Reflection On Writing

I have been practicing on how to improve my writing over the past few weeks, which has taught me a great deal about writing. My teacher would like me to evaluate and explain my strengths and weaknesses in my own writing. This evaluation is in between my two essays. One on my own and another with my teacher's help. I have strengths and weakness in my introduction, body paragraphs ,and my conclusion.

When I look back at my writing before having any college experience, I can see that I had a lot to work on. I can say that I was never really a big fan of writing anything much less essays. Even when I was younger, I just did not have a great big interest in writing. This was because I felt that I could not elaborate as well as others. I was not use to having to write anything really, but I now feel that I have a better grasp on the steps that I need to take to get my writing on the level that it needs to be.

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.

As a student entering the 10th grade my essay writing abilities were questionable at best. However over the course of my sophomore year I acquired new skills and techniques to construct and write essays. In some cases this class broadened my abilities already in place and in others it constructed new abilities to help strengthen others. All in all I am a better writer than when I entered my sophomore year. Despite all the positive changes to my writing style that have occurred over the past year some parts of my writing style require more effort to come to par with other parts of my writing style. As a writer over the past year I have reinforced my arguments well, and learned to develop a thesis better than I had, however I require more work

Writing is an important form of communication. It is a personal process that portrays your thoughts and views to someone else. It is not only an important skill to have for school work and certain professions, but daily messages such as emails, texts, and tweets as well. It can have a big impact on how you come across to certain people. Because of this, it is very important for me to practice writing. I believe that this course has improved my writing, which will help me in many ways in the future.

Olympian, Kim Collins said, “Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.” This quote can also apply to students in school in many different ways. Students always want the best project or writing grade that they can possibly get. While that is a worthy goal it is not realistic because students are not perfect and they are still learning, and developing important skills. In my personal essays throughout the year I did strive for perfection, but I learned that I could not do it. I had to make slight improvements to better my writing for the next essay.

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;

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.

1. My writing has grown tremendously since my first essay of the semester. The first essay I struggled with organization and sentence structure. Considering my last essay, I have been able to organize information to make it much more pleasing to read. Likewise, in my second essay I had some trouble with the MLA format. However, in my last essay I managed to cite and source all information more favorably. Furthermore, in my third essay I had trouble with adding detail in my body paragraphs. In my last essay, I was able to demonstrate a full understanding of the assignment by providing great detail. Overall, throughout this course, I have been able to form my own unique style of writing

This week I think my writing was better than the previous weeks because I had learned about many of different type of writing including cause and effect, positive and negative, persuasive writing and comparison which can help me to collaborate the style in my writing to show the variety of the structure. Also, this week I prepare an outline for the research project and I faced the problem on my idea which I’m not assured with this idea so this might be the problems when I write the paragraph. As a result, I got the advised that I should find more references to support the ideas. The another task in this week was listening. The teachers showed us about the listening exam which you have to answer in multiple choice. In my viewpoint, I think answer

My writing experiences prior to this course have been mostly self-taught. Lacking much formal education the only writing I have been involved in over the years has been job related. I honestly cannot think of the last time I wrote any type of paper that was graded by a professional in the English field. I quit high school in 1994, obtained a GED, and finally decided to continue my education some 20 years later. I have enjoyed writing in the past but it was mostly in the form of lyrics, stories, blogs or daily journals. Writing, the way I have in the past, has been therapeutic for me. Whether or not academic writing provides me the same sense of therapy I have yet to figure out.

While I was starting the process of writing the connection narrative I felt that my writing was going in the right direction. When I finished my rough draft, I knew more work was required in order for me to get a high grade which I would eventually work on. Going into the peer review I felt nervous because I received low scores on my previous papers by my peers. When I got back both of my reviewed papers I was surprised, to say the least. I thought I understood the purpose of the prompt better. I lacked details on how the issue connected to me which discouraged me to keep writing. I felt embarrassed that my peers had reviewed my work. It was hard to accept that I don’t always have strong writing. I do appreciate the feedback they gave me which allowed me to rewrite everything in a way that would address the prompt and would be better understood.

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

Ever since a youth, writing has always been a thing of enjoyment for me. Throughout my life, I have written many essays and learned something new each time I wrote. In turn, this has helped me to become more aware on how to become a better writer and learn from my mistakes. From examining my own writing to receiving constructive criticism from teachers and peers, I can say there are various characterizations which I could utilize to describe myself as a writer. By taking this course, I hope to be more confident in my writing, as well as be able to constitute my own writing in a more positive way.