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.
Many students get to college thinking that college-level writing is pretty much the same as high school; they think that all they have to do is use big complicated words, and sound smart. One thing about college writing is that if you do not struggle then you did not put as much time to your work as you should have had. College is meant to make students think “outside the box,” in your classes you are expected to know a lot of things that you were probably not even taught back in high school and that is when students realize they are a little behind.
When writing a five paragraph essay, there are five steps one must fallow in order to attain perfection, these steps include understanding the question, brainstorming, writing a rough copy, revising, and creating a final draft. The first and most important step is understanding the topic. The topic of the essay is what the essay will be about and if this is misunderstood, the whole essay will be off course. The second step, brainstorming, will help organize thoughts and ideas so they flow amiably. There are many different ways to brainstorm, some of the most helpful are making a web of ideas, making a list of ideas, or creating a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the conviction. All these ideas will be related to the topic at hand. For example, if the essays topic is about how the earth is affected by global warming, then the brainstorming ideas might include the ozone lair being reduced or how global climate has raised. The third step when writing a five paragraph essay is creating the rough draft. The first draft must have all the features the final will, but does not have to be...
To begin this reflection, conduct an inventory of all the writing you have done for this course, looking both forward and backward at your progress in the course. Once you have done so, write a reflective piece about where you stand at midterm and where you’d like to go during the second half of this course. Reflect on what you’re learning about your writing process, your strengths as a writer, and your preferences and writing habits. Be specific, provide details and descriptions, and explain your reasoning throughout this brief reflective section.
I can remember the first day of school when I walked into Mrs. Mary Doe´s room and I wondered, “What am I going to learn this year?” Well, the answer to that question is a lot of information that will help me in the future, especially, how to make a great essay. This valuable information will take me into high school and beyond. This information is the roots of my writing that has made me greatly improved as a writer. This year I learned what kind of writing I like, how I write efficiently and fluently, and how I changed as a writer.
I believe that everyone has their own strength and weaknesses, but not everyone is able to figure out their strengths and weaknesses correctly. Knowing our own strengths and weaknesses is essential because it can help to achieve success in anything we choose to do. For me, my weakness is the time management, communication skills and weak in preparing effective Curriculum Vitae (CV) Below will be further explaining all my personal weaknesses and the ways to overcome it.
I have learned a lot after I have carefully reviewed through the self-assessment (Bethel University, 2014). I have come to the realization that I have been battling some of the same weaknesses most of my life. Now that I have honestly identified some of my weaknesses and strengths in writing, I know that I have a lot of work to do to make myself a better person (Bethel University, 2014).
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 been taken several college courses and nearly all of them require write of 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 certainly more confident in turning in my college papers. The content of this course and the style of teaching was incredibly beneficial to me. Throughout this course we had multiple assignments that were aimed to improve us as writers. I am sure that everyone took something different from this course, and I am sure that each student took more from some areas than others; however for me there were three major things that I saw that I benefited from most. Our weekly craft lessons, grammar plan, but most of all, observational learning.
As a writer, I think that I am not as good as I thought I was back in high school. I see myself as a student who tries their best, but makes “B” average work. I have never really taken the time to relate to my papers. I always just wrote what the teacher wanted and handed it in. In my mind, I never really liked trying to explain in full detail what something meant. Back in high school, my teachers always wanted me to explain my writing in such depth that a kindergartener would understand why Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. Trying to explain my writing was always very tiring. I often would get bored trying to explain and just stop writing and do something else for a while. Most of the time in high school I didn’t like writing. Mainly because I thought my writing wasn’t good enough to see the light of day.
Some of my weaknesses are procrastination and impatience, but I am taking proactive measures to resolve these issues. I have started putting reminders on my phone that helps me to remember when I need to start working. This will also help me keep my time spread out so that way if I get impatient with my computer or I can’t think of anything then I have time to take a break and think. Some of my strengths are my determination, my easy going nature and getting along with other people. (Even when no one else seems to get along with that person.) I also try to keep a positive attitude whenever times are getting stressful and it seems impossible to get what needs to be done accomplished.
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.
For many years, I struggled when it came to my writing assignments but over time I found myself becoming a fairly good writer. When it came to writing I always struggled with my punctuations,word choice, and grammar. I would spend a great amount of time re-reading my essays but committing the same grammar crimes. But besides the typical grammar crimes I also struggled with topics, supporting my ideas, and coming up with claims and counterclaims. Even if I struggled with a lot of my writing I believe that my writing has improved greatly and that I will continue to grow as a writer.
My main problem, or weakness, would be that I have a difficult time transferring the thoughts or ideas inside my mind down on paper. Changing the wording of sentences, never knowing what sounds best is an issue that affects me greatly. Some would argue this is a sign of an effective writer, or a writer that is concerned how his or her ideas will be construed. Honestly, I find it bothersome and time consuming. When the information flows effortlessly from my mind to my fingers the quality of the paper or journal is magnified. Unfortunately, this is a rare occurrence and only happens when I am very knowledgeable or passionate about the topic
Over the course of the second semester of my freshman campaign at Seton Hall my overall skills as a writer have been improved and more refined. The biggest difference I saw in my work since I arrived here was the maturity of my writing and the improved research and analysis skills that I first developed in high school. But as I look back on my work and myself as a writer I believe that the areas where I have grown the most is my creativity and my ability to use that creative thinking to formulate a unique thesis statement about a characters involvement in a story. I realized my creativity as a writer during the assignment where we had to choose a song and poem that shared the same “image” and then write about that image. I chose the song “100 Years” by Five for Fighting and the poem “What Happened to the Happy Days?” by Angie Flores. The image that they created was “of a person sitting and thinking back on how fast life has gone by. A daydream about going back to a time where everything was simple and there was nothing to truly worry about, a time where life was how life should be,” (Leach). I creatively thought about how these 2 lyrical pieces connected as well as their differences. I realized that the two pieces portrayed that image but in opposite ways, which is something I wouldn’t have initially realized if I didn’t spend time trying to find a unique connection of image between the two pieces. Through spending time trying to uniquely and creatively find ways to write about things I was able to complete a prompt that I thought was one of the most challenging I’ve ever had to write about. My task for the Othello research paper was to write about and show how Desdemona’s story and role in other character’s stories was the most p...
Over the course of this semester I learned a lot about myself as a writer. This English 101 class has really allowed me to expand my essay structure and ways of thinking. This was my first college writing course and it has given me much more freedom when writing because in high school I felt limited and like what we were writing was not very important. In high school I would write essays to just to fulfill the required word or page count and to a degree I still feel like this but maybe that is why I am an engineering major but in this course I actually was able to express my ideas and for the first time really test the limits of my writing capabilities. I really enjoyed being able to incorporate my voice more in my essays and I believe that I developed my own personal style a bit from this. At the beginning of the semester my writing was quite choppy and there was plenty of room for improvement in the overall flow of my essays. Now, I use several different tactics such as outlining to create better connections between paragraphs. I believe I was able to move beyond many of the high school ways of writing and make general improvements to my essays.