When first embarking on my college journey, my writing skills were not a salient topic of concern. I have always considered myself a solid writer, and have earned corresponding grades that reflected, while somewhat bolstering, my assumptions. As I enrolled in HNRS 103: Honors Written and Oral Communication, I felt that I would do well, and it would not be a course that I would necessarily be constantly worrying over throughout the semester. I expected to write papers and do written assignments regularly, in addition to give speeches and oral presentations.
One preconceived assumption I possessed before coming to college that I have found to be emphatically incorrect is related to the importance of writing and how regularly it is used in all classes. I, for an unknown reason, assumed that I would primarily only write and do lengthy assignments for classes that pertained to writing. However, writing has been such a large component of the assignments, quizzes, and exams that I have completed during my first semester here at Radford. Over the course of the semester I have learned how truly important writing is in all fields.
Overall, the assumption that I brought to this class that has undoubtedly changed the most drastically is related to writing being a process. Never before have I truly understood the importance of going through multiple revisions and the entire drafting process. However, now I understand how crucial revisions are in the process of creating strong written
While I appreciated that one of my peers provided feedback on my work, I feel that the feedback that was provided did not fulfill the assignment. My peer did not provide detailed feedback on my paper that could be adequately incorporated in my review and revisions. Most of the information that was provided as feedback were simply statements that reiterated what the prompt question was. Please see the below feedback provided to me by my peer.
Throughout the course of freshmen year I have developed different skills and opinions on writing. I feel I have created a more mature style of writing and a better understanding of literature. I have changed my view of writing over this semester and acquired a strong liking for it. The importance of writing has become more visible throughout the past few months. Writing is crucial in many aspects of a person’s life. I have grown to be a more powerful and well built writer throughout this course.
One of the most important course objectives that I’ve grown accustomed to is the writing process itself. In the writing process, we are able to revise our writing where it is weak and earn a better grade than before. Since I took advantage of the revision process, not only was I able to improve my grade, but I was able to prevent the same mistakes from happening again in other writing assignments. From revisions alone, I’ve learned how to improve my writing skills and catch mistakes that I wouldn’t have seen
This course has helped me to understand the difference between college and high school writing. When I was a high school student, I was very confident about my writing skills. However, since I’ve been attending Wilkes University, things have changed dramatically. The number of skills I need to understand in
Life is a cycle of learning and the dissemination of what we’ve learned. In each day of our lives we learn something new to add to our list of skills and knowledge. When I first entered university, I thought the writing courses were useless and just a waste of time since we all can write. Later, however, I realized how those courses are beneficial in improving our critical thinking and communication skills not only the style of writing.
Weekly, one-page response papers are assigned based on their readings, which helps students understand my writing expectations, and gain confidence as the transition from generalized and vague language to academic writing. In class writing assignments, which deal with key questions from their reading, also helps students make the transition. After reading “Why I Write” by Joan Didion, I invite students to write a short essay about their writing process. Each reading and writing assignment escalates in difficulty, with the intention to build confidence, reduce anxiety, and overcome fear about their writing process, while increasing their academic language.
As a student, one will always want to make their due assignments top quality. Of course, we are taught by different teachers and mentors what quality a certain assignment should have, a college writing course is no different. Entering as the new class of college freshman, we discover that there is indeed a fresh or different perspective and expectation in our writing. As a result, new challenges will rise. After carefully reading and analyzing I Stand Here Writing and Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers, both written by Nancy Sommers, it has introduced a understanding of what college writing ought to exemplify. Students should be able to achieve many objectives in an essay with a different perception on
My goals I have set for this class are to use this opportunity to strengthen my research, brainstorming, outlining, and editing skills. I understand that writing is a key concept, necessary to excel in my desired field of work. By the end of this class, I am confident that I will put in the work necessary to sharpen those
Effective writing is becoming a real concern among teachers and college professors. As a matter of fact, the quality of writing appears to be worse than it used to be. In past years, studies have proven that there is a constant decline in people's writing ability. This article, Student Writing: Strategies to Reverse Ongoing Decline, gives you some insight as to the decline and ways to improve your writing skills.
| |the intellectual conversation of topics that were discussed. I also enjoyed the learning |
When I knew that one of my classes would be a writing course I must admit it was reason for some concern. I recently finished my Bachelor’s degree and had to write many papers. Every word of every paper was a struggle. As I looked through this course I am certain it will be invaluable to meet my goals.
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
During the first week study, the lecture reminds me of the previous course in Enggen 303. Rob emphasize how important the communications are inside the team work through some samples and activities. I totally agree that but I would like to talk about my own opinion in here for some points.
The main goals for this project, as I said in my email last year, were to improve my work ethic, and create something I was proud of. I believe I accomplished both of those things, but first I will discuss the things that I would have done differently. Most importantly I would have captured more emotion in my photos. Not just more photos, but a wider range of emotions. I did capture some other emotions, but I had a lot fewer shots of them and therefore even fewer made it into the final project. I think that Braden purposefully wore a hat when I was taking photos of him, but I didn’t notice until it was too late. I would have worked harder to make him comfortable without it, but it took me too long to realize. I think I captured the main mood of what he does which is a sort of peaceful kind of work. He really seems in bliss when playing guitar and I was really able to capture that with the images I already took. As I continue to photograph Braden I will try to get more images depicting sadness, happiness, frustration, etc. I also wish I had more time with Braden. I took very opportunity that I had to take photos of him, and I shot at many different locations, but I am looking forward to photographing him during the school year when he is not gone with his family so much. This way I will have opportunities to photograph him in even more environments and doing more than just playing guitar. I will focus a little less on composition and more on the story, emotion, etc. I think
Throughout the semester we have written several different types of essays. Those being informing essays, essays with research, and essays about personal experiences. For me, half of the battle was choosing the topic. After choosing the topic and writing a rough draft we most times would have a peer review. The peer review helped me to see my classmate’s ideas and opinions about my work. Taking their suggestions helped improve my paper in the end. I also used the paper checks to see how I was doing with my paper. Over the semester I have improved on several things. These being vocabulary, over explaining myself, and grammar. However, there are some things that I haven’t improved on but would like to.