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.
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.
Attending college at an old age, writing an effective paper is a formidable task I am trying to overcome. Although English was taught in my native country, there were no proper guidelines on writing a paper; hence most submitted essays were mostly results of brainstorming and “free writing”. Embracing such things as MLA, grammar, and structure, and exploring the limitless boundaries of critical thinking, I developed an idea of what is considered as “good writing”. Most of my papers were edited with the help of the Writing Center. I took all suggestions by my fellow peers and professors into developing my skills as a writer. From writing an essay without topic sentences or proper thesis, I developed the skills and learned the guidelines of becoming a proper writer at a college-undergraduate level.
Throughout the first two years of high school, I didn’t work much on improving my writing. Getting through the English classes were fairly easy because there was not much of a challenge for me. My teachers didn’t expect much in my assignments and homework, except completion. Therefore, I didn’t work on my own or sought for help to improve on my writing.
Frequently, in a classroom setting, when a teacher or professor mentions a writing assignment, the students will usually groan and moan. There are a few students that will actually rejoice silently that there is a paper being assigned. I am not one of those students. Papers aren’t the most fun thing to do, unless you love to write. However, I can recall a time where I composed an essay that I was quite proud of and enjoyed writing.
Writing essays was never my forte, it just never came easy to me like it would to others. Since other subjects came easy to me and I had to focus more than others on writing, I had a negative attitude toward the process as a whole. During this summer semester, I was able to grow as a writer, and gain a more positive attitude toward how I write and a better feel for writing in college. Writing a paper is a process in which there are many different stages. In high school I would never write outlines or any sort of pre planning work. Other struggles I encountered in my writing were my theses, and framing quotes.
In high school, students are only taught the basics of writing. Once students reach college, professors expect essays to be detailed and original. College writing varies greatly from high school, leaving professors to teach proper and advanced writing techniques. For some, this may be an easy transition, while for others it may not be so simple. Proper writing techniques are in important throughout life and can be used when applying for jobs. In high school, papers could be done mindlessly and last minute. However, in college, students are expected to be much more thorough in their writings and dedicate time to doing so. All writers must be more illustrative, detailed, plain, and concrete.
Writing has been my most challenging requirement through school. I am not a very experienced writer. I was not required to write much in high school until my last semester. My last semester in high school, about a year and half ago, I took GENR-091 which is the last time I have written a paper longer than one page. That was my most recent writing class; I am rusty to say the least.
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
At the start of this class, I made a goal to develop my writing skills to better prepare me for other courses for my degree. I knew English 106 would be different compared to any other English or college courses that I have taken. I knew English 106 environment will let me grow in diverse writing dimensions. My long serving years of experience in the military has exposed me to many cultures around the globe. In just seven weeks of the course, I have seen some improvement in my writing. This course has afforded me with several techniques that have made writing not only a little bit easier but also more in-depth resulting in a higher level of academic writing versus my normal military style writing. Now I understand the writing process and