Writing Skills Chapter 1 Summary

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

I have been a student at San Jose States University for second years, English 1A was my first regular English class, and over the course of my stay I have grown and learned a lot. As Hospitality major, I do not know whether need my writing skills for future job, but I know the great experience in English 1A class would help me to improve all my writing weakness.

3. Which one of the following sentences or phrases is most likely to be considered a cliché?

Reading Strategy Note: Unlike summary and paraphrase, which require close reading, for this discussion use the reading strategy of

I learned that taking a broad sample is important. Good researchers look at many sources before they are able to conclude anything. Another good habit for researchers is to take excellent notes. If a researcher can’t find where they found information it is no longer credible. The last information that I learned from this chapter is to always search for patterns within research. If your sample size is large enough, then connecting the information that you know is the best way to learn what is under the surface of research. The second chapter is all about speaking to the reader. In this chapter I was told that it is very important to make research appear interesting in order for it to be read. While I do slightly agree with that, I’ve talked to professors who know only ten or twelve people who have purchased their works. They say that their research is too specific for thousands of people to be interested in it. I do not think that it means it is any less important. The quality of the research should always be more respected than the quantity of those who read it. The most important recommendation that I took away from this chapter is that writers need to show not only what they have found, but also what they can do with that information. Sometimes people get so hung up on finding facts that they forget to think about what they mean. Data analysis is just as important in the research process as data collection. The last section I read is over ethics. Seeing the damage that improper citing can cause has made think about the way I keep track of information. For this class I want to be very organized so as to attribute credit where it is

Critical - You need to think and write critically express what a piece of literature means.

When you have completed your exam and reviewed your answers, click Submit Exam. Answers will not be recorded until you hit Submit Exam. If you need to exit before completing the exam, click Cancel Exam. Questions 1 to 20: Select the best answer to each question. Note that a question and its answers may be split across a page break, so be sure that you have seen the entire question and all the answers before choosing an answer.

This past semester I have been taking English 219 which is formally known as essay composition and critical reading. In this class we have focussed mainly on analytical reading, writing summaries, and writing essays. Not only did we discuss how to successfully write an essay we also learned about different tools and techniques that can be used to help discover our position in regards to a topic and many different ways to overcome writers block. There have been many things that I feel I have learned in our English 219 class this semester. Even though I am very happy with the amount of learning I have completed I do still however have some areas that I need to focus on. I will be taking more English classes throughout my college and university education. In English 219 is has been confirmed that we will all have our own individual strengths, weaknesses, and ambitions for the future.

When looking back five weeks ago, I struggled with confidence in my writing. I had much trouble expressing my thoughts on paper. Through time, I feel that I am stronger in my writing abilities and my writing skills have improved greatly. So far, I have learned to be more confident and I no longer struggle with getting started. There have been many instances where I have thought long and hard about submitting a document fearing that it was not good enough. Now, I realize that preparation is the key to great writing. When writing, many times I would write one section of the paper and immediately would start to revise before completely finishing. I soon realized that this method is a very long process and it’s

Inferences. “Read between the lines” to answer the following questions, using information from the text. [Note to instructor: For Pre-Advanced and Advanced learners, create questions that require students to infer meaning by reading between the lines. Write two open-ended questions such as: “Why do you think that...?”; “Why does the author say that...?”; “Why is it important that..?; What might be the effect of....?”, which require inferencing on the part of the student. Questions may be in the target language. Specify which language students are to use and indicate that they must use information from the text in their responses. Note that some adaptations to this task may be necessary for lower-level learners, who may need more guidance in using inferencing skills. For Novice-level learners, you might give them a statement and ask them to list any evidence from the text that would help them to determine whether it is true or false, drawing on inferencing skills. For Intermediate-level learners, you could give them three inferences and ask them to select the best inference of the three by providing evidence from the text to support their selection, drawing on inferencing skills.]

I could identify the author’s main claim and key arguments quickly. Furthermore, by breaking down the key arguments into components, I could understand them better. These made it easier for me to describe and express the author’s ideas in my own words for the summary writing. Additionally, I could distinguish the form and substantiate the validity and soundness or cogency and strength of the author’s argument. I could identify underlying assumptions, fallacies and attempts to appeal to ethos, pathos, and/or logos in the author’s argument as well. I also paid greater attention to the language and looked out for any statistical evidence and counterargument that the author uses to support his argument when doing the

The second part of the book “Writing Today” discussed the importance of writing summaries, as well as how to go about writing them. Johnson-Sheehan, Paine, Shaw, and Stouck, begin by explaining that a summary’s main purpose is to emphasize an ideas main topic by first carefully analysing it. It is important to know the approximate length a summary should be before commencing the writing process in order to know how much detail the summary requires. A summary, although condensed, must accurately explain the original text. If not, it might cause misunderstandings as well as “distortions” of the material. Summaries must also be original and should primarily be written in writer’s own words, which would also their own ideas and thoughts to be present

As a writer, I feel that my weakness is struggling with time management and trying to get my best draft as my first draft. I have always struggled with trying to put forth the best draft on the first one and just making little adjustments and then turning the paper in. Another weakness I have is to over complicate my writing and over think submitting the final draft. Every single essay that I have had to write throughout this semester I have struggled with these problems. Particularly the research paper, since the paper was worth such a big percentage of the grade in the class. I was extremely self-conscious about submitting and writing the paper. I took a long time just to finish a rough draft. I reviewed the final draft for hours before submitting the paper. I also experienced the problem of being extremely self-conscious after I submitted the paper and question everything I choose to write on.

My writing skills which I have worked on over the few months I have been in English 102 have changed quite a bit in my opinion. There are many things which I have improved upon that were amongst my weaker writing skills when the year began. On the opposite side of that point, there are also many things which I still need to improve upon if I want to truly elevate my writing to a level that I will be confident in. Finally, I have gained new skills outside of writing from this class, particularly the activities which we did in class at various points throughout the year. These things all cumulate together to give me an appreciation of English courses which I did not previously have.

This essay describes how poorly written communication can lead to misunderstanding and a possible loss of business. Through this paper the author wants to persuade the employer to sponsor a workshop for all employees to improve their writing skills, to increase business communications and to avoid arguments through poor communication. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of writing skills and why business communication is important in any kind of business. What can your business achieve with good writing skills and what it the impact of good writing skills on business.