My Challenges With Writing

Currently, I am crossing a huge bridge from high school writing to college writing. Which means there is going to be plenty of room for my writing skills to progress in various ways. After putting thought into where my weaknesses may be in my writing I have arrived to a conclusion of 5 personal goals to improve my essays. My 5 goals will be the pillars that keep my bridge up and from collapsing, by the use of these 5 goals I will easily transition from high school writing to college writing.

Throughout the course of this semester in AP Lang, my eyes have been opened to many of the weaknesses I never knew I had in writing. Coming into this semester, I had heard about the difficulty of this class, but was not unduly worried about not receiving an A; I have always considered myself as a competent if not strong writer. However, after failing to attain desired grades on several important essays, I was devastated, and realized that although I had mastered the basics of grammar and writing, there was still much for me to work on. Also, I did not understand that much of my grade in AP Lang would be determined by speaking in front of others, which is not my strong suit. What I have come to find is that writing essays containing all of the new information we have learned throughout the semester, such as requirements for different types of essays and good writing strategies, takes a lot of work, time, and thinking. Unfortunately, my procrastination caused me to only get done what had to be done instead of putting in the extra work and truly understanding everything.

As I finished my first semester of college, I was super excited and thrilled when I realized not once did I have to write a paper for any of my classes. There were some paragraphs and summaries here and there but they were pretty standard. When I realized that I was going to have to take Rhetoric 105, a writing course, I freaked out not because there would be a lot of readings but because of the writing expectations. Obviously, I am a decent writer if I was able to get accepted to multiple universities and get good grades throughout my writing career. Yet there is still this nervousness whenever I realize I have to write a paper. I have multiple struggles and strengths when it comes to writing. One of the struggles I face every time it comes to writing a paper is actually getting

The college textbooks always suggest in order to write a good article there are several stages and several points that you should take and consider. For example before you start writing, first you have to brainstorm ideas, take notes, and make outlines. After getting everything in order, you have to decide what kind of article you are writing: a comparison and contrast writing, a cause and effect writing, or etc. Then you have to think of a good thesis statement, subtopic statements, introduction and conclusions, central paragraphs, and many more. Finally you have to worry about having sentence variety, not to use passive voice, not to have run on sentences, not to use too much ‘is’ and ‘and’. I do not know about

My successfulness and my struggles began when I first learned how to write and read in Spanish and sixteen years later I was force to learn a new language which is English. Back in the Dominican Republic where I’m originally from in between ages five to eight my mother and I struggle with my writing skills. My mother struggle teaching me how to write and I struggle learning how to write clearly because my teachers couldn’t understand anything written by me. I cannot remember how my writing skill look back then, but I can remember how shamed I felt when my classmates made fun of my writing materials. Once my friends wrote in the board “El profesor esta muy loco” translation (the teacher is crazy) with a crappy hand writing before the teacher

In high school I challenged my writing skills by taking advanced placement language and literature. Both courses assigned essays that required scholarly text to support my points and ideas stated throughout the paper. My biggest takeaway from these classes was that having textual evidence from reliable sources will help strengthen my writing, also known as ethos to persuade the audience. During my junior year I grasped the concept of ethos, pathos, and logos, how each could be used to shape writing concepts or perspectives. Personally it takes me a little bit of time to adjust from different writing contexts that need to be addressed, but I always thoroughly analyze instructions to reach success. I improve as a student when I practice analyzing

I am no writer. I don’t have connections to assemble or a creative imagination to share. What I do have are opinions to voice and arguments to present: but these, too, I must learn to communicate through writing. In the past, I have only ever written required assignments for school, and I struggled with them: I continue to struggle with writing today. After reading Dillard’s two essays, I learned more specifically that I struggle with beginning a piece of writing, writing clearly, and analyzing or revising what I’ve written.

I began this course with the idea that I was a good writer who could write a great paragraph in minutes. After writing my first paper I came to realize that this was not the case. I may have been able to write a paragraph in minutes, but it was not going to be a long one and it probably would need some work. Throughout this class the issue I have struggled with most is making my paragraphs long enough and filled with enough information. I have written three major papers in this class and have seemingly gotten better, but not fully reached my potential at writing a great paragraph that is the correct length.

My writing skills improve the more I write. Challenging myself on several essays about a single topic, and meet page requirements pushed me further. I notice the more I conditioned myself avoiding ‘crutch verbs’ the more professional my essays read. I now naturally avoid crutch verbs in all my writing, they occur much less frequently in other places, like social media as well. I learned the hard way that all-nighters diminish my writing capabilities, and that procrastination can cause a lot of stress if not done right. Learning how write better MLA citations also progressed my research paper skill, though after this class I will mostly write with the APA citation method. The required book, “Brief Penguin Handbook” will assist my writing even

In today's society, the ability to write is a necessary skill to learn. Writing is used on a daily basis whether it involves personal texting or business related emails. With the help of English 1301, my writing skills have significantly increased. My composition experience during this semester has improved my writing ability with the use of feedback, composing various types of essays, and participating in class forums.

The importance of writing at a college level is essential to communicate effectively without speaking.

As an accounting major, my writing is expected to be professional. What my coach would expect from my writing is to be clear and concise. It should not have any grammatical or spelling mistakes. It should also allow my coach to identify the person I am, through my writing. It should also be as accurate as possible and the information should be to the point. Other than that, it should be readable and easy to understand. Last but not least, my writing should be polished.

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.

Every child learns differently; some learn easily, and some have difficulty processing the information that is given to them. My parents taught me the basics of reading and writing, they bought me books and letter blocks to form words with. In my experience, it was easy for me to learn how to read, although, my struggles began with writing. I can not put the blame on my teachers, although, they weren’t much help either. That was until I entered Middle School, my sixth grade English teacher changed my whole perspective of the subject.

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.