Journal Entry 1: Me, A Writer?
Attitude: After reading chapters 1-4 in my textbook my attitude toward completing this course is optimistic. Writing has always been one of my weaker skills and I am hoping to improve my skills drastically after completing this course. I know the improvement will only come after lots of practice. Just as the common phrase says, practice makes perfect! Being required to take this course will only improve my skills. I feel like I already have a great base to build off of and completing all the course objectives will for sure sky rockets my skills.
Inventory: I loved the inventory exercise! I already knew that I had an independent and emotional learning style. As far as the other aspects go I never knew that I was pragmatic, spatial or concrete! I think it is important that if I have a strength in one area that I can still act in the opposite way since learning style tendencies are not set in stone. Two things that I would like to improve about myself as a writer are how I process information and the level of interaction I have with others. I think that improving those two things would open me up to be more creative in the writing process.
Journal Entry 2: The Role of Correctness in Writing
Grammar, spelling and punctuation all play an important role in the relationship between the writer and the reader. Grammatically correct texts are easier to read. Also, when you have a proper understanding of grammar is also makes the writing process
I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.
Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for
As a writer, I find myself getting lost. Typically, when I go to start writing I hit a brick wall. It’s as if all my thoughts suddenly escape my mind and I draw a blank. It takes me forever to conjure up some form of a thesis and then takes even longer to figure out what I should write to support it in a way that makes sense. Then, attempting to find a way to organize my ideas and put them together in cohesive paragraphs seems like an impossible task in the moment. It is not uncommon for me to get flustered and just throw something down on the paper because I get anxious seeing how much work is left to do. If I end up going back to read it over prior to submission,
At the start of this course, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a goal for myself to improve and learn skills that would make writing less daunting for me. I have learned so many things about my writing that I didn’t think much about before. Another goal I had was to break the cookie-cutter mold that was set upon me throughout high school. During the process of revision, I discovered many things about myself as a writer and techniques that have been effective for me in the writing process.
When looking back five weeks ago, I struggled with confidence in my writing. I had much trouble expressing my thoughts on paper. Through time, I feel that I am stronger in my writing abilities and my writing skills have improved greatly. So far, I have learned to be more confident and I no longer struggle with getting started. There have been many instances where I have thought long and hard about submitting a document fearing that it was not good enough. Now, I realize that preparation is the key to great writing. When writing, many times I would write one section of the paper and immediately would start to revise before completely finishing. I soon realized that this method is a very long process and it’s
I began this course with goals to significantly improve my writing. I knew there were challenges for me to overcome, because I have not written much at all since high school, which has been more than twenty four years ago. Nonetheless, I was up for the challenge and each week I made sure to do exactly as instructed in the weekly syllabus, reading each every assignment very carefully. At first I felt overwhelmed, but as I completed the homework and discussion post assignments for the weeks prior to the major papers, the overwhelming feelings subsided and I concentrated on each task at hand.
I have grown as a reader, thinker and writer thanks to this course. These are the things that I have worked on and improved over the past couple of months and I feel that my work shows this. In no way do I mean to sound over confident, I know I still have plenty to learn. However, I am extremely surprised and proud of myself. I will admit I had thoughts of previously giving up, I allowed myself to focus too much on the negative. Now, however, I feel differently. I have learned through this course how to write, how to express myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don 't know. Most importantly, I learned to
Reflect: This course never interested me. I really was never interested to take this course as there was no need for it. I considered myself who could write well as needed in my job. For the field I am in, I did not think I would need more than I already knew, rather I felt it was waste of time. For me to stay focused and remain enthusiastic was the biggest challenge.
Attitude: Writing has never been my thing, at least when it comes to essays and research papers. It can take me awhile to get my ideas flowing. I’m very excited to complete this course so I can become a better writer. Although I often don’t like writing research papers or essays, I don’t feel that any personal feelings towards writing will have any negative effects on my quality of work. I’m looking forward to what this course has to teach me.
This course has helped me with many chances to figure out how to properly write papers. Prior to this class, I had little experience with how to build a legitimate paper. It has taken experience, and getting normal evaluations, to show me how to precisely write. Despite the fact that this course required different papers to be turned in, I am appreciative to have possessed the capacity to gain from my oversights and develop as a writer. I have constantly cherished written work, however now I am ready to improve my writing as the semester
The biggest factor that plays in good writing in my opinion is how much emotion the writer puts into his or her work. Honestly, a good reader will be able to tell how much effort was put into a writing from the first couple of sentences. If the reader gets a sense of the writing trying to force words into a sentence or trying to stretch out a page you will lose your reader right then and there. If you honestly believe in what you are writing and have interest in the subject matter the reader will be able to read between the lines and actually have a feeling of being there,
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.
Before taking this course my writing styles and habits were very different. I was the typical procrastinator because I would wait until the night before a paper was due to start it. This did not allow me enough time to properly proofread everything, which resulted in getting points deducted for simple grammatical errors that could have been avoided if I would have had the time to proofread. My writing styles have many strengths and weaknesses and I have been able to improve my writing because of them. I have learned from my strengths and weaknesses how to become a better writer.
I don’t consider myself a very good writer. I write when I am made to or when I have something that I need to say that I can’t just tell someone. I keep a diary. Usually my diary is just a record of what I have done that day. It’s not so much about my feelings. I don’t really like talking about my feelings, usually because most of the time I am confused about what exactly I am feeling. I tend to keep the feelings that I do have to myself, to protect myself from getting hurt.
It is my belief that through this class and the tools provided, that my growth as a writer has grown through leaps and bounds I would never have assumed possible. It is not so much the skill I refer to, although I would think skill has gone up in some levels as well, but more so the appreciation for the craft of writing itself. Intially, at the start of this class my sole goal was to further my understanding and appreciation of the writer's and books that I so love to read. Through further evaluation within the first week, a few other goals came to mind, of which were, making writing a habit, finishing what I start, stop second guess my writing skills and making effective use of detail and description. Through the use of the many articles, various reading materials, whether poems or short stories, and especially through the workshop, I feel I was able to really push myself to accomplishing these goals. I have thus far learned how important it is not to be skilled at writing per say, but to have the will to write, that poetry is as much about it's sound as it is about it's subject, just how important character development is, how the narration and point of view of a story is essential to the way the story is told, and just how much of a difference peer's critiques can make to your writing.