Personal Narrative: My Experience With AP Style Writing

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.

My name comes from German and is the overseer of a wine cellar and is also known as a cooper.

I almost never make promises, I’m always afraid I might break them. However, I’ve made one promise I will forever keep, always try my absolute best.

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.

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 AP experience this year had been a hard but worthwhile journey. I remember last year I had three AP classes and it was a lot of work. This year I had 6 AP test but I felt I did better than last year as it was easier. I had improved my speed in learning and I am able to manage my time much better. This is likely because I did not have AP united state history or AP chemistry this year, as those two were one of the classes that had the most workload. Without those two, even having more AP classes was less work.

My writing style throughout junior year has changed drastically. With each essay my motivation to write better went down. I started to do the bare minimum with each essay. I did not do a rough draft or double check any of my work. My first essay I wanted to do a decent job so I can start the year off with a good start. I wrote very clearly and did what the prompt said. After that essay I did not care so much about what I had to do to get an A again. Yes, this is very irresponsible of me, but as the year went on I lost my drive to do better. I think as a writer I have gotten worse, because I did not write to my full potential.

Looking back to when I typed my first AP Language and Composition paper, I can honestly say that my writing skills have drastically improved. I started off not knowing any writing strategies and thought that typing three pages was a lot for just one paper. After completing the course, I can now write a full eight paged paper using one of the three writing strategies that we learned. Before this class, I was never a skilled writer and the thought of taking APLAC intimidated me because I did not think I was capable of completing the course. I never imagined myself taking this class because In my mind I simply was not smart enough to take it. However, due to all the positive comments I received about the class and how it improved my friends writing, I

I believe I have grown a lot since the beginning of this course. My writing was severely lacking grammar and punctuation. I didn’t use any punctuation other than periods and very few commas spersed throughout my papers. My papers still need help in that area, but I have improved. I now know where they need to go and when it’s appropriate to use them. My papers aren’t exactly flawless but they are better than before. I would write how I speak at times and I knew it wasn’t right, but I would still do it because it allowed my papers to flow better in my mind. I read my papers out loud to help avoid my problem with writing how I speak. I’ve learned my writing style in this course, or lack thereof. I found a program that would benefit me now and

Writing presents it’s own challenges to those who write books and articles daily; and to those who write less frequently. Getting around using punctuation, placing commas, and figuring out how to start an essay always seemed to be the biggest challenges for me. Through practice is the only way I’ve come to be masterful over my own writing style, even though there is always room for improvement. Because each time someone sits down to write a letter, article, or book; they are practicing their writing style and ultimately becoming better writers. Many people find writing to be a hassle or too cumbersome in a day in age of technology and the internet supplying information to the public so immediate, but everyone must overcome challenges that they

In the first assignment, I assessed my writing with the online tool PaperRater. The score received was below average on almost all fronts, which surprised me. I established a goal to be writing weekly and applying online tools to provide feedback. While I have not completed this goal in a way I expected, my writing style has been enhanced. I put this improvement down to my research and study throughout this unit, as well as entering into a new workplace that requires a higher level of professionalism than my previous workplace.

My writing style, in my opinion, is light-hearted and creative. I don't particularly like bland papers, regardless of the topic, so I tend to add in a bit of humor, if possible, and maybe even a bit of interesting facts. I always tend to wonder if someone else would understand my paper. I enjoy being able to put in a nice flow to my paper so that I'm not going from one topic directly to another. In all honesty, I enjoy other writing styles such as being objective, realistic, complex, and dramatic. My favorite that I try to go for, however, is a light-hearted style because I can have a bit of fun with it while following the designated guidelines.

I have learned a lot in just 16 short weeks. I have learned how to organize my thoughts on paper, even when I have a fear of a writing assignment. I learned about pre-writing, outlining, rough draft, and finals. In each of these steps, I have learned to depend on each of them. They also help me find out what I need to do next. I always try to reflect on what I have written, even if it may be terrible. I use every bit of information I have to make sure I keep my thoughts in order. My strengths have increased as a writer. I love to write, and I know what to write about when given a topic. I feel strongly capable of writing more assignments, and essays in the future, especially in my Composition 2 class next semester. Having 2 English classes this semester really helped me with being able to

I think that my writing style leans well more on the creative and entertaining side than the informative side of the spectrum. This is reflected on some of the titles I have come up with for all of my papers and use of wordplay in a lot of passages. That being said, it was quite a struggle to stop using clever language and focus solely on the content of the paper. Even if that did improve over the course of the semester, I still feel like that style of writing didn’t leave me, nor will it. I can always prevent myself from using metaphors and the likes in research papers, but I will still have those metaphors and analogies in me to use for creative purposes, where I normally steer my writing towards.

“Your final exam will be in three parts: multiple choice, primary source analysis, and three major essays. I won’t be allowed within 2 miles of you when you take the exam.” The words of Mr. F, my AP US History teacher, reverberated between my ear drums. He either didn’t notice or didn’t seem to care: “The AP US History exam will be on a Saturday in mid May. It’s graded on a scale of 0 to 5. Zero being the lowest possible score, 5 being the highest.” A student in the front row raises her hand, interrupting our baptism by fire. Mr. F motions for her to speak.