Before going to university, I have already been a lover of writing since primary school, all because of a childish reason: I scored high marks in writing exams. However, in retrospect, the real reason why I could pass the writing exams with flying colors every time, was because I always chose the safest topic, and churned out what my teacher likes best within the given time. After having twelve lessons of University English, my perspectives towards writing and learning have changed a lot.
In my qualtrics, I thought “One of my major strengths as a writer of English is producing interesting ideas.”, but that was not true, because the first thing I found out about myself from my learning experience, is that the intention and process I had for writing were ineffective.
Our first classwork was to write whatever comes up in our mind, which is simple. To my dismay, free writing was not as simple as it should be. After jotting down a few words, I had stopped writing, since the searching engine in my brain would not stop finding the best phrases, so that I can stuff my paragraph with impressive words. Consequently given these words I came up with, I had to connect them in sentences by making up stories.
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They were where I started trying not to try to impress anyone. Now, my purpose of writing, rather than impressing readers, is to convey my messages to readers. This is the reason why I chose the topic of aloneness, loneliness and solitude for my argumentative essay. As I have mentioned, I used to avoid difficult question type and wrote what I presumed the marker will like, but this time I have decided I had to challenge myself so as to become a better writer. After I heard one of our classmates talked about his loneliness in university, I felt that this is a challenging and intriguing issue, so I worked on it and finished the first draft. After that, I found another
As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay. I find that the wording and presentation of an article or essay influences my opinion of the writer, and it affects how I receive the idea they are trying to present to me. Craig Vetter uses a blunt approach to convey his idea that writing is nearly impossible to teach, and describes writing as “A blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony every time out.”
The article by Donald Murray entitled, “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts” provides readers a better understanding of the writing process and argues that writers learn to write, by writing and rewriting. Murray also contends that writers must learn to be their own best enemy. Well, I believe I have this trait covered! I will confess, that I purposely saved this course for last, due to the number of years between my last structured learning experience and returning to school to complete a BSN degree.
After reading Stephen King's essay "Reading to Write" (72) it opened my eyes for writing. Although being a professional novelist isn't a goal I want to pursue in my life, writing is something I will need to learn how to do with good form. When it comes to the writing department, it's not one of my best skills. King says, "Good writing, teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling" (73). I will try my best to become a good writer.
After reading the first chapter, writing with Style, from “Thinking Well”, by John R. Trimble, he made it seem as if he was writing about my writing when he explained a novice writer. Trimble explains how a novice writer would write by giving examples of how their style of writing looks like. For example, Trimble explains how new writers unconsciously write and how they are not aware of their egocentrism. He states what a novice would have to achieve objectivity, empathy, courtesy and social sensitivity in order for him to have a readable style. Trimble then discusses what makes a veteran writer and how their thinking process reflects their writing situation.
This semester was filled with many bumpy roads. I struggled in the beginning of the semester with my writings , as I didn 't feel confident enough to write a well developed writing. I seemed to find myself struggling whereas writing was not my favorable subject. The major errors I had in my writings this semester would be , grammatical errors,work citations, transition words, formatting ,paragraph development, sentence structure , and sentence level issue. Therefore I have set goals to improve my writing in the future.
Whenever I think about what I have learned since the beginning of this course—English 101, It always gives me a great pleasure to tell myself and people around me that I have learned something great; something that can make me a better writer. However, I have learned some writing skills based on the course’s teaching learning objectives that can help me in my future courses. Also, I’m glad, because my strength in writing essays have increased. Most especially, writing narrative essay in MLA formatting. I might not be an excellent writer, but I know I have not stopped learning, and I know I will get pay-off in the long run if I can keep the ongoing pace of my learning—guaranteed.
Throughout my education, writing strategies persisted to be a challenge for me. I dreaded writing because I could never find ways to transition my thoughts from my mind to the paper. Ironically, a class that petrified me due to the amount of required writing ended up helping me in numerous ways. English 1301 and my professor prepared me for college and real life by giving me a foundation of effective learning strategies.
Tawney Nodland – As I look back over the past semester of English Composition, I realize that I have grown as a writer. Not onlyhas my understanding of the writing process changed, my whole attitude towards composition has too. This composition course has made a significant impact on my learning experience and has given me tools to take forward into my future educational and professional goals. Throughout this course, I have discovered things about myself as a writer and know some of my strengths and weaknesses. I now feel more prepared for future writing assignments, whether for work or for school.
But, as I look back into my steps of learning literacy it came to mind how difficult writing essays were. The biggest piece of the puzzle is to not be afraid to express my opinions and feelings through writing. Sometimes my teachers would encourage me and suggest how we can express ourselves by free writing. This simple technique helped us to express ourselves and we become open to our feelings through
I am now able to see the areas in which I lack in but I also recognize my strengths as well. To become a precise writer, you have to take the initiatives that will help you do so. These initiatives consist of working on different academic genres, planning and organizing material, identifying purpose and audience and for revising intentionally. It is also includes reading different types of texts and learning how to understand a writer’s argument and respond to the ideas of others.
Before taking writing skills two I 've had a positive mindset towards writing because I see it as a way to express my thoughts. For example, whenever I feel a bit melancholy writing a short story or just free writing always makes me feel a bit better. On the other hand, I don’t believe I’m the best writer because like every other student I make mistakes in my writing. Although, I don’t take the editing negatively I always look back at my past essay and try to reflect on them to see how I can always improve my writing skills. Overall, I have a pretty good mindset towards writing even though I have my mistakes I know if I study harder I can become a better writer over time.
The United States is a place of freedom. We are a mixing pot that unifies as one. Many religions, cultures, and languages make their home in the Unites States. Many foreigners see the U.S. as an opportunity to seek better lives and education, but when it comes to foreigners and native-born non-English speakers that do not yet know English, it becomes a little more difficult to go about an average day let alone make a better future. Children in school often become English Language Learners, or ELL, to assimilate to the American standards.
Writing essays and other types of posts has always been difficult for me. But, throughout this composition class, I have learned many interesting and new things about the different types of writing styles. When starting this class, I considered myself to be an average writer with run-of-the-mill vocabulary, ordinary sentence structure and typical finished products. This class has helped me greatly improve my writing skills in a variety of ways. I have learned multiple things by taking this class, such as new ways to approach writing and that there is much that I still need to learn about composition.
I continued to type; I added in unnecessary symbolism and metaphors to give the illusion of a well-written paper. I was making good time, I had almost a page and a half done already, but suddenly I stopped writing. “ What next?” I had a case of writer's block, and it was bad.
Each essay I wrote took me several time to write, several drafts which show that I have improve every time I do the drafts to write a perfect masterpiece. I learned a lot of skills and techniques this quarter, which has helped me to improve and progress my writing skills for the future. I will remember the skills, techniques, and tips that professor gave us in this English class for my higher education. For example, all the time that I went to visit professor Sapozhnikov office hours to receive help on my out-of -class essays has helped me to improve, grow, and progress in my writing skills as a writer. Some of the significant changes I have made as I was progressing and growing were to develop a strong thesis to help support my claims as I write my essays, such as facts, observations, illustration, and examples.