Reflection: How My Changes As A Writer

When I started English 203, I was not a good writer. I have never been the best writer. I could not remember all of the rules, where commas go, and how to correctly use a semi-colon. I did not remember not to use the word you in professional writing or whether the period went before or after quotation marks. But, I think this semester in English I have actually started to pick up the correct way to use quotations, commas, how to avoid contractions, and how to avoid banned words. It took some time but, I feel like I have learned more in the past 16 weeks of English than I have in the past 14 years of school. One of the most valuable writing skills I learned was how to write a review on an article and not

My writing essays represent a timeline of improvement , from my first essay to my last essay I’ve noticed my growth as a writer. It was not until later on the semester that I realized that I lacked substantial academic vocabulary and had ongoing run on sentences, grammatical errors. My word choice was really repetitive with the constant use certain words. I have progressed where I have expanded my ability to use clear description and make my technical information clear. For example when writing essay 2 and 3 having to insert figures helped me portray my argument much more clearly. When addressing the figures in my writing they had become much more clear. Considering our class revolved around technological developments of the future it was very

We are already midway through the first quarter of my last year as a high school student. I find it hard to completely grasp how quickly this year is passing and yet I feel like we've already accomplished so much.

Attached is my final project, a cumulative portfolio documenting my growth as a student and as a writer through out English 102. My English portfolio includes revised versions of my research paper, “Global Warming: Hot Topic” and essay “Blueprint Solution for the Poor,” along with the original drafts complete with red ink corrections. In addition, I am also providing this reflection essay demonstrating what I have learned this semester and how I have enhanced my original drafts. English 102 has taught me a number of things and has improved my writing skills. There are many things I have struggled with throughout the semester, but regardless, I have overcome most of my obstacles. Most of all, I have learned how to distinguish good sources from bad sources, how to better use citations, and how to properly develop a thesis.

I have trouble writing because my writing seems to be a little “tongue-in-cheek” as my AP English teacher said. (I have a couple unfinished examples that I will attach). I tend to not know exactly what I am trying to say in my essays. It is not that I am a poor writer per se; I just have an issue focusing my writing. I enjoy writing; however, I become engrossed in the way I want to present my ideas. Perhaps it is that I do not know the audience to whom I am writing. I usually use proper grammar and mechanics but that is definitely not enough to write an exceptional essay. In this course, I feel strongly that I will develop these skills. Another concern I have with writing is when it is timed. I have never performed well in a timed writing assignment;

As a recent Egyptian immigrant to the United States, writing is the most difficult subject. In 7th grade, my writing process started to develop with the help of an amazing teacher. Ever since 7th grade I have been practicing wiring to be close to the high school writing slandered. I reached my goal last year when my act writing score is 6 point which places me in English 101. I doubted myself so, I took the Accuplacer test which also, placed me in English 101. I was scared when I saw the results that I’m going to fail this course. After taking this course, it made me more confident in writing and showed me my writing level which needs more practice. This class helped me improve my writing skills, by getting great feedback from my instructor

Throughout high school, I was regularly told that writing was not my strongest skill. My teachers would constantly “shoot down” my writing because it was never “good enough,” except I never understood what that truly meant. However, this class helped me realize that my writing has “potential for greatness,” but it just requires some more time, thought, and clarification.

To effectively revise and edit my research paper, I read it carefully, as I played the reader`s role instead of that of a writer. In addition, I used a number of strategies to effectively revise and edit my research paper. First, I read my paper aloud as I listened for errors. After carefully listening, I was able to identify and correct errors in my writing, including grammar, incorrect sentence structure, incomplete ideas, and incorrect punctuation. While reading, I could stop and rectify the mistake at the point where I could note it. In addition, I read each sentence at a time so that I could digest the structure and identify any error. Prior to the reading, I noted down the common errors I usually commit while writing such as the omission

My writing looks like the game Tetris – I write according to how my ideas flow from my head to my paper. The English 1010 lessons are designed to impact my writing processes and since being in the course I have realized the importance of the process while preparing the paper. While I knew that practice and revisions were important to the writing process, the ideas of writing as inherently collaborative or as an extension of technology were not concepts that I had considered at length. For the assignment, I chose to record myself and reflect on my process. The observation of my writing process and decisions took place in an awkward way. I began sitting at my desk in my dorm with a black ink pen, wide-ruled paper, and the prompt of my essay. It took a good bit of time for the process to begin – all the distractions had to run out, frequent checks on social media, quick trip to the snack machine, and responding to text messages. Finally, it was time to start. I can begin. “Ok, outline” I said to myself. “What’s your main point?” And so, I started, pen to paper, writing the three main ideas I knew I wanted to cover in the paper. I did discover, however, that I scratch my head while I am thinking and as I write I would catch myself reading aloud.

As I have not paid attention to media lately, I am going to focus on my writing process.

This past semester in English 205, I learned quite a few ways to improve my writing, such as how to write in certain styles (i.e. APA), along with even memorizing the proper ways to cite different sources for the reference page of my essays. Prior to taking this class, I had great difficultly formatting my essays for other classes in APA, mainly because the only format I learned was MLA in high school, yet all my professors last semester and this semester required their essays to be in APA. Thus, I am glad that I mastered the writing conventions of APA because I will no longer struggle with writing essays for my any classes with the fear that I will get points deducted from my total grade due to formatting. Another technique I am pleased to

I learned from the teacher assessment about my writing that ideas and examples lack detail. Because of this, my writing was weakly supported my main ideas, and let make readers hardly understand what am I write about. Also, my writing did not have adjectives and adverbs that make readers boring and tired. I could not write long writing. Due to some word choice, word form, and sentence structure issues, the clarity of meaning in my paragraph is negatively affected. I really need to improve my writing in this semester because the hardest one in English is writing and I have many problems in my writing. I will read whatever I can get my hands on. I will not discriminate novels, essays, nonfiction basically anything. I believe that my writing

My head is pounding and my eyes are burning while I try writing for this weeks discussion. The more I read about the process of creative writing the more confused I get. Will I ever understand how to apply what I read correctly? This week I tired to learn about using specific details, cutting wordy clauses, and varying sentence structure.

Being in this class has helped me to progress in my writing by planning ahead; choosing a topic, get my ideas together to support my thesis, setting up time for free writing to help me start with my paper. Free writing has helped me to put my ideas on paper which it is less stressful when I am writing my first draft. According to professor Baxter, a good writer, need time for free writing and it is important that all writers get peer review so we can get feedback on base what we have on the paper to improve and make some changes. Setting time for revising has helped me to progress in my writing by acknowledging my own mistakes and getting assistance from SCAA. Base on professor’s comment I take more time to revising my paper to “avoid the

Throughout this academic journey, English Composition classes have always been interesting and intriguing. Although some formal writing processes can be complexed. A writer must learn the importance of understanding the basic fundaments with formatting and structure. Academic writing allows the writer to converse with persuasive ideas to help support their arguments. In saying this, academic writing is very universal, and it can be a resourceful tool to use with many endeavors in life.