College writers write multiple drafts and revise the entire essay or large sections of the essay for higher order writing concerns of meaning, structure, logical development, and concrete support of ideas and assertions. Revising the college essay is far more than simple editing for grammar and word choice. College essays must say something important and meaningful. Deep Revision helps to ensure that the essay says something interesting and worthwhile. Throughout High School I wrote for an educational finance website for high school students called, Investeens. I was the Head Writer for the “Tech Talk” section and reported on different sectors of the technology world as it related to finance. This was my first exposure to “professional” writing. As I sat down to write this essay I read over all the articles I wrote, and it was honestly painful. All I was doing was spewing out facts and observations without any support or general analysis. It disgusted me because I could see myself writing like that now, and I asked myself why that was. When we came into your class on the first day you begged the question, how does one learn to write? We all guessed haphazardly until someone finally said “through analysis”. I don’t think I fully understood what that actually meant. You described this as looking at the situation in front of you and asking why. Why did you write that? Why did you write it that way and not this other way? And by answering these simple questions you not only create a more meaningful essay but an understanding of yourself as the writer and that’s more important then anything you can ever write down. After taking this course I probably wont ever look at the essays I have written ever again, however, through writing t...
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...asking yourself “why?” and that asking yourself why you do something is a way to understand yourself.
We as writers need to accept that we and by associating, our work, is never perfect. We can always use editors and outside help to guide us in our path to the best we can be. Revising is the most important part to any essays creation because at this point the writer uncovers any structural mistakes. Before you ever consider yourself done with an essay, find a writing partner. Ask them to review your paper and give you reader feedback on its strengths and weaknesses. Review their papers and provide feedback. Reviewing the work of others helps you to understand and improve your own writing.
Works Cited
Zelin, Garrett. "4G a Forgery?" Investeens. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .
As the first semester of my sophomore year wraps up, I begin to realize that I have learned a lot in all of my classes. The class that I learned the most from has definitely been my English 111 course. This class have given me so many opportunities to improve my writing skills. With all of the success I’ve had in this class, I believe I will do just fine with writing later in my life.
In Milo B. Beckman’s article “Why I Write Bad” he talks about how college students are not taking their college writing serious enough. They are merely going through the motions of writing out a “formula” of what they think the professor wants to read and then adding that extra fluff to make it look pretty on the outside but not have a lot of substance on the inside when you actually go into it and analysis what the essay is really saying. For Beckman to get his main message across to his readers he uses his experience as a student and his vast knowledge of his audience to convey to them of the importance of actual good writing through his diction and appealing to their need for success.
Academic writing is a very discouraging topic that most young writers do not even want to begin to think about or imagine doing. Throughout college everyone will be asked to write multiple academic essays regardless of their major. We have read two sources in class that have helped clear up some common myths and also helped make academic writing not seem so foreign. The two sources we read were “What is Academic Writing?” and the first chapter of the book “From Inquiry to Academic Writing”. Many young students seeking a college degree are fearful about the amount of work needed to be done in order to survive their college courses. Academic writing is a challenging topic that many young people struggle to get a grasp on. Once the skill of
I had always been a strong writer in high school; I know how to form an argument and support it fully, but this did not prepare me for the writing at a college level. I expected to be reading long and boring books about topics that did not pertain to my life; as it turns out, this assumption was completely false. All of the three essays that we were required to read in class were fairly difficult to understand, but after a second reading, the essay's meaning became clearer. I also feel as though their messages and key ideas are captivating. I definitely thought they would be extremely dry and difficult to understand.
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.
For me, being a college writer means writing well-organized essays that readers enjoy reading. Being a well rounded writer was also important. Each unit in this class challenged me to write in a well-organized, concise way. During each unit, we conducted some sort of revision activity where I was exposed to other students’ writing. As I read their work, I picked up on their use of transition words and separation of paragraphs to make the essay flow. Naturally, I began implementing more transition words in my own work and learned the appropriate ways to split paragraphs. The structure of the class was key to the organization of my ideas which was crucial to the development of my essay. During the third unit of this class, we were asked to identify an issue on campus, conduct research on the issue, and finally propose a solution to correct the issue. At first, it was difficult to get my ideas down and figure out what it was I would research. What I learned in class allowed me to first identify the issue I would research, write a rough draft, and hear what others had written before the final paper was due. This helped me to identify the main points, brainstorm and figure out what additional research I would need to find to support my argument. Being able to organize my thoughts from the beginning made writing the paper a much easier process. This course has helped me to grow as a writer and make
According to Donald M. Murray in The Makers Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts “A piece of writing is never finished”. Before this class, I didn’t really revise my essays
College writing has numerous aspects. Successful College Writing by Kathleen T. McWhorter does well in covering many of those aspects. Consisting of a good deal of example essays, Successful College Writing helps students learn about the different parts of making a quality formal essay. Some of the example essays in the book work hand-in-hand in getting points across. Two that work well together are Dearly Disconnected by Ian Frazier and Is Sharing Files Online Killing Music? by Jonathan Adamczak. Both display how to write about topics like change. Since the two essays have similar writing styles and topics, it would do a student well to review them.
Throughout this semester we have had to write many types of essays. Although this is a college English class there is still room for improvement. I made much improvement during the semester of the class. I was able to identify my weaknesses. I learned how to make improvements to the areas I was having problems in. Although each essay we did was different I was able to begin with one essay and throughout the semester turn it into two other essays. I was able to change my style of writing to fit the type of audience I was working with. I will continue to work on my writing and keep improving it.
In the beginning of English 101 I was what you call a novice writer a person who only wrote what they felt was required. However, certain techniques that I learned in English 101 made me realize that writing was not about filling requirements; it’s about speaking out, exploring and proving a point. “Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” (Trimble, 17) In John Trimble’s quote he tries to point out that writing is something that you grow with and learn as you go along. I believe this growth was achieved with a technique that was introduced to me by my professor called repetitive revision. What I found out was that revision of your essays helps in recognizing your mistakes and enhances the flow of your essays. By providing me...
Over the past semester, I have found the most challenging part of this course to simply be the transition from high school composition classes to college. Because writing expectations are so different in college than in high school, even with AP and Dual Enrollment “college level” classes, I first found myself being overwhelmed with the pressure to write the perfect first draft. The pressure came from knowing how much a final draft of a paper contributed to my grade. This left me sitting in front of my computer for hours at a time with thoughts of what I wanted to say racing through my head, but unable to deliver these thoughts into organized, structured sentences. I learned, through writing my persuasive essay, that instead of trying to write the paper start to finish and already in its perfect form, it is easier for me to look at the paper through its different components and focus on them individually, then work to best organize my ideas fluently.
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 have learned many things throughout the course of the term, including such things as: how to write an essay and how to improve on essays that I have already written, how to locate and composite better research through the use of numerous resources found at the campus library, the internet, and the “Common Sense” textbook, how to cite research, examples, and quotations properly within the contents of my research paper as well as document it accurately according to MLA standards. Through the exploration of the “Subjects and Strategies” textbook, I have learned nine different methods used when writing an effective essay and how the different writing styles affect the overall theme and tone of the essay when used properly. This past semester, I have encountered many difficulties when trying to write these essays, but through the use of the textbooks, the aide of the instructor, and once I was able to classify the different types of essays and styles, I found them possible to overcome.
Therefore, it is imperative that the plan allows sufficient time for revisions. Another critical strategy is to write with a clear sense of purpose and audience. Each academic field presents the college writer with specific writing styles and unique writing expectations. As stated by Johnson, “College level writing involves more than collecting information from sources and inserting information into your paper” (2009, para .... ...
When I saw the news saying that after 15 years Leonardo DiCaprio was embarrassed about his performance in Titanic, I did not expect that I would feel the same way when I read the college application essay I wrote one year ago. Although I submitted the final draft because at that time I believed it was the best revision, now I can immediately point out a couple of mistakes and weaknesses. The essay did not have adequate details about what I did in a program about finance and money management, and therefore it was confusing. Moreover, it had many weaknesses such as rough transitions and grammatical mistakes. If I were the admissions officer, I would not accept the student who wrote such a piece of crap. Nonetheless, the process of retrospection not only shows my weaknesses in writing in the past, but also enables me to see my progress in writing over time. After taking two writing classes in college, I am able to apply techniques I learned from these classes to revise my essay to a better draft.