Reflective Essay Writing

We all have different outlooks on writing and the way if affects us. As an incoming college student I have many different views when it comes to writing. A couple of things I have learned as a writer; all writers have their own strengths and weaknesses, writing is a learning process, and writing can allow a person to speak freely on a subject.

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

Writing is a long journey. You start to learn the basics of writing but then start to proceed to learn new skills to become a better writer. But in the journey you will go through ups and downs but you can always reflect on them. The Struggles I´ve faced as a writer this year is my grammar and my organization. My grammar issues still came along, Ive always had this issue in the beginning. I would mistakenly use past tense words instead of present tense words. So what I had to do to not make this mistake again was to know when to use past tense words and present tense words, plus I would search up examples. As soon as I got into it,

“There’s always room for improvement” (Shannon Fritcher). In your opinion, you may be the best you can be but non-the less, there is always a place that could use improvement. In the past months, I feel like I have accomplished a great deal. As the semester comes to an end I find myself reflecting on not only how I managed to survive the first semester as a freshman in college, but also what I have learned. One of the most valuable things I have learned thus far is becoming a better writer, mainly because I didn’t think I could become a better writer. I once believed you either had what it took or you didn’t, but I was wrong. As with any skill, it takes practice to make perfect and even then, you still need to adjust some skills to make them even better! I have grown as a writer, and I am now in the process of meeting at least half of the course outcomes. My writing and learning process, now being able to compose sentences that are accurate, concise and varied in structure, and lastly the amount of learning I have left to do are all factors of my growth as a writer.

For as long as I can remember I have always struggled with writing especially essays. I am not sure if it is my lack of imagination or my lack of knowledge with writing basics but writing has definitely been a struggle for me. When I entered this class I became very nervous right away to learn that I was going to have to write in this class. Could I be successful in this class? Would I have any idea what I was doing? Although, I was nervous and had many fears, as soon as we jumped into week two things seemed to flow and my fears seemed to subside. This class was setup in a way that helped the student be successful. The key to my success was to not fear the essay but to break it apart and do it in pieces (the way the course was set up). The research paper was very beneficial in teaching me the sections of a research essay that can be carried over into other writing areas.

I remember being extremely nervous to begin graduate school, but I was especially anxious about taking PC700, Communication and Intro to Scholarly Writing. It had been a long time since I had written any sort of formal paper, so I was uncertain how I would accomplish my goals. I knew that since I had not written recently, I would need to be well organized and I would need to read all the recommended readings in addition to the required readings. I settled into the fact that this was going to be a difficult semester and began to work while hoping for the best.

Before I came to college, I felt my writing had to follow a certain pattern and be fixated around one way of thinking. What I was fortunate to learn was quite the opposite. Writing does not have to follow any certain pattern, but can rather be structured through many different possibilities. I was also told in high school that my papers either had to agree or disagree with the given topic, even if I believed otherwise. This formulated a very one-track way of thinking when it came to my papers. Now I know that I can let my mind explore new and exciting ideas. I can agree, disagree, compliment, criticize, and question the author however my heart desires, as long as I have the evidence to back myself up. Many authors in the book, Writing About Writing, explain their processes as well as the processes of others when it comes to writing. As a writer, I can draw on my own processes and relate them to the authors, as well as use their ideas and apply them to myself. Through reading, I have learned new methods of invention, planning and revising, and incubation when it comes to writing. All ways I can use to create more meaningful and creative work.

Reflective essay writing has made me realised what thoughts and emotions I have experienced since undertaking this degree. I was under the misapprehension that finding previous study in Aged Care quite easy to complete, that this degree would be as easily achievable. I did not take into consideration what was required to work with my peers.

At the beginning of English Composition, intimidated by the expanse of knowledge that my teacher had. I was worried about if my papers would ever be good enough because in my earlier years, writing was not a thing I was good at. However, as the semester progressed, I learned that I my writing skills were up to par with college writing. In the end, I realized that my introductions and conclusions had improved compared to high school and that I needed to work on my grammar, development of my ideas, and making sure my main points are developed and clear. Furthermore, I plan to correct my errors by using various writing strategies and resources.

In the beginning of the year I was not confident in my writing abilities. I did not know how to format different types of essays, nor did I know the meticulous research that goes into each and every paper. When we started off with narrative writings I felt fairly comfortable, but little did I know that I was a grammatical nightmare. My most common mistake was forgetting about commas before coordinating conjunctions. I would also often times become wordy or improper whenever I wasn't sure how to get an idea across. Whenever the year started I was clueless on how to format any dialogue at all, but as the year progressed these dialogue mishaps dwindled down until in my final papers they were much improved. Finally, my greatest personal improvement

Writing is something I always thought I had loved to do, and while that is still true, college has taught me that there are many different types of writing and I do not necessarily enjoy all of them. In high school, it was simple; You’d be told to write about a book you were reading in class or you’d be told to write about your summer trip to the Bahamas. Writing about your own experience or giving your opinion on a book is something that doesn’t take much thought, because you, for the most part, know what you want to say. Writing 101 along with other college classes, such as History, have shown me that there are so many different types of papers, such as research, argument, narrative, etc., and they each have necessary planning that goes into

Writing is fundamental in an individual’s life. You use writing everyday and there is no avoiding that. Throughout your life you may learn to write, and as your life goes on that skill may be strengthened. This is the story of my writing. As a child, I never really liked to write; however, it was something that had to be done - for school of course. Lately, I have been striving to strengthen my writing skills. In doing so, I often attempt to write as though I am a literary scholar. Although I have a long way to go, my writing has come far. From run-on sentences that do not make any grammatical sense, to sentences that are precise and have exceptional word choice and vocabulary. So far, my writing skills have excelled exceptionally and I am

Imagine writing a ten-page essay on something you feel very strongly about, then being told you have to reduce the size of your essay to only two pages. While this may seem like an easy task, I have learned from experience that while writing is difficult, taking away from my writing is much more complicated. I have spent hours writing, my brain is tired, but I read my completed project, and am proud of what I have accomplished. Then, out of nowhere, I realize that I am only allowed two pages out of the ten I have just completed. At first, I panic, thinking, “What am I going to do? I have worked so hard on this and now I must delete most of it!” I reluctantly trudge forward, reading my essay and trying to figure out what to remove and what

I want to improve my focus on my main topic when writing to make sure my key idea is clear and to the point. Many people have the problem when writing essays or any information with sticking to their main points. They tend to trail off and lose focus on what their main topic is and they lose their audiences attention. I found out that this is my weakness in writing and I found some ways how to improve and fix it.

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