Looking Back

The distinction between "summary" and "analysis" is what I struggled most with throughout this course. My grades on Paper 1 and the first few blogs were eye-openers. While Professor Ambrose repeatedly explained the difference, I just was not getting it! As the course continued, however, I began to see a difference in the author's point of view and my own. I found constructing an analysis easier for the novels or stories we read with characters that annoyed me (Lucy, "This Blessed House"). It was helpful to use those emotions to draw bigger conlcusions about the themes of the stories or of the characters themselves.

Looking back now, I do not think I would change a thing. My poor scores on the first few assignments made me think and work harder on the next assignments. In a sense, my "failures" eventually lead me to success in that I am now better able to distinguish from summary and analysis.