My Writing Strategies

Overall, I feel that both my quality of writing and writing process have improved over the course of the semester. This was important because in my first writing analysis statement at the beginning of the year, the two main things that I wanted to improve on were my quality and process. Throughout the semester, I learned to rely less on teacher comments and revisions and instead improve on my self-revision process, which was almost non-existent before I came to college.

In reviewing the essay, there are many errors I noticed. Overall, your writing lacks focus in regards to ideas, grammar, and spelling. I am no expert in any of these areas, but my ability to produce a coherent essay is demonstrated by the fact that I am nearly done with college. The goal of my essay is to guide you towards a better way of writing based on my prior experiences. A good essay in my experience is one that has three major components: structure, depth, and voice.

Writing was never a known weakness of mine. However, I could never confidently call it a strength. Throughout the course of this semester, my writing style has evolved and I have rid my writing of many habitual mistakes. I have learned to appreciate writing much more, and enjoy the moments where my mind meets words on a paper. Creativity has always been one of my strong suits, but through this course I catered my creativity to compose a variety of essays and speeches. Likewise, public speaking is something that I did not struggle with in the past, yet the structure of the class required a video speeches which was fairly new to me. All in all, I have been able to identify and modify gaps in my composition of writing and speech as a result of this course.

Whenever I get a writing assignment for class, it seems like a chore. I don’t have a problem with writing, but papers always seem to take more time than they should. Maybe this is due to poor planning on my part, but essays are usually an ordeal, and I dread actually doing the work to finish one. The task is simple enough, but putting it off always seems like a better alternative to writing. I do think about the paper that I have to write, but I do not put thoughts and ideas into a paper or outline until I absolutely need to do so. From the moment I am given an assignment sheet, I begin brainstorming about the paper. I may not use any of these ideas, but I think of them. I also have a tendency to forget good ideas, which leads me to think

This year I have learned a lot from College Writing, this class has taught me a lot about my own writing and what makes a good essay. I have learned a lot about myself as a writer and as a person throughout the course. In this reflection of the past semester I will be going through my past papers and talk about what I liked and how I could’ve made them better. I will also be going through the activities that have shaped my writing the most. Hopefully, I will be representing how I have grown as a writer throughout the year because of this class. Before taking this class I was already relatively confident in my writing abilities and was excited to take the class. Now that the course is completed I am even more confident in my writing because of all the new techniques and helpful tips I learned.

Those that write always have a writing process whether they know it or not. A writing process can be defined by the way an individual gears up for the project at hand. It can be as simple as finding a favorite chair to write in or the act of planning out the writing beforehand. My own personal writing process varies from task to task with a few constants. I generally start my writing process by first reconciling my project; figuring out the best way to express the needs of the work. I do not write down notes or an outline in regards to the project mostly relying on winging it so as not to get hung up on sticking to the outline. I will my best to knock out large chunks of the project before taking any breaks unless I hit a wall, and

Teachers, parents, and friends often tell students exactly what the writing process should entail and how long it should take. However, the older I get, the more I realize that the writing process varies not only from person to person, but also from one writing project to the next. Throughout my years of life, I have written countless papers, ranging from a persuasive speech to an extensive research paper, and each project requires an altered version of my personal writing process. While each individual has his own writing process, there can be many similarities between different writing processes. Finding one’s individual writing process takes trial, error, and repetition. When an individual finally uncovers his unique writing process, better thought, work, and writing is produced.

Throughout this class I have learn many different writing styles. We used APA form of writing to type our paper and essay. I have also learned that it’s good to take your time and spend more time thinking about what to write, other than just righting a paper right off back. I have learned that it’s not a good idea to write a paper on the day it’s done, that’s more like a ruff daft. My teacher have helped me understand different point of writing. Which all writing deal with an ethos, pathos and logos, either one or all of them will run through anything that tell you anything in writing. From what emotion are there to who have the rights to speak at the moment to what are the facts to agree with this person. As a class we have read articles, bio from many people to understand that it’s more then what the person is writing. Reading between lines and analyzing a part of the story can tell you more then what the writer is saying. Working together to understand something and work better than being alone thinking about a situation you can’t understand.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

After writing these few essays, I understand that there are multiple ways I could have improved when in the process of writing. For example, I could have used more quotes to help solidify my writing and support some of my arguments more, I also could have brought in my experiences with history within school and maybe what I was taught about the Cold War, and lastly I think I could explain some of the major leaders better when using for my argument. Having prior knowledge about this topic would probably be the best way to prepare to revise these several essays that I have written.

When I looked over my ePortfolio, I couldn’t believe how many pieces of writing I

The first strategy I use is reading aloud to myself. After staring at a computer screen, I print out my essay and grab a highlighter and pen. I read the essay out loud and make corrections and highlight areas that need to be edited. This helps me to find awkward wording as well as find grammar and spelling errors I may have done. Just by simply rereading my essay, I can catch majority of my grammar and spelling errors. Too often I get into a flow of writing down content that I do not pay attention to grammar/ spelling errors. It can be time consuming because I tend to stumble on word. I am also partially blind. It made sound strange, but this can cause me to miss the “s” needed for subject verb agreement. I still prefer this method because

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.

Over the course of this past semester, my ability to write has improved tremendously. Prior to undertaking this course, my expertise in writing was not as fine-tuned as it should have been. I had never previously been enrolled in a class specifically tailored to writing-- which was quite clear. Upon reading my past works, it becomes apparent that my writing style consisted of fluff, small words, and inconsistently structured sentences. These problems have, for the most part, been remedied with the coursework I have tackled in College Writing. Rather than long, drawn out papers that take an eternity to reach the primary point, my recent work is much nicer in terms of composition and grammar. I credit these improvements to the three primary

All throughout my years of schooling, I’ve had just about, one paper that was about one page long, due every year. My papers never had to be more than one page in length. Therefore, I did not have to do much writing or do many essays. Surely not enough to remember any of the assignments. Writing has never been something I enjoyed doing, so I never bothered to many any memories of my writing experiences. I did not think it was necessary to remember any of them since I only had to do them to get a grade. The only writing experience I remember was the first assignment I had in this English 100 class about a writing experience. All week long, I sat there thinking about what to write about, but nothing came to mind as a topic. Then, one thing came to mind, but it was so very vague, I could not write the length that was needed for the assignment. I could only think of a few sentences to write for it. After sitting for a few moments longer, I thought, how about I write about how difficult it was for me to write this essay before it was due.