Academic Writing: Writing Experience in Metaphors As someone who has done around six years of academic writing, I have written plenty of essays. Not enough to be an expert on essay writing, but enough that I can write about my experiences with it. I was more familiar with fiction writing and had written a few stories here and there. While academic writing was fairly new to me. It was like I was taken away from my natural habitat. I was used to sitting in my living room watching cartoons, but then one day I was dropped into the middle of the rain forest without a clue to do. What was I to do? Weep? I tried that a couple of times but that didn’t work. So what’s my first move? Trial and error? Make a fire? But the problem was, I didn’t know how to create a spark. I would sit for hours upon hours trying to spark something, but nothing would happen. Eventually I finally sparked a fire, but it was the lousiest fire I had ever seen but it was the best I could do at the time. That’s how my first essay went. Terrible. I wasn’t use to all these new rules I had to follow. I was used to not having boundaries on what I write and having a choice on what I write about. Without that choice I lacked passion. That passion I had for fiction writing drove me made me better. Without it I lacked a reason to write. As Craig Vetter, a journalist, puts it in his essay, “Bonehead Writing,” I was nothing but a ,“bonehead writer.” Later in that essay he explains,
All you lives, they’ve been reducing it to widgets and screws, clauses and semicolons…” When Vetter used this quote it spoke to me. I was reduced to someone who did nothing but followed the rules. Because I followed the rules so much my writing became flat and boring.
I had a hard time moving through the rainforest. But once I got used to it, more things started to come together. Once I had finally learned how to make a fire, my next step was to find shelter. When I was searching for shelter I wasn’t really searching for protection, but for a home. I needed a place to feel comfortable in. A place to grow. It was hard to find something like that in a place so foreign to me. Fiction writing was a home for me. It was something I found comfort in. In that home I had built, there
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.
Writing used to be one of my strengths, but throughout my coursework in this semester, it was challenging to take the first step to approach my first draft. I was always taken a long time to think about the thesis and introduction because I personally felt both were very important for the entire essay in order to attract readers. Merely, I could not make my thesis clear and good as always. Therefore, I would get some inspiration from my friends or tutors, or watched drama and news; this would be my first step to write a first draft. Unlike in High School, we have assigned at least 1200 words essay, and greatly opened my mind to develop a deeper understanding of each topic. For my writing habit, when I first look at the topic, I would think about what professor taught us in class or search some websites for stimulating more inspiration. Especially working on critical response essay or opinion essay, these two types of essays were required to write an argument and to be more thoughtful. It is difficult to identity some controversy topics in my knowledge as an English learner. Although I have always been a thinker and I
It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.
How Do Metaphor, Figurative Language, and Symbolic Imagery Contribute to Prose Fiction? [Name of the Writer] [Name of the Institute] Introduction
Taking a closer look to: Ten Ways to Think about Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students by the author Reid, E. Shelley.
Everyone on the planet has a goal set in life, but only a handful attempt to improve to obtain their goal by studying the subject their goal is in. In my English class, English 101 this quarter I was astonished by how much I had progressed as a writer sharpening my writing skills and also learned a lot about writing that I hadn’t learned before. In my writing portfolio for this quarter I had to write an autobiography essay, a research essay, and this reflection essay to develop my writing skills better. The writing assignments were fun to do because it challenged me to work on essays of different styles that were new to me. The essay assignments helped me grow as a better writer that gave me the self-confidence and skills to take on the world on my own.
One of the most significant literary devices that I really like in my language literature and recently I like it in Mark Twain’s style is metaphor using. As we know that metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit or unexpressed comparison between two things or objects that are opposites of each other but have some features common between them. In other words, an alikeness of two contrary or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics. Using proper metaphors pleas directly to the senses of listeners or readers, refining their imaginations to understand what is being transferred to them. Additionally, it gives a life-like worth to our discussions and to the characters of the fiction or poetry. Metaphors are also methods of intelligent, providing the listeners and the readers with fresh ways of exploring ideas and viewing the world.
“The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year” reflected my writing experience while I transitioned from elementary writer to a critical writer. Sommers and Saltz write, “freshmen need to see themselves as novice in a world that demands ‘something more and deeper’ from their writing than high school” (Sommers and Saltz 134). This line highlights the hardship that most students face when trying to write successfully. My earlier written works were much weaker than my current pieces because I often wrote for the sake of passing the class. While developing my writing, I focused on the new ideas that were introduced rather than limiting my argument to familiar techniques and ideas. Because of my new attitude towards writing, I began to demand
In my English 1010 class, I have learned to do a number of things through writing essays. I have written a Literacy Narrative, a Discourse Community Analysis, and a Writing Research essay. Firstly, I have learned to identify how an author’s purpose, audience, genre, and context determine effective writing. The purpose of the literacy narrative was to help me understand myself better as a writer (Jones 1). My teacher was the intended audience of the narrative. The genre of the narrative was non-fiction by cause of it being about my experience as a writer. The context of writing made my writing more interesting and more effective. Knowing those elements helps you to compose writing that is more effective due to you needing to know what you need to write about and who is receiving your writing. I displayed these skills by going into detail about my experiences with reading and writing through my life. As shown in the following sentence from my literacy narrative I shared how fun and exciting it was when my second-grade class received the opportunity to write a book, A Book of Future Astronauts, “Everyone in the class was truly excited to be writing our own book,” (Writing is Good).
There are many different style to write in. Along with the different style there are also different perspectives. First, second, and third person are the types most people think about. The reality is that there are many more types out there. When a person writes it is hard for them to be able to stop thinking of what they were told when growing up. In the article Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Student by E. Shelley Reid, it is said that while rules are important in writing the rules can cause more of a problem then a guideline. Instead focus on writing in a way the completely describe what is trying to be said. The details in the story are what need to be focused on. The more detail that are used the
I used to consider writing as tumble words from your mind, write, read it through, fix minor mistakes, and done. However, you rarely get successful. The truth is many students, including myself, struggle with starting to write a word, or getting stuck in the middle without knowing the main point of the writing. After completing English 101, I can explain the writing process, evaluate the strengths of my essay, and identify my weaknesses.
Writing essays have never been easy for me. Describing my thoughts and feelings just don't seem to turn into the right words I want to say. Coming up with a theme and an argument is hard to convey, making the reader see what I'm truly trying to say. The hardest parts of writing essays for me is coming up with the right things to say that correlate to my argument and doing so under a short period of time.
I’m not a notable writer, nor have I really wanted to join the writing industry. However, I have been interested in other people’s writing. From their deep meanings, content, and different formats/styles. It’s a wondrous creation made from within our imagination and experiences. It has inspired me to write too. I’ve been writing most of my life that it has become a necessity. And now from my past experiences with writing, I try my best to improve my skills as a writer for the future.
I used to consider writing as tumble words from your mind, write, read it through, fix minor mistakes, and done. However, you rarely get successful. The truth is many students, including myself, struggle with starting to write a word, or getting stack in the middle without knowing the main point of the writing. After completing English 101, I can explain the writing process, evaluate the strengths of my essay, and identify my weaknesses.
First time I ever wrote an essay I was so passionate about it, it was about my family and I talked about them for pages. The last essay I wrote was about roller derby and I loved it it was about the only thing I did in English last year if I write about something I like, I can write forever, but if I don’t like the subject or just don’t understand it I can’t grasp it very well. I never exactly liked reading and writing, it’s never been my strong suit because my reading level isn’t the highest, therefore it’s hard for me to comprehend what I’m putting on paper or in the computer because in order to know what I wrote makes sense I have to read it over several times just to understand it. Which sometimes when I start writing I’ll be passionate about the subject, then towards the end, I’ll slow down and not have much to say because by then I feel I’ve said it all.