The Importance Of My Experiences In Writing

I have written more in the past year in this course than I probably wrote throughout high school career. This class made me notice that prewriting really does make a difference in the end result as well as having a peer critique your paper. Instead of writing a quick paper and just handing it in, I was actually forced to take the time out to write a rough draft, read my own work out loud, and revise my work. It helped me make my writing more organized and have a better flow throughout my paper In the future, I will continue to use this method as well as visit the many resource we have on campus that can give feedback what can make my paper better or just checking for grammar errors, spell check, and sentence fragments.

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

Writing was never a known weakness of mine. However, I could never confidently call it a strength. Throughout the course of this semester, my writing style has evolved and I have rid my writing of many habitual mistakes. I have learned to appreciate writing much more, and enjoy the moments where my mind meets words on a paper. Creativity has always been one of my strong suits, but through this course I catered my creativity to compose a variety of essays and speeches. Likewise, public speaking is something that I did not struggle with in the past, yet the structure of the class required a video speeches which was fairly new to me. All in all, I have been able to identify and modify gaps in my composition of writing and speech as a result of this course.

At the start of this course, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a goal for myself to improve and learn skills that would make writing less daunting for me. I have learned so many things about my writing that I didn’t think much about before. Another goal I had was to break the cookie-cutter mold that was set upon me throughout high school. During the process of revision, I discovered many things about myself as a writer and techniques that have been effective for me in the writing process.

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.

To begin, I am eager to receive critique and assistance regarding my writing. My hope is to develop into the best writer I can be. Having said that, fearful struck me the moment I registered for this course. Fearing that I would be expected to write essays, papers and that I would fall short in my abilities. Writing a narrative essay, reflective essay, or researching material for a persuasive essay is not something I had done. Fortunately, soon realizing that this is why I am returning to college. English Composition specifically, will guide me through the information that I need to study to become the best writer I can be. Receiving guidance is a necessary part of life, and in college, if I want to develop my skills, receiving analyzes and assistance is essential to my growth. Falling short is an opportunity to fix what is wrong. So my enthusiasm is in learning everything I possibly can to aid in my success.

When I started the English Composition course I expected an entirely different type of writing. I expected more of a story telling writing, novelist, story and screenplay writing. To my surprise, it was a different world of grammar, style, voice, sentence mechanics and structure guidelines. I was afraid of something new and challenging. I expected more of a three act structure to write a novel or a short story but the course was different. Different in a helpful way that it opened my eyes to how the overall writing process works.

The only way you can become better at doing something is simply by continuing to work on your craft. Whether it is a hobby, an interest, or a profession, if you don't keep working, then you will remain complacent. A year ago, I thought writing was one of those things where I would just be complacent in. Not because I didn’t wanted to work harder at it, but because I thought of writing as one of those skills that came natural to you, or you did not have it at all. I always wanted my writing to improve but never knew how.

In my opinion my writing ability before I arrived in this course at the University of Dubuque was fair, it wasn’t outstanding, but it wasn’t horrible. My biggest obstacles I faced in this course was coming up with a good topic to write about. Coming up with a topic you care about and can expand on your ideas can be a challenge. When learning to write in a more cohesive manner, I think the chapters we took notes on were very beneficial to improving my writing. It showed me the proper way to write a thesis and how to compose my papers. I also believe practicing our writing by journaling helped me learn to write what is going through my mind and it helped me to just learn to get my thoughts and ideas down on paper.

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,

Writing is no were near my strongest subject but everyone has their weak and strong subjects when it comes to education. I strive to become a phenomenal writer one day, to become a great writer requires a lot of work. This work I would have to do demands for a great amount of consistency. My writing experience has been filled with a lot of learning and recognizing that I still need help. I am not at all the best writer. I have yet to grasp the full knowledge of writing an academic paper. Some things I remember from high school, but other things are new to me. Focusing on my weaknesses is key while acknowledging me strengths. As a writer, I can find good research and come up with transition sentences but I tend to add extra information that is not relevant to the essay and I struggle with in-text citations.

Wow! It’s hard to believe we are at the end of this eight week Composition II course. And as I look back at what I’ve learned and my participation as a student my rating would be a four. Part of the reason I was to able earn this assessment, started when planning my course schedule, I intentionally choose to take this class by itself. Knowing my weakness in writing, I dreaded the idea of putting words to paper. But I was excited because this has always been something that I sought to improve. And in these eight weeks I feel I have achieved that.

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.

Since it has been more than five years away from school and English as my second language, I encountered many challenges in this course, but also very rewarding. This course has given me the critical skills, research paper, and essay writing skill that will prepare me for success in future course. My writing skills aren’t one of my strength, but with practice and effort I am improving with time. My advice to future student taking any online course is you need to be self-discipline to continue with your reading as well as your writing. Eventhough you have to complete numerous assignments in such short time, it will prepare you for the rest of your courses. One of my difficult challenge on writing my research paper was learning for the first

Walking into Composition 1, I was not only apprehensive, but nervous as well. This semester at CLC was to be my first adventure into the college life. Like many others writing is not one of my strong academic attributes. In highschool I was enrolled to take Composition 1 and 2, but I was scared of the rigour involved, so I did not end up taking those courses. I really never thought about continuing my education into college, but now that I have writing has become one of my main priorities. I plan on taking Composition 2 in the fall and am excited to expand my writing skills. Throughout this course I feel my writing has progressed, but in many areas does it still need to be improved upon. There are also many ways that writing can benefit you and not just writing assigned papers for class.