I came into Writing 150 under the assumption I was well prepared for college level writing by my wonderful high school English teachers. I could consistently write excellent timed essays in AP literature, and I managed to make it through college Composition 101 at a local college. Those things did help me a lot with grammar, transitions, and style, but Writing 150 challenged me to think much harder than anything could have prepared me for. By provoking deeper thought, Writing 150 has immensely strengthened my writing. It has taught me how to make arguments on my own, instead of letting someone else’s quotations do all the work. It also equipped me with many strategies that helped me boost my writing ability throughout the semester and I can now carry in my toolbox for the rest of my college career. Over the span of the course, my writing process has changed dramatically. I never used to pre write or use any invention strategies. Beginning with WP1, I learned how to utilize heuristics like the pentad or a points-to-make list. However, since it was WP1, I had not learned to do it well yet. As a result of the poor prewriting skills, I struggled with organization a lot. My paper was not very focused or thought provoking. After WP1, I was determined to make my organization better and I think I successfully achieved that in the rest of my papers. The workshop on numbering the claims in a paragraph guided my writing for the rest of the semester, which was so helpful. During WP2,
In, high school my teachers assign me with different kinds of reading and writing. The types reading that i remember is the Killing Mocking Bird and The Adventure of Odysseus in freshman year of highschool. I didn't like the two book that much. Next the types of writing i recall writing is an observation poem in my english writing class i had to observe an thing and write at least five line poems using the four key items(see, hear, feel, and think). I had to write a lot summaries on articles and writing prompts in four years in secondary school. Also, i did a reflection essay where i had created an claim, counterclaim, evidence, rebuttal, TAG (title, Author, and Genre) of information and quote of one of the scenes in the story of Shakespeare Hamlet before i start my reflection writing.
In high school, I took both AP English Language and AP English Literature. These courses prepared me well for college composition courses, but left me in the dark regarding the personal style development in writing and writing patterns. I was trapped in the high school, five-paragraph essay form that constricted my thoughts for so long. Discourse 300 enabled me to move past the form and explore new ways to compose writing. This in turn has made my thoughts more complex and concise. I have learned to sustain a logical argument in a much more organized manner and justify it as well. My writing was finally rid of all the “fluff” and “padding” that was a necessity in high school to reach a word count. Another improvement I made
When it comes to evaluating myself and if I am prepared for my first college writing course I believe that I am prepared to take my first college writing course. Before joining my ESC 021 class with Professor Kraft I felt that I was prepared and that I would be able to complete assignments without difficulty, but I was so used to the one on one sessions where I would go over the little mistakes or find ways to produce an exceptional essay that I forgot that I was own my own now. Through the short time in ESC 021 I learned my weaknesses and strengths as a writer. I now have the ability to receive feedback and effectively use my feedback to better my assignments.
When I graduated high school, I already knew that I wanted to attend college other than going to the work force. I heard stories about college being fun and it is one of the greatest accomplishment a person can achieve. So, I began college right after high school. As I entered college, I learned that I will have to focus more on writing papers than having fun. In high school my teachers did not prepare me for college essays. I feel like I learned a lot more failing on my college writing assignment than passing on the essays in high school. Well now I have approached the end of the semester of college, and I am exhausted from the constant writing assignments. Although the assignments were difficult like I said it was also helpful. Each assignment helped me in different ways. The assignments helped me improved with my grammar, time management, and how to process before I begin writing. In English 1010 I had different types of writing assignments. I had to write a literacy narrative paper, analysis paper, research paper, and lastly an autoethnography paper which I am doing now. An autoethnography is when the author uses self reflects to write about their experiences about writing a paper. English is not the only subject that I had writing assignments in. I also had to write assignment in my business class. My English teacher had informed me that I will have to do an autoethnography. So, I used my paper in my business class to reflect on how I write by
This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I
Writing is an evolving skill that may be fine-tuned through years of improvement and learning. As a product of the evolving nature of my writing skills, a primary difference between my writing in high school and my writing in college would most certainly be the quality of the writing itself. Thus, my writing should also see an increase in focus, depth and clarity as compared to its high school form. A major component of high school writing, especially in my experience, was the issue of predetermined length in writing. Often, this mandate of length required excessive amounts of filler content that was entirely irrelevant to the general theme or purpose of the piece. In contrast, my writing in college applications should see an increased
Well, my first semester in college is coming to an end and I have learned many things about myself, my learning and most specifically my writing. My writing 101 class was a bit of a culture shock for me. I was surprised by the amount of freedom we had in that class and how much I didn’t actually know about writing. Our class’s instructions were to keep a blog of what we were feeling or thinking while writing each essay over the course of the semester. With each essay and blog post, I learned more and more about my writing style and what I liked to write about.
For my first semester on an actual college campus as a sixteen year old high school student, I embarked upon many new things. Making my own schedule, having more accountability for my grades and simply taking the first few steps into adulthood. As I spend more time on campus everything that seems hard and confusing will only become more adaptable with time. Everything gets better with time. I know this because throughout my experience in English Composition 1101 I have seen a proliferation in my writing process and skills.
At the beginning of this course, I was convinced that success would come relatively easy. I had imagined there being few assignments with the guidelines for papers and assignments being broad. I soon came to the realization that I would have my compositional skills pushed to the limit. Although I entered the course with a adequate level of competency in writing, I significantly had my knowledge and skills in academic writing expanded as showcased in the progression of my assignments. I have learned proper procedure for MLA formatting, as well as proper rhetorical analysis, as opposed to synopsis. My writing has become more refined as well as focused. I am better able to concentrate on proper analysis, so while this is my biggest area of improvement,
So far, taking this English course has impacted my writing skills in a good way. This class has helped me to acquire skills to become a better writer in college and for my future. In this class I have had the chance to make important revisions to my papers when needed. I learned how to use the writing process effectively so far by brainstorming ideas for my topic, making multiple drafts, getting in groups for peer editing, and revising my paper into a final draft. By following this writing process it makes me look deeper into my essay and explore all the ways I can make revisions until it’s perfect. By using that writing process it has changed my writing and the way I look at “writing papers” as a whole. Although, there are some challenges that I still face with my writing that I will have fixed by the end of this course.
Over the course of this class I have changed as a writer. My writing has improved, yet their are some similarities between the writing. The writer I was before and after this class is different and the changes should be announced. Now when I write I know how to use transition, not just any basic transition but actually be able to flow from one point to another with quality grammar. A second thing I do as a writer now is knowing how to use MLA 8 formating. The first essay I turned in was extremely wrong on formatting and makes me cringe just looking at it. My citations were all APA formatting and in the header of the essay I put my name, date, teacher, and class. This is completely wrong and am surprised I even got a grade as high as I did. Another thing from looking at my first essay is that I could not write with the proper form. My whole last paragraph of my exemplification essay was useless because it did not have an examples. The writer I am now is more politically correct and can write when in a mode without going out of it.
The class discussions surrounding the writing process and your feedback concerning adding personality to my writing will be the subject of this week's entry. First, I'd like to address the feedback concerning the personality (or lack thereof) that you've experienced in the writings I have submit thus far. Throughout my academic career, including my experiences in the “ENG 111” course the emphasis as to what constituted excellent writing has always been placed on syntactics, correct adherence to conventions of American English grammar, and putting forth great effort to elevate diction throughout the writing process (even if such diction might detract from the overall voice or tone of the final product). These precepts of writing being ingrained
During this semester, I have learned a great deal about my own writing, and writing in general. One of the main takeaways from this course for me was how to break down the intricate process of writing papers. In addition, I developed viable skills regarding going into more in-depth detail during each step of the writing process. I enjoyed having the freedom to write about a topic that I was able to choose. This allowed me to research and write about something that actually interested me immensely. Having to work with one topic for the entire semester taught me how to find reliable resources and how to pick out the essential research from each article.
Writing is way that we can express ourselves, it is a way to interface ideas and thoughts and to prove a point. Throughout my writing experience or process I have struggled with writing especially using details or really expressing myself my work. In this course Facts & Fiction: Portraits in World Art I expect to gain more knowledge on how to write a perfect essay, story, letter, and assignment. I expect to learn new genres and rhetorical situations. I also think my writing will improve academically and I will develop my skills in writing. Also taking my writing to a different point of view, level, and writing something different rather than the usual. I look forward to getting feedback from my peers and learning their thoughts on my writing and how they can help me improve.
It is my belief that through this class and the tools provided, that my growth as a writer has grown through leaps and bounds I would never have assumed possible. It is not so much the skill I refer to, although I would think skill has gone up in some levels as well, but more so the appreciation for the craft of writing itself. Intially, at the start of this class my sole goal was to further my understanding and appreciation of the writer's and books that I so love to read. Through further evaluation within the first week, a few other goals came to mind, of which were, making writing a habit, finishing what I start, stop second guess my writing skills and making effective use of detail and description. Through the use of the many articles, various reading materials, whether poems or short stories, and especially through the workshop, I feel I was able to really push myself to accomplishing these goals. I have thus far learned how important it is not to be skilled at writing per say, but to have the will to write, that poetry is as much about it's sound as it is about it's subject, just how important character development is, how the narration and point of view of a story is essential to the way the story is told, and just how much of a difference peer's critiques can make to your writing.