Personal Reflective Essay: Writing Matters

My writing experience about the career paper was more informative than I was expecting. By reading the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), I quickly realized that there was so much information about a career in medicine, I was not aware of especially with regards to employment and predicted employment rates. However, the most difficult part of the writing process was trying to incorporate personal information into the narrative while using statistics and descriptions from OOH to come up with a coherent essay. For example, with a plethora of personal information and details about factors that has motivated me to pursue a career in medicine, it was difficult to summarize and incorporate information from OOH into my

This semester has impacted me and my writing abilities greatly. I feel I have improved in all aspects of writing. Throughout High school writing was never my preferred subject, but after taking this class I have developed an interest in writing and no longer look at it as a chore, but more as a method to express myself.

The writing process has always been a challenge for me. Especially if it has a due date. In the past, I have always procrastinated the process and that never ended well. I knew something had to be done and I needed to come up with ways to make writing a little easier. So, I sat down and I started to look at writing in smaller steps. I started to plan how I was going to finish a paper without getting so anxious and overwhelmed. This process has helped me a lot along the way and I am going to share my process with you.

Writing is one of the most important skills that I have learned throughout my years in school. I have learned that no matter how much I love or hate it, writing is a necessity; I might as well try to be good at it. Writing has been in my life for many years. There are many types of writing, educational writing and personal writing are two that I will mention in this essay. I have learned how to allow writing to help me in my daily life. When I began writing I hated it, however, I have learned the many uses of it, and it has become a huge part of my life.

From my first days at The College of Wooster, I can tell that I will be aptly prepared to have a successful future both during college and beyond. I’ll immediately be challenged and engaged by the First Year Seminar which will provide me with opportunities to make friends, engage in a topic of interest, and further develop my writing skills. In addition, this seminar will prepare me for college success.

Writing 101 has been a tremendous learning experience for me. It is not my strongest area, so it is my primary reason for taking the class. I took this Writing 101 class to improve my writing skills. In college courses, I have to do a tremendous amount of writing. Writing is also not my favorite thing to do, because it takes time, thought and research. The first week of class, we had to write the first assignment draft. I thought this class will be hard for me and difficult to keep up with the assignments. I disagree with my initial thought. The class definitely challenged me, but I learned so much. My expectation was to improve my writing skills. I would say I met that expectation. However, I feel that I need to continue to learn and perfect my writing to become even more proficient. I learned how to develop strong thesis statements, to conduct online library searches. I started WRTG 101 with a basic knowledge of the writing skills; now I know how to accurately use punctuations, I know how to develop unified, consistent and well-supported paragraphs, and I know my weaknesses in my writing.

Most of us were in a situation when we had to say: “I am not too good at it.”, or “I can try, but it is not my field”. For example, somebody will ask me to draw a picture of a cat. I will try. I have seen cats before, know how to operate a pencil, have a flat piece of paper. I am even passing by art gallery on the regular basis, on my way to work. But I still cannot be sure you will not mistake my picture of a cat for a picture of a tractor or an intergalactic battlefield scene. That is how I feel about assignment to write about my writing process. So far, mine I can divide in three steps.

In the beginning of this semester I didn't like writing at all. I had a lot of difficulty when it came to writing. That was my only weakness in high school. But as I started taking basic writing, I have made a lot of progress. Before I had trouble to put detail in my essays, but now I am confident. My attitude toward writing went from negative to positive during this semester. Some aspects of the class have helped me strengthen my writing, I have builded some strengths for myself as a writer, and I know I made a lot of progress by reading my most successful essay, and by comparing my early essays to my more recent ones.

I just turned in an 8+ page paper! I need some ice cream. And a hot bath. I am seriously in awe that I did it. I dreaded this day since the start of class. Actually, I dreaded the 5-page essay because I didn’t know I would be writing a longer one. I need to stop looking at it since it’s too late now, but I keep noticing little things I wish could change. My daughter just asked how I felt and told me that looking after submitting will only make me sad. Instead I will reflect on the letter I wrote to myself in January. I knew when I signed up for this class it was going to be tough. My first class in twenty-five years! I was nervous and excited at the same time. I remember saying in my introduction discussion that I was “somewhat” excited to in the class.

     One of the techniques I am going to use through out college is talking to

Ever since I began reading as a small child, I have loved literature and the written word. However, even though this has always been the case, I originally was not a literature major when I entered Arizona State University. Instead, I began my college career as a Physics major. What I came to realize after completing some of the required courses for the major was not that I was not good at physics since I had done exceptionally in all my classes, but that I was more interested in reading the articles and writing the assignments for my classes than I was in actually doing research in the physics department. Therefore, even as I was pursuing an entirely different degree, my love of literature and writing was still fundamental to my learning, and it was this that eventually lead to me changing my major to English Literature. Coming to this decision to switch majors was difficult, however the experience was beneficial in the long run. Not only am I now enjoying the work I am doing as a student more, I also understand that writing, editing, and reading critically is important to all disciplines. Had I not first begun my

Thank you so much for keeping the doors of Union open. Your donation of (total amount of money they gave) aided in continuing the ministries of Union throughout the summer months. We want to reach out as the summer months wrap up and we continue to seek support.

My time spent in my writing 120 class has allowed me to to utilize my

Writing for me has always been a difficult and daunting task. I always found myself asking, “Why is this required?” “How is this helping me and preparing me for my future?” “What’s the point?” However, at the completion of my writing 122 course I have come to realize how important writing is for my future. Writing is way more complex than I ever thought of it to be. I have had to ditch my old high school habits and establish new techniques that have made writing much more enjoyable and less stressful. Some may think that taking a writing course is not necessary for your future and shouldn’t be considered a “requirement” to graduate. You go through your whole life needing writing skills. No matter what profession. You will learn so many great life skills that will not only help you through this course, but the rest of your college career and life. I went into this course with little confidence in my writing ability, but that gave me motivation and a feeling of purpose for being in this course. Writing should be considered as more than just a requirement due to the fact that it is found in everyday life. The skills you learn in a college level course, such as how to properly go about doing research and annotating articles, will make writing feel less like a dreadful assignment.

I can remember waving goodbye to my parents in the Abner’s parking lot after I had completed the dreadful day of moving into my dorm. Since I am in the FastTrack Program, I was able to move in two days earlier before the real madness started. I can remember complaining to my mother about having to retake Writing 101 my first semester because I had already done that in high school and I thought it was pointless, but I was extremely wrong. Throughout this year writing has taught me more about life than just throwing some words on a piece of paper and hoping for a decent grade.