagiarism. Once I submitted a summary for an article on blackboard. And I used the same sentences in the original article without quoting them. I just wanted to use these sentences to demonstrate my own opinion. And the professor told me that it is plagiarism and if I do it in my major courses, I will be forced to go out of this country. And if I want to use other sources, I have to quote them and mention the author’s name and the published year of this source I used. So I tried my best to learn the ways of citation and tried my best to avoid the plagiarism. In the process of learning how to write with an American style and how to avoid the plagiarism, I tried my best to feel and enjoy the classes I took. I think the style of American classes made me feel very relax and free. It can lighten the stress when I go into my major courses.
I think adapting to the course style of America is very important to my study because I can not feel very strange to the courses and that can lighten the stress I have. Furthermore, I think plagiarism is a very bad thing to do. But I would indulge myself sometimes when I feel very stressed. So I think the serious criteria for the plagiarism can monitor me to do everything by myself. I think it is perfect to my study in my graduate program.
Now, I think I am gradually improving my English language skills and I understand how to write a simple academic writing in my field. Importantly, I have little thoughts about plagiarizing from other people and I can do everything by myself. I think I have to participate more in the EAP and PROV course in the future to improve my communication skills.
I have improved my English language skills and learned how to avoid plagiarism effectively when I write an article. The EAP and PROV courses helped me achieve the goal and they also help me to adapt to the style of American courses. I am trying to find ways to improve my communication skills. And I want to find more useful things from these courses to learn to make myself more self-possessed in my future study.
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