Being A Constructive Writer

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

My writing is like getting to the center of a tootsie-pop, it takes a good amount of licks but once you’re there it's the best. The reason I say it’s like trying to get to the center of a tootsie-pop is because throughout this class I have noticed my writing progressively getting better with each essay I write. With every lick I get closer and closer to the center of the tootsie-pop, as with every paper I get closer and closer to the best part of my writing. From the one pager we wrote as our first paper, to the comparison contrast paper we wrote as the last paper of this semester, as I look back at them it doesn’t look like the same writer two totally different authors and one is the tootsie in the center of the tootsie-pop.

Looking at my past as a writer I would have to say that I am mediocre but I am sure my wife would think much less when grading my writing. I am not sure I have grown as a writer over the past few semesters or my understanding of what is expected as grown. Either way writing has become easier for me, mainly when I have an interest in the subject matter. In the past I would have been terrified of a ten page paper and even though I would still find longer papers to be a daunting task I would not be quite as afraid now as then. My writing since starting at Robert Morris has grown from the helpful tips provided by a few teachers. Websites to help with proofreading and help in citing works have been provided by past instructors to help attain the

I believe my skills as a writer are very well. I should note, the only writing that I have compared mine to is the students from my high school composition class. Unfortunately, I’m from a small town on the border of Kentucky, where many residents consider “ya’ll” and “wersh” real words being “you all” and “wash” respectively. My high school Advanced Composition class was a dual-credit course therefore, by taking Advanced Composition in high school, I’ve already earned the English 101 credit and this is my first exposure to a “real” college English/writing course. I expect that my writing skills will be humbled now that I am around other college students that understand proper English to a greater extent than the

Throughout my thirteen years in school, I have considered myself a decent writer. This idea came from me always getting good grades without ever having to put in much effort. In order for me to become what I consider a “good” writer, I need to learn how to show why I am right and cause others to agree with the points I make or cause others to contemplate what was written. Good writing allows readers to understand what is going through the writer’s head. Through hard work and learning how to strengthen my weaknesses, I can become what I consider a “good” writer.

As a highschool student, I am constantly bombarded with questions about my skills and future plans. One of the skills most colleges look for is adroitness in writing and it can at times be a determining factor for admission. I believe I am a good writer but not exactly an exemplar one. I always try to showcase my best writing abilities whenever asked to compose an essay; however, I remain with the belief that I have as much strengths as weaknesses in writing and can improve further. There are specific environments where I write best and the process of how I write is ever changing. I also have several goals that I hope to achieve by the time I finish this course. Through being aware of both my strengths and weaknesses in writing, knowledge of situations where I can compose efficaciously, and having

Throughout the semester were several writing experiences that I found easy and very challenging. There were numerous variations of writing that I was unfamiliar with, such as SASEs, annotative bibliographies, and interview reports. Also present, was a professor who I found to be strict when it comes to grading and teaching, yet very adamant when it came to caring and helping her students succeed. I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses and contort them to my advantage in ways that I never could in previous writing classes. As a result of these instances that will be further discussed in the following, I can, without a doubt, say that I have drastically improved as a writer this semester.

“There’s always room for improvement” (Shannon Fritcher). In your opinion, you may be the best you can be but non-the less, there is always a place that could use improvement. In the past months, I feel like I have accomplished a great deal. As the semester comes to an end I find myself reflecting on not only how I managed to survive the first semester as a freshman in college, but also what I have learned. One of the most valuable things I have learned thus far is becoming a better writer, mainly because I didn’t think I could become a better writer. I once believed you either had what it took or you didn’t, but I was wrong. As with any skill, it takes practice to make perfect and even then, you still need to adjust some skills to make them even better! I have grown as a writer, and I am now in the process of meeting at least half of the course outcomes. My writing and learning process, now being able to compose sentences that are accurate, concise and varied in structure, and lastly the amount of learning I have left to do are all factors of my growth as a writer.

Upon entering this writing course, I had thought I wouldn’t be a better writer than I was. I know my writing habits still need improving, but I can tell that I have improved since I graduated from high school. You can only go up in progress, you only fail when you stop trying. I keep that saying in my head to help push myself to become a better writer. In time, being able to write in a proper way will carry out the result I want.

Before, when an essay is assigned, I usually begin by free writing. Free writing is a technique in which a person writes continuously without worrying about spelling, grammar, or topic. Once I have brainstormed, I put it all together and organize them in a clean way. After I have finished my rough draft, I reread it multiple times, adding, changing, and deleting anything I believe can be improved. Once I think I have done the best I can, I write my final.

“The best way to become a better writer is to write and then to publish your writing, whether you publish it on a blog, in a book, or with a close friend. It’s only by practicing writing, and getting feedback on it, that you can improve” (Bunting). This quote describes how I feel about my writing experiences. This quote makes me reflect on this semester, how we would write a paper then submit it to the peer review link to get feedback from our peers. Doing this truly helped me become a better writer. When I read my peers papers and notice how they had grammar and spelling issues, I then go back to my paper and re-read it to see if I had some of the same mistakes. Also getting feedback from my peers helped me become better at taking criticism from others and compare my opinion to theirs.

One whole semester has come and gone and have completed my first college writing class. Writing has always been a struggle of mine in school. I never thought my writing was good enough compared to the awesome essays from my peers. I would solely write to just complete the assignment instead of truly diving deep into the content I was writing about. However, from the beginning of this course I have been pushed to enhance my writing beyond the point of completing the assignment. I began to write for myself instead of writing for school. Throughout the past semester I have not only learned how to enhance my sentences and evidence in a meaningful way, but also how to add my own voice into the subject at hand.

Becoming a better writer is crucial for my future success because in order to be a best hospitality manager or health care manager you should know how to write great responses to your customers or higher authority. If you do not have good writing skills there is no way that your company would be happy to have an employe with poor writing skills because writing and speaking are two important parts of your work you can not survive with poor writing and speaking skills in such professions because those professions are completely based on how you react to a customers problem and how politely take care of it while using a strong professional language which helps you to support your argument in every manner you want to. I do have a lot of family

Capella University Writing Center (2006) defines wordiness as “using unnecessary words and/or phrases that add length to sentences while making only negligible differences to their meaning” (p. 1). When I write, I found myself trying to use certain words and explaining my thoughts and ideas in great detail. What makes this a struggle for me is that some professors like the over explanation and some want the point written in a simple and concise way. Therefore, this is a struggle for me because I want to write the best way possible but sometimes expectations are different. However, some things I do to combat my wordiness is to be sure I am not being redundant, I use a thesaurus to ensure that the words used is simple yet effective, and I revise, revise, revise! I feel like after my fourth or fifth draft I have worked through my wordiness to gain deliver a strong quality of

If someone said that their writing hasn’t changed this semester I would call them a liar. Everyone is always changing, growing, and learning; this is true for writing styles as well; by reading other writers work, one is able to take styles from that text and adapt it into something that is unique. Being able to respond and properly use constructive criticism is a skill that was used frequently in English 102 as well as critical thinking and research. These are skills that I personally will take with me for years to come.