Examining Myself As A 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.

A semester has passed since I started college and my journey of becoming a better writer. It has been a very important semester for my future college career, and I would not be here without the things I have accomplished. The composition program has really helped me to prepare for what college writing is all about. Now standing here and looking back I could not imagine how it would be without that class. I believe my English, and my writing is better than it has ever been, and all thanks to the composition program.

From writing thoughtful poems to research papers, I have experienced composing a diverse portfolio of literary analysis and criticisms throughout the school year. I started out the year writing minimally. By the end of the year, I noticed I was able to express my ideas and thoughts in a more clear and concise way on paper. Ultimately, each composition allowed me to widen my horizons as a writer and see how I could improve as a writer.

My English Literature major has helped me to achieve an outstanding level of appreciation, enjoyment, and knowledge of both American and British Literature. As a high school AP English student, I struggled through great works like Hamlet and To the Lighthouse. My teacher’s daily lectures (there was no such thing as class discussion) taught me merely to interpret the works as critics had in the past. I did not enjoy the reading or writing process. As a freshman at Loras, I was enrolled in the Critical Writing: Poetry class. For the first time since grade school, my writing ability was praised and the sharing of my ideas was encouraged by an enthusiastic and nurturing professor. Despite the difficulty of poetry, I enjoyed reading it.

When reflecting on what made me the writer I am today, my first thought was, “Well clearly, I’m a writer because I’m a reader.” As a child, I devoured all kinds of books and spent hours on exploits in different worlds, with Harry and the gang at Hogwarts, or with the Pevensie kids in Narnia. And I thought that inevitably and gradually, reading is what led me to create my own universes and stories through writing. In fact, one of my first memories associated with writing was winning third place at a story competition in the 1st or 2nd grade (high prestige, I know). Writing is linked to reading, and to personal agency and action. I chose to read, and that led me to choose to write.

My relationship with writing could have culminated into three words; fear, quality, and of course no relationship is complete without excitement. Like any new relationship, emotions can determine the success or demise of the relationship. These emotions all work to the betterment of the writer and the writing relationship, each emotion feeding ever so slightly off one another. Exploring these writing relations reveal the truth where my writing relationship is concerned.

Writing has always been one of those things that I have had to work at to get words on paper that is not the case anymore. For some reason just letting myself free write for a couple weeks has suddenly made it much easier for me to write, and write significantly

Finding your own writing process is crucial for a writer in order to write a successful paper. Everyone is unique and everyone’s writing process is going to be unique as well. A writer’s notebook is a perfect way for people to record random thoughts, dialogue you hear, and any other ideas you might hear. Brainstorming is a key technique to get started when composing a paper. Brainstorming allows you to think of different topics that would fulfill the requirements needed on your topic assigned. Freewriting, clustering, listing and outlining, and collaborating are also some other techniques that when practiced could come very useful when writing a paper. Having the ability to use either of these five techniques would help tremendously when composing a paper.

I may not be the best writer there is out there but I do put all of me into each piece I develop. I believe in giving it your all at all times. If your giving it anything less why try at all. I'm huge on that theory and I believe it means a lot more than I believe it to be. I hope that each piece I submit this semester is nothing less than my best and I hope to take in all the criticism and use it to my advantage.

Rain is crucial to all living things from every walk of life. Rain brings destruction and regrowth, leaving a clean slate and a new beginning. I selected this theme because while the focal point and characters change throughout my writing the constant idea throughout my pieces consisted of moving on, growing, and starting a new beginning. I think that lately my writing has been full of an unknown tone, an excitement/ fear of growing up and starting over. I believe this is all because I've reached a point in my life where I’m going to college and moving away. I’m delighted to be able to go out on my own and experience new things, but it’s kind of nostalgic to know that my childhood is coming to a close. However I’m aware that not all people

Every day consists of writing, whether it is informal or formal. Writing comes in different forms including, emails, essays, text messages, and even note taking in class. I have gathered materials and assignments in my major to analyze what kind of writing is required and how it should be executed. What I discovered was surprising, but almost every piece of research revealed that writing is not incredibly important in my field of study.

Writing has been an outlet for many people, but writing has always been a difficult thing for me. I don’t remember my past experiences in highschool with writing, but I do remember my writing in college. I had multiple papers for my history class during my second year in college from having each paper being a different topic correlating to the subject in class. During my second year in college I didn’t take any english courses which made writing papers difficult. There are certain aspects of writing I find difficult which are having topics being assigned because my writing are limited in expression, whereas free choice topics come easier.

When trying to find a topic I listed all the things in my life that were memorable. I came out with a long list, so I started crossing things out, that I didn’t think would work for an essay. Then I choose my topic and begun free writing during the class time given to us. I free wrote on another topic just incase I wanted to change my mind. Then I left

My post secondary goal after high school is to go to the Vet Tech Institute of Pittsburgh to become a veterinarian technician within a span of eighteen months. I am hoping this Honors English course will help to improve my writing skills, note taking skills, and get me use to the type of things I will experience in college. If I were to improve as a writer it would benefit me by improving my ability to do lab write-ups. If I incorporate my grammar skills into my vocabulary it will also benefit me in seeming to be a more intelligent young adult, which will hopefully cause the teachers to take me more seriously. By becoming a better writer I could become a better student altogether. Becoming a better note taker is a skill I really hope I adapt

America is a place full of immigrants with no single ethnicity or race. America can also be referred to as the ?Melting Pot? because it consists ingredients of multicultural backgrounds. There are cultures such as French American, Asian American, Italian American and African American. I am Mexican American. My culture has helped me to become the writer I am today. My bicultural background and constant moving back and forth from Mexico to America has both influenced and weakened my writing. Although I was born in America, my Mexican culture has always been a part of my life. I have spent the majority of my life in Mexico, and Spanish is my first