The following final drafts, drafts, notes, and peer review letters represent my growth as a writer in the span of one semester. I learned quite a bit about myself and the things i can do to improve my writing and the methods of doing proper research in order to write a proper research essay. Though i have seen an improvement within these essays, i feel i still have much to practice upon. My method of research has changed slightly. When i search the internet for articles, journals, and blogs, i always give it a quick scan. I look for key words and terms that are pertinent and if i feel that the material will be useful to my research, then i read it while taking notes. This semester, i tried to take less notes. I made sure that my notes were very specific to the focus of my essay. This way, i was not swimming in a sea of notes, thus overwhelming myself. While reading Amanda Ripley’s The Smartest Kids In The World, I made sure to keep important word and terms in my head on a chapter-to-chapter basis so that i had an …show more content…
In my essay about tracking students, my original thesis was “The unfair and undemanding remedial classes created for tracking are not pushing students to their full potential”. This thesis was too broad and would taken longer to explain and my essay would have been more difficult to write. First, i would have had to define “remedial classes” since it is a euphemism and “remedial” have different expectations depending on the school. Second, “not pushing students” is too obvious and i would also have to explain why this is bad, how we are not pushing students enough, and exactly what does it mean. After researching the “why”, i discovered the vast disproportion between minorities and whites in careers in science and math. From this, i was able to use a very specific problem as the focus of my essay. I was able to toss out a lot of notes by excluding any that did not pertain to
My Growth as a Writer Most of us write in some form every day, so you would expect that most of us would be well practiced and pretty good at writing. I read and write all the time; I have taken several college courses and nearly all of them require writing in some form. However, before taking this class, not only was I not a good writer, I knew I wasn’t a good writer. Now I am not saying that I am ready to write my first novel, but I am certainly more confident in turning in my college papers. The content of this course and the style of teaching was incredibly beneficial to me.
Beginning in grade school students are taught a basic curriculum for English, some of the basics being: five sentences equaling a paragraph and five paragraphs equaling a essay. The beginning of the English learning stage is a time to get engaged in reading and writing. Honestly, most children when they are younger start loving to read and write but do they stay that way throughout middle school, high school, or even college? No, nine out of ten times kids who started out loving to read and write end up dreading it. But why? Every students has their own personal reason. Some may have never fully understood how to read or write and was to embarrassed to speak up others may have disorders such as dyslexia which makes reading and writing difficult. In my case I had a passion for reading and writing when I was younger. As I grew up I did not like the material that had to be read or the papers that was required to be written; but since I knew the work had to be done accurately in order for me to pass the class I learned to tolerate the subject.
In my past writing assignments it seemed to be that we were learning everything step by step, where as in college more is expected from me as a writer. As a high school student it was quite easy to push everything off till the last moment. Those two o'clock nights were very frequent when a six-page research paper was due the next day. As a college student the requirements are more challenging and not something that can be pushed back till the very last second. It seems strange to me that starting earlier for a college paper and working twice as hard on it, receiving a lower grade on it than I would have in high school is upsetting to think about, but is so true. When coming into the semester I was unaware of what was expected from me, but as the semester progressed I was able to get a better understanding of the course and how to look critically at myself as a writer. I know that these are qualities that I will use for many years to come.
My development as a writer has flourished throughout this semester. The first week of this fall semester started out with writing responses from our readings in the textbook. Looking back through and analyzing my reading responses at the semester to now; I noticed a substantial improvement in not only my grammar skills, but also my summarizing, and in-depth studying of writing adeptness. Another way I have progressed this semester is the vocabulary of my writing has significantly improved and become more scholarly. Another advancement I noticed was that the content of my work has matured, along with my organizational adeptness.
In the past three months I feel like I have accomplished a great deal. As the semester comes to an end I find myself reflecting not only how I have survived the first semester but also what I have learned. The most important thing I have learned so far is how to become a better writer. I did not think it could really happen to me. I did not think I could handle all the work. I did not think I could actually become a better writer. Some how after all the hours of writing, and putting effort into the papers that I wrote this semester, I became a better writer. I did this because I concentrated on two very important areas, with the attitude of, if I could just become better in those then I would become a better writer. With help from an awesome teacher and a reliable tutor I have become a better writer by improving my skills in the areas of procrastination and content.
As the semester finally approaches the finish line, I revisit my past work to compare and contrast how this class has developed me into a successful writer at the college level. Throughout the year my writing style has developed and become broader as I have learned how to incorporate more of my personal views as well as reliable, unbiased information. This portfolio is a representation of how many things I have learned along the way while being an English 102 student.
I have never liked writing; I always thought it was a waste of time. It was a great therapy but I never found academic writing to be useful just tedious. Only ever writing when I had too made it harder for my writing skills to grow or improve in any way. I have not taken an English class since the 10th grade, even then I never gave it much effort, just doing what I had to so I could pass the class. Then I jump in to College English 1010, I feel like I do well in all other subjects but this one. English is my worst nightmare.
Although I know there is still much to improve on in my writing, I feel as though I have made tremendous strides for my first semester. I have grown as a writer, and I believe I have the potential to be a great writer. Throughout my many years left here at The College of New Rochelle, I will continue to work hard so that my final year here at the college I can look back at my writings from freshman year to see my improvement. Writing 101 has boosted my confidence and has made me a better writer today. I will take this confidence along with determination to my writing 102 class, and I hope the professor will continue the molding process that Professor smart has started.
Writing has always been a natural ability of mine. Over the course of the past decade, a writing journey has taken me to where I am now; it has taken me to the start of an exceptional career that I wish to pursue. The career that I’m implying is sports journalism. Becoming a sports journalist has been a dream job for myself ever since I entered high school; however, my love of writing began years before now. From reading elementary sports novels by Matt Christopher and writing fictional sports stories as a kid, to eventually writing for the school newspaper this year, writing has been a momentous personal journey for me that has resulted in forming my career goal.
“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” (E. L. Doctorow) This quote really does capture the real meaning of writing. Each time you start with a blank page and work from there.
Over the course of the semester, I feel that I have grown as a writer in many ways. When I came into the class, there were skills I had that I already excelled at. During my time in class, I have come to improve on those skills even more. Before I took this class, I didn’t even realise what I was good at. This is the first class where I felt I received feedback on my writing that helped me to actually review my work to see what areas I lacked in and where I succeeded.
Looking back on my year of book love, I think I have started to grow myself as a reader. I have always had a love for literature, reading but writing so much more. So with all the collective pieces I have been exposed too, I have gotten to see a variety of different writing styles and literary devices that have helped blossom my passion for writing even further. For me, reading and writing go hand in hand. Therefore it was been a great opportunity to expose myself and indulge in books.
As far as my 18 year old mind can remember the most influential sponsor in my literary development was school. Sure, my parents also influenced what I read and even taught me how to read, but school was what developed my creative literary ability. Reading is the gateway to becoming a good writer, and regardless of what the student reads, or the topic of interest, a child can apply it to their writing. The sponsor that has the most influence on my literary ability is school.
The most important step before taking the wheel for writing is to turn on my music, inspiring my mind and energizing it for the journey to come. I look on to the road and turn off to the freeway, ready to venture forward on a frontier paved by words. I wish it were always so easy as to just follow the lines and structures given to you, but then there are always hundreds of cars going the same direction-- some less graceful than others. Their individual journey is not important in regards to mine, and so all I can is focus on my lane and continue on. Without further delay, I review my thoughts, plant my hands on the keyboard, and go watch “The Matrix” instead.
During the course of the semester, all of the writing and research skills I developed helps to strengthen my self-confidence in many areas and it aids me in achieving my goals for the future. By developing more effective research approaches for finding and citing sources, I advanced from an inexperienced writer to a confident writer with the suitable knowledge to create effective essays to capture my audience. Having confidence in my abilities to use the skills I learned will help me to become a success in college. With more practice and valuation of my strengths and weaknesses, I can continue to improve and become an excellent communicator in the future.