How To Improve My Writing

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.

After this semester of English 102, at Bristol Community College I feel that I have gained the skill to articulate what I want to convey to the reader in many ways. I don’t just look at grammatical error, but instead I look for ways to make my sentences more effective and concise. Nevertheless, I hope that this strategy will continue to help me improve my writing even further on in the future.

Writing Is a kind of typing symbols, letters and other writing tools to help the writer communicate with the reader or connect his ideas. It is the fourth skill in language skills and the most one that needs creation and imagination. In this essay, I am going to write about the importance of developing writing.

My history as a student is not great; I had a lot of ups and downs frequently. I used to have problems staying out of trouble. Also my concentration wasn’t ever any good either so my ability to pay attention was not good either. My grades were barely passing and some were failing grades. I went through high school behind on my credits and not taking school as serious as I should as I should of. My discipline record in the past wasn’t good either; I always would get suspensions and detentions for my actions.

To improve my writing based on the online tools feedback and analysis I will engage in more reading and writing. The first point of reference is to utilise text book such as the Communication Skills Toolkit: Unlocking the Secrets of Tertiary Success by Grellier and Goerke (2010). In addition The Little Red Writing Book: Better Sentences (n.d.) offers another medium for writing effective sentences. The benefits of The Little Red Writing Book entail sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar and syntax where at the end of each section, there are activities for practice. Furthermore, text books and tutor’s notation for required discipline will enhance my learning in reading and writing.

As an eager learner, I often took classes that I felt would challenge me and my writing style. After taking many English courses like History of the English language and English Grammar, I wanted to learn another style of writing, which led me to journalism. The journalism program made me focus on developing my writing and researching skills to deliver reliable information. In the program we learned by doing and were expected to report both on and off campus. I was required to take an Editing course where we learned about copy editing, proofreading and basic editorial skills. In the class we would analyze articles for accuracy, libel, and tightening.

Writing is an art. Art is used to express emotion and creativity that an individual holds. For me, writing can be relaxing, but stressful at the same time. The way the words flow onto the paper is so soothing, but getting your piece to make sense to the audience is where it can be a little tedious. For me, grammar is a shortcoming I face when writing. My friend, however, is great at proofreading so I get her to revise mine for me. What are weaknesses for some, may be strengths for others. However, writing is a complex tool that may be utilized by many individuals, including myself, to create unique works of art for others to enjoy.

This week’s reading focuses on one of my known weaknesses, writing. I am always trying to improve my style. I feel that two of the biggest problems I have are word use and my style and tone (Bovee & Thill, 2016). I use sites online to assist in pointing these out. I am slowly learning but I still have much more to understand.

My writing skills have improved over the past months. I can proudly admit that I am a better writer than I was five months ago. Five months ago I was a terrible writer, I’m not admitting that I am as good as an Arthur now, but I can state that I am more comfortable with my writing skills at this point. I worked hard to get to the point that I'm at with my writing. I can not deny the fact that there is still room for practice and improvement in my writing because I lacks the fundamentals of writing, but I am grateful that my writing skills have improved significantly.

How often do I spend time writing? I spend very little time writing because I lack interest in and would rather text or call when communicating with others. Personally, I probably write only a few times a week which consists of writing notes to my parents if need be. I make use of the technology in which I am given since it’s available and reliable for me to use rather than writing notes. Technology and texting has ruined my writing style and ability to write in a professional manner since I use slang and abbreviations almost every day. My plan and goal is to learn how to properly write at a college level by the end of this semester.

There are many different things a person can do to improve their skills as a writer. Some are as simple as read more and write a lot. A good strategy that I use is to write down all of my ideas as soon as I think of them. Having these written down helps because they can inspire me and help me go directly into writing. That blank piece of paper staring at you may be intimidating, but don’t think about it, just start writing. A really good way to improve your writing skills is to practice.

Learning to be an adequate writer is something I strive for but don’t feel I have yet accomplished. In the past, I can remember spending countless hours sitting and thinking what I should write about. I think my biggest problem is figuring out how to actually put on paper what I am thinking. I am also concerned that the paper I write will not fully express what I am actually trying to say. I have found that if I am in a situation where I have to think of something on the spot or I am timed, I feel very overwhelmed and freeze up. However, I feel one of my strengths would be that I feel fairly comfortable with the rules of grammar and I enjoy that part of English. I can remember in high school I always did really well on my grammar test

Writing is something everyone has to do. It is needed in every field, no matter what job you end up with. It can be simple emails to complex lab research papers. Therefore, learning to write correctly is important. It is important to know based on the audience that it will change the way you write and what type of writing you will need to do. In English composition, this semester we worked on this quite a bit. Although, there are some areas in which I improved; there are still other areas in which I need to continue to improve in and have trouble writing as well. Therefore, I will cover some aspects of writing and what I need to improve in my own writing.

My writing skills which I have worked on over the few months I have been in English 102 have changed quite a bit in my opinion. There are many things which I have improved upon that were amongst my weaker writing skills when the year began. On the opposite side of that point, there are also many things which I still need to improve upon if I want to truly elevate my writing to a level that I will be confident in. Finally, I have gained new skills outside of writing from this class, particularly the activities which we did in class at various points throughout the year. These things all cumulate together to give me an appreciation of English courses which I did not previously have.

My biggest struggle in writing would be starting my introduction because I never really know what information to add in my stating my thesis statement. Although, one way I’m trying to improve this struggle is by either adding small quotes or definitions to hook the reader and to add some info about my topic. Furthermore, one essay that I feel reflects my writing the best would be the midterm essay. I picked the midterm essay because even though it was timed I still took my time and carefully picked which examples I thought would best represent my opinions. In addition, I feel using the quote “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” by Nelson Mandela was a very powerful way to keep the reader interested. Ultimately, while I still haven’t overcome the obstacle of writing an introduction I know I’m slowly starting to find my way towards my goal of not struggling when it comes to starting my essays.