Personal Narrative: Developing My Writing Skills

Over the course of this semester, I have learned many things to improve my writing. Having taken the course before, this semester has been an excellent opportunity to expand on my existing knowledge. Although I had written many essays before, there is still much to be learned and improved. Two factors of writing that I had learned or improved on this semester were transitions/topic sentences and how to properly structure a conclusion paragraph.

With practice and hard work, writing can be a good skill to have. The step that’s people follow, and their writing process is different for every person. Writing something is not just some step by step thing. It is a process where we change our minds, rewrite, and rethink all of our strategies. No matter who the writer is they always do prewriting, writing, and revising. These are the steps I use in every writing assignment that I have ever done.

At the moment, there are only 5 articles available for a 3-star rating, which isn't much. I was wondering, can I apply to any teams at this stage? Are there other ways to find additional work?

My writing process starts when I am given an assignment. I’m not one to just write for fun, so this is usually the only way I can make myself write. Don’t let that fool you though, because once I start writing something and my ideas start flowing, it’s hard for me to stop. Personally, I love to be able to choose what I’m writing about. I don’t like getting assigned a topic, because that means everybody else has to write about the same topic and that ends up with everybody asking what I wrote in my paper and comparing it to theirs. I HATE when my writing gets compared to other peoples’, because we are all unique and different writers and we shouldn’t be so concerned about who stated certain facts better or got a higher grade.

I'm not the best when it comes do to writing well. I guess i feel like my writing doesn't sound “smart” it's not full of big words that the reader has to look up and learn more about.

What I have learned throughout the year about writing is that it is important to know how to write because you will need to use it for your everyday life, whether it is at school or at your work. My writing process I think that I have changed a little bit on it but I think I need to practice more so I can get better. What I have changed on my writing was that I need to make my writing sound good and that it makes sense. Why I made those changes because I want it to sound good and make sure that it makes sense to what I am being asked to write. My opinion on writing has not changed. My opinion hasn’t changed because I just don’t like to write and I find it boring.

I always start my writing process by reading the directions. I read the directions three or four times to fully analyze what is required and what is being asked. For instance, in most assignments are not simply questions. There are usually more than one factor in the question. After understanding the directions, I start following the five steps of the writing process. First, I pre-write/ draft a outline to get my ideas into answering all the parts of the question and to establish. Next, I start writing to establish flow of my paper. Then, I submit it to paperrater.com to check for grammar, punctuation, and spell check. Then, I edit my paper from the suggestions paperrater.com suggested. Lastly, I submit my work for a grade.

My writing process in the past has never been concrete. It was even very rare that I had a process or even realized that I had a process going on. All I did was write without revision. For example, one time I had a research paper due the next day. I made the decision to take all of the examples I had, write it out, explain it, then give my take on the example, 30 minutes before it was due. Although it was littered with grammar mistakes, I got a passing grade. However, this anxious direction of writing held me back from creating great writing assignments and projects.Because I was being told constantly that I had "great ideas but terrible form" made writing extremely hard and close to depressing.

Thinking about our first writing assignment, one of the suggestions focuses on the comparison of writing to running, it became apparent to me that this is something I would enjoy writing about. I am a long time running advocate, competing in marathons, and a neophyte writing student, and I find many similarities in both endeavors.

The first step of my writing process when I write a traditional essay consists of brainstorming. If a certain format is provided, I have to brainstorm the order of my key points. On the other hand, for some assignments I am given the specifics of what I need to talk about (like these Log Its) and even given subheadings which I must include to offer a professor better access and recognition of key parts. Once I begin to write, I never have in mind that what I write is a draft of any sort. Personally, I like to keep up with my grammar, spelling and punctuation as I go, so once I finish, the paper is pretty close to being finished with very few mistakes. Sometimes, I type a word that I doesn’t fit into the context but at that time, I have a couple of sentences in my had that I know will disappear if I don’t type them out, so I type (?) after the word to remember to find a synonym or change the word.

My writing abilities have gotten me by in the business environments that I have found myself in. That being said, I lack skill in formal writing. Because I took a clep test that exempted me from English Composition I and II in college, my experience in writing has been limited over the past four years. Furthermore, my major, Geomatics, does not demand a large amount of technical writing which has further limited my exposure to technical writing

While I've not be an academic tutor at SU, I was formerly an editor of the Austin-based music journal ATX On Record (now VinylList). As an editor, my duties included proofreading and editing article submissions, advising writers on how to strengthen their articles, and teaching them how to master the SEO.

I have recently discovered that I am not that good at putting together a collage paper. I received a D on my most recant paper in my collage English class. I have always known writing was not my best quality, but I did not know I was this horrible. Although I have many, many weaknesses in my writing skills, I actually have a few strengths as well. I am going to need quite a bit of help with my writing process in my collage papers for the future.

In this semester my achievement of improving my writing skills has increased significantly. My sentence lengths vary in a positive manner along with my word choice improving, becoming more complex and of writing expectation. My main struggle this semester would be the peer editing. Although I have improved significantly I still find it difficult to edit others papers. Further more than the common spelling and grammatical errors. I believe my essays have improved drastically from the beginning of the semester towards the end.

Would you believe me if I told you that masters of any art still practice the skills that got them to where they are now? This might not come as a surprise to most, but success and perfection is measured in time. Repetition is key when talking about mastering skills. There are many steps that have helped me through my writing process. Thinking planning, and revision are skills that have made me a better writer. These skills are crucial for becoming a better writer because it decides the volume of my work and makes sure the reader understands my intent.