Reflective Essay: Highs And Lows Of Comp

When beginning to write an essay everyone has their own method of doing so. Some may like to brainstorm while others may prefer to go straight into writing about their topic. I personally beginning every essay by collecting ideas about my topic before coordinating them into a type of diagram, next I proceed to do my rough draft before revising over the paper and finally composing my final draft. The point of the writing process is to help break everything down so ideas can be organized and everything can make perfect sense for not just the writer but also the reader.

Taking a look back at my past writing assignments and drafts for each one, I can clearly see the improvement in how they are organized. My first draft for writing assignment 1 was basically one long paragraph. I clearly remember Mr. Bogdaniec’s advice on how to separate and create individual paragraphs that only contain one topic or main idea. Also with his handouts on writing an introductory paragraph and how to write the conclusion paragraph were extremely helpful in putting together my first writing assignment in this class. I followed the steps on brainstorming and then steps for creating a plot, and didn’t feel overwhelmed and confused as I had

College Composition has helped me grow tremendously as a writer. While I am still not where I want to be as a writer, Comp 1 has given me the push in the right direction that high school never did. When I was in high school I had about a month total of grammar over those 4 years so writing was not a big part of my life at that point. Due to that, I knew coming into Comp 1 that I would struggle to produce something worth reading at first. Through countless revisions and reflections on each paper I have learned so much about the process of writing in such a short time.

Over the past four months, I have made great strides as a writer. The area where I have seen the most growth is in my use of the writing process. Prior to my enrollment in this course, I would sit down and write all my papers in one sitting. This class has taught me how to lay out a plan for my papers. I have learned how to effectively brainstorm/research, draft, and revise my writings before I complete them. Also I have learned to not just stop there, instead I am now going back and reflecting on my work after I complete it. This allows me to identify where I prospered and also where my downfalls may have been. With this information, I am able to apply this to future writings of mine; lessons that will stay with me forever.

Once I get past the first struggle, I am faced with finding words that make my message clear. The last struggle I face is proofreading my paper. Yes, I know I have to proofread to make sure that I understand it, a grammar check, punctuation check, but it’s such a tedious procedure that I don’t always do it. But where there are struggles, there are also strengths. After getting the motivation to begin writing, the content begins to flow and I write whatever comes to mind, it isn’t until I finish once I go back and add those transitions that make it a smooth flow. One of the writing pieces that I am so proud of being my personal statement. It’s ironic because it was the best writing experience I have had in my academic career But it was during a time in which I struggled with anxiety and stress. It was during my senior year of high school and it was just stressful to think about the future and how one piece of paper could make or break it. It was because I knew the impact of my personal statement would have on admission officers that I started the rough drafts months in advance and created what seemed to be fifty rough

Entering the class, english comp. one, I had many fears as to what the class would be like. I had no idea what to expect as a senior in highschool. During the past english classes I had, we wrote papers, just not a different one every day. Going into english comp. one, I figured it would be the same method in english just like the past classes I had. On the very first day in the class, I quickly found out that I would have to buckle down a little more than I have been in the past. I knew then, from what Mrs. Garth had told us, that I was going to have many weaknesses while writing my papers, but I would also have many strengths from what I had learned in the past about writing.

High school was a time when writing assignments began to have more fascinating prompts, but also needed more structure. I drew ideas for my writing from several different sources including my friends and family’s opinions, things on social media, and my own beliefs. All of these diverse sources enhanced my writing and helped me to become more open minded. I always started a paper by organizing my thoughts and ideas by writing down three or four of the main points I wanted to include. From there, I wrote a rather brief outline only consisting of my thesis statement and the opening sentences for each of my body paragraphs. Before starting my first draft, I would look over my short outline, read the assignment once more, and then begin writing. I did not prepare nearly as much as I should have, but I was still able to produce a good first

The first step of my writing process when I write a traditional essay consists of brainstorming. If a certain format is provided, I have to brainstorm the order of my key points. On the other hand, for some assignments I am given the specifics of what I need to talk about (like these Log Its) and even given subheadings which I must include to offer a professor better access and recognition of key parts. Once I begin to write, I never have in mind that what I write is a draft of any sort. Personally, I like to keep up with my grammar, spelling and punctuation as I go, so once I finish, the paper is pretty close to being finished with very few mistakes. Sometimes, I type a word that I doesn’t fit into the context but at that time, I have a couple of sentences in my had that I know will disappear if I don’t type them out, so I type (?) after the word to remember to find a synonym or change the word.

As of this year, I have learned how to use tier three words in my writing. I did not know what tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 words were before taking this class. A big part of learning how to expand my vocabulary was writing essays throughout the year. I learned that making stories interesting is what really grabs readers attention and makes them want to continue reading. What helped me change my use of vocabulary to make my stories worth reading for others? I made a list of words that all mean the same thing, then used the one that added life to the story or would drives the reader to keep reading. I can now go into interviews and talk to professionals with a larger vocabulary. This year, learning to expand my word choices has improved my writing and how I present myself has become better than it has ever

In previous English courses, something I think I did well is formatting my thoughts and ideas into a logical and thorough essay. I enjoyed writing outlines for my essays so the writing process was easier and more organized. In reference to a previous paper I wrote on the topic of NAFTA and whether it should be renegotiated, I believe that I formatted my essay in strategic paragraphs that helped guide the reader to focus on the different points that I developed throughout the paper. However, something I found challenging was narrowing down my ideas to concise points. My essays are organized and formatted well, but there is usually a lot of points in my essays and they can sometimes seem unfocused. While writing, I often find myself getting lost in the details and forming too many arguments that my papers may sometimes tend to lack a central point.

Before the essay is written, I like to now, due to this class, use an outline. This is much more effective then my past method, which consist mostly of writing all of my information in bullets, and linking them all to a few main ideas. The outline allows me to organize my thoughts in an orderly fashion and this reflects through my paper because it is also orderly. For

Writing essays can be difficult when I don 't outline or brainstorm, instead I free write by typing what I am thinking. It would be useful to write an outline because sometimes while I’m typing I forget what I’m thinking. Brainstorming would help write essays faster and easier because the essay is there, just need to be explained and add points to the main topics. Some sentences of an essays may feel as if it’s incomplete and needs more detail to understand a sentence. In my “Perfect” essay, I could have written more, but I didn 't know what else to write. I felt as if I kept repeating myself and brainstorming would have been helpful.

This comp class has challenged me to change the way I write. I have been forced to look at my sources in a whole new way to meet the requirements for the assignment. Discovering the best ways to brainstorm and organizing my essays will help me skip those painful first moments when starting a project. There were many struggles that I went through this semester. From learning to synthesize, to writing to an audience, to finding my voice, this class has helped me grow in many ways.

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

Since beginning to write papers in English class, I have had countless successes and failures. While many of my English classes have taught me how to improve my writing, I have not learned very much in others. My most recent English class was last year, my sophomore year. My class was particularly undersized; therefore, it gave each student the opportunity to have additional individual attention. Throughout the class I experienced high points, weaknesses, and even difficulties that I never overcame. Overall, my writing skills improved, but only marginally.