Writing is a tool that is universally known and used as a primary source of communication. It is a process that is taught, practiced, and perfected throughout the course of one’s life. The process of learning to write begins in your early school years and continues to develop all the way through high school, college, and even beyond college. However, once you get to college writing tends to become a little bit more challenging and is typically more articulate. Writing can help you gain more knowledge and also help you to explore and discover new ideas. In terms of college writing, it is the process of being able to express your thoughts and ideas in an intellectual and effective way.
There are many reasons to write. Entreating by writing a story, informing by writing a letter and persuading by writing an essay. I started to learn how to read and write in elementary school. As I got older and further in my education I got better at reading and writing. My favorite kind of writing is creative writing. Elementary school taught me how to write essays. Middle school taught me how to write letters. High school taught me how to write a story. Elementary, middle, and high school where very important in my writing development.
In high school, writing essays was my weakest link. When I began my first semester of college, I still had that trouble in my first writing composition class. I improved significantly from gaining organization and length. When I started my second writing composition class, my grades for my paper sky rocketed! The essays I have written though out this semester have shown improvements in context and organizations, however, I still have some room for improvement on reasoning’s and thesis statement.
At the beginning of the semester, I had a different idea of what is considered as good writing. In my first rough draft for my first essay, “Post-secondary education and cultural backgrounds”, I demonstrated mostly of my preconceived idea of what good writing is suppose to be. I tried to sound intelligent by asking rhetorical questions and using big words improperly. I noticed that there was no harmony and organization on my essay as a whole. I had no idea what MLA was. With the help of the Writing Center and my determination on continually revising my essay, my scattered ideas developed into cohesive statements. I learned the use of topic sentences, thesis, reference page, page number, and other given structures on writing a paper. As I tried to develop my skills to becoming a good writer, my writing and knowledge has slowly grew into the accepted academic text.
Transitioning from high school to college can be overwhelming. Before English 1301, I thought that I did not have to worry about being prepared for college. I quickly realized that my little background in writing essays was not going to be enough for college. Writing is not just something that I will use in English classes. In college, I will have to use effective writing skills in all my classes to complete research papers, essay tests and communicate to professors. Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be something that did not come easy to me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to get my thoughts down on paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of writing that was required ended up helping me in so many ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me so much for college and real life.
As I look back into my high school years, I thought I wrote papers well. But then coming into a college environment, my papers were mediocre. By overlooking at my past papers, I found that they were unorganized, sloppy and had bad use of diction. From now on, I will use the tools I learned in English 1100-40 as a foundation for the future papers I intend on writing in college. Following the criteria of organizing ideas so that they flow, impacting the reader with diction and also by being creative, will help become an ideal writer. Following the criteria of staying motivated in short and long term goals, taking responsibility for actions and finally the ability to study well will help me develop into a supreme student.
In high school, writing changed dramatically. Getting praised for my good writing in middle school; now my writing was getting criticized and from my teacher's point view my writing skills weren't were they suppose to be. Hardly ever being glad to free write, I was given topics that seemed to get difficult each time I was given one. I now had to give my open on certain topics, analyze articles, provide in an argument telling why I do or don't support a certain topic. I often had difficulties writing down what I had in mind. It's like I wouldn't know how to make everything flow together. After having to write so many essays, writing became my way of coping with life problems. Writing about my problems in my free time made me a better writer, also. Throughout high school, I wrote tons of journals and short stories about things going on in my life. I still wouldn't consider myself a great writer but writing a lot in high school did impact my life in a positive way and improved my
When I first started college, it was exciting and new. I wanted to learn everything from college that I could. When I received my first assignment, my assumption was that writing would be boring and not really useful in daily life. I had always assumed that I could only write a specific limit to the number of words in one session of writing. I also assumed that since I was writing a paper I had to start from the beginning, which in reality is not true. In writing that first paper I found that writing was actually fun, because I got to research a topic I was interested in. In high school, our assignments were pre planned so their was no original thought. This made me rethink my assumption about writing. I found that writing was actually enjoyable
As a frequent writer, I’ve noticed that writing is one of those factors that doesn’t come easily to me. Often, I find myself struggling to write papers or essays. Writing is something that I’ve never really put much interest or a lot of effort in; however, when it came to writing a paper as an assignment for a class, I always tried my best to write well. I’ve realized through my writing experience and knowledge that writing takes time and has to be worked on repeatedly before it is a polished paper. Writing takes a lot of thoughts and ideas along with revision and editing. One has to spend time on writing to make sure that it satisfies them or others.
Looking back to my experiences in English 101, I believe that there exists a slight gap between high school and college level writing. In high school, my teachers never completely enforced formatting of our papers too much. They tended to place more emphasis on the actual content of our writing, versus the framework of the paper. After taking this English 101 course, I now believe that I have a strong grasp of what is expected when composing formal papers, MLA formatting, in-text citations and all. I used to have a slight fear of college writing exactly for this reason. After being taught the ropes, I now know that although formatting may be highly specific, it is very doable.
In high school, my English teacher always emphasized about the importance of writing and pointed out how students lack the writing skills nowadays. In my senior year of high school, she spent most of time on teaching us how to create an outline, citation styles, and some writing tips. At the end of that year, she made us to write a 16-page research paper as a senior project. It was a nightmare when I was working on it, but I have learned several things from that project and from this experience, I don’t get easily panic when I face the heavy amount of writing assignments.
I am not, by any means, a Shakespeare, Stephen King, or John Grisham. It would take enormous amounts of time, practice, and effort to be considered a long shot at a Pulitzer Prize. Yet, I intend to progress my writing by setting more achievable goals, building on new ideas, and developing new skills. Also, I will use the advice of instructors and peers, and draw from previous writing experiences to mold this and future writing experiences.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
I don’t consider myself a very good writer. I write when I am made to or when I have something that I need to say that I can’t just tell someone. I keep a diary. Usually my diary is just a record of what I have done that day. It’s not so much about my feelings. I don’t really like talking about my feelings, usually because most of the time I am confused about what exactly I am feeling. I tend to keep the feelings that I do have to myself, to protect myself from getting hurt.
As I look back on my schooling I can’t believe how many papers I’ve written throughout my life. Naturally as I’ve grown up, my writing has developed from learning how to write sentences all the way up to the pages of essays that consist of deeper criteria. I know for a fact that I’m a better writer now than I was before. College writing is more challenging and I’ve had to learn how to adjust to it.