Personal Reflection

What I've learned in English 1A

Although Persepolis was the feature of my last semester's history class, the book and continuing issues that surround the US and Middle East remain as pertinent as always. What was fascinating to me was the amount of detail and information that the small groups presented. Last semester I was given the historical background and key events surrounding Persepolis, however what I lacked was the cultural ties and traditions that gives the book context. This class provided a much needed amount of background information, that brings the story together, and sheds more light on the conflicts of the Middle East.
Along with the cultural analysis of persepolis, I learned valuable skills including the proper usage of MLA format, and the formation of a TEA paragraph. Most of the time I assumed that quotes speak for themselves. However in light of recent teachings I've learned that not only do I need to backup my quotes with an explanation, I need to introduce them as well, giving the paper a smoother transaction from statement to quote to explanation to analysis.
MLA was a writing style I was always been using, however the finite details of citing sources and proper layout  escaped me in the time between college and high school. It was a much needed review to work in MLA and implement it into our papers and paragraphs.