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Helping Students meet the challenges of academic writing
Helping Students meet the challenges of academic writing
critical thinking in the classroom essay
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In high school, I was always a student that succeeded in all of my courses. I did, however, have some classes that I would better excel; English always being one of them. My teachers would always praise me for the way I used my critical thinking skills and for my excellent editing and revising techniques. Due to these reasons, I felt very confident when I first started taking the Foundations of Academic Writing (FAW) I course. I quickly learned the error in my way of thinking. FAW I and II taught me many different techniques and tools of writing that I never used before. Through this experience, I gained the capability of improving my writing, work on my strengths and weaknesses, and excel at my critical thinking techniques. After taking the FAW I and II courses I feel that my writing has improved in the matter that I know how to find better sources to support my arguments. In high school, the website, Wikipedia, was acceptable to use as a credible source. After working on my first FAW writing assignment, which including finding sources, I noticed that we were not allowed to use Wikipedia for all of our sources. In FAW we were limited to one source for Wikipedia. This was a major transition for me because I would always use Wikipedia as my sources to prove my arguments. My very first writing assignment included sources that I found online and I felt that they did not prove my arguments. Because I could not find any other sources that would be better suited for my essay, I would use the source and stick it anywhere in a paragraph. However, after doing a couple of projects I feel that my sources are becoming better. FAW taught me that it is important to take the time and search deeply to find credible sources for all of my writing... ... middle of paper ... .... Works Cited "Academic Skills Centre." Academic Skills Centre RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . "Accessibility navigation." Planning & structuring your essay. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . "College of Arts and Sciences." The Writing Center Editing and Proofreading Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. . "Welcome to Purdue OWL Engagement." Purdue OWL Engagement. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. . Johnson, Tom. "10 Steps to Writing an Essay -- Step 1: Research." 10 Steps to Writing an Essay -- Step 1: Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
"College of Arts and Sciences." The Writing Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. .
This trimester I began the class English 101 with mixed feelings. Depending on the topic and style, I could really enjoy writing. However, there were occasionally times where I just did not feel much inspiration, and consequently, my writing quality was not exactly remarkable. My previous course to English 101 was AP Literature, where I learned how to analyze writing and write powerful papers. Although, to my disadvantage for this class, the teacher was more concerned about content than presentation and grammar technicalities. I learned to create good ideas and responses, and while I did possess the ability to convey them with proficiency, I could not express myself at a college level. Nonetheless, I can happily report that I have acquired these skills throughout English 101, learning to curb my near addiction to prepositional phrases, in addition to halting my use of coordinating conjunctions to begin sentences. I find it pleasing to read and compare my first essay to my latest one, seeing all of the differences and enhancements. My writing has improved through the trials of in-depth analyses and short deadlines, enabling me to perform my best no matter the style or topic. Overcoming the oppositions found in the class and my own
I have studied English since I was a grade seven, but the curriculum in my middle school and high school years, mainly focuses on reading and speaking components of language skills, with a little focus on writing. As a result, I never felt confident with any piece that I was asked to write. Writing has been a hurdle for me to succeed in college since most of the courses in college requires one or the other way writing skill. Consequently, I have decided to work on my writing skills, and have started working on it; even before, I started taking this English 101 class. I used to use a various educational material which I thought might help me to meet my writing goal. Some of the materials which I was using includes: TOEFL educational materials, You Tube resources, and various novels. All of these resources have helped me to polish my writing skills. Furthermore, after I started taking this class, I have learned to enjoy writing. I have made it a point to communicate my own thoughts and feelings as opposed to simply summarize the thoughts of famous writers and authors before me. This class builds up my confidence in my own writing and for that I am highly appreciative.
"Writing in the Disciplines: English." Writing in the Disciplines: English. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
I am sitting in my bed, thinking about my process of writing as I am trying to go through it. It seems the more I think about it, the less I understand it. When I am writing, I don’t think. Which I know, sounds bad. But, I spend every single moment of every single day over thinking, over analyzing, and over assuming every aspect of my life. When I’m writing, I’m free from that for just a little bit. Until of course, my hands stop typing or the pencil (no pens- never pens) stops moving, then I’m right back on the carousel that is my brain. Heidi Estrem says, “...writers use writing to generate knowledge that they didn’t have before.” (Writing is a Knowledge-Making Activity 18). I believe my ability to write without an exact destination
When it came to the process of writing my first, second, and third essay’s, there was clear visual improvement that I have become a better writer in certain aspects. As for essay one, I tended to rely on my writing skills as a high school student rather than use the components of a successful college student essay. This was definite once I received the feedback given by ...
I did not have a firm writing philosophy before this semester, but I to some degree I understood the importance writing can have on a situation. Now I understand that writing has two outcomes: gaining support or losing support. When writing an essay it is best if the writing is as specific as possible. This way the audience is hopefully not left with a confused opinion about the topic. Since the beginning of the semester I have put a conscious effort to change my writing style. Instead of the box format that is learned in high school I try to use a more graceful approach while still being organized. Also, I evaluate the credibility of a source before I use the information to support my thesis and understand the roles of using ethos, pathos, and logos. My assignments are now written with more developed thought by elaborating on ideas in the body paragraphs. By participating in the assignments throughout the semester I have accomplished, to different extents, the objectives for the English Composition 101 course. My writing has improved in multiple areas such as knowing who my audience is, and how writing drafts and making revisions help me evaluate the effectiveness of my essay. I am also aware that academic writing differs from day-to-day writing because for academic writing I need to present the most credible evidence in an organized format. Furthermore, I now can effectively evaluate my writing to know where I can improve.
Over the course of this semester, I have progressed as a writer. Picking up new skills and dropping old bad habits has transformed me into a much better writer than when I entered the English 101. Entering this class, the only English classes that I took were mandatory high school classes all four years. In these classes, however, content was focused on reading novels, poems, and literature. There was usually only one major writing assignment each year, which was a research paper on a topic that was given by our teachers. Although there was some writing involved in these classes, most of the class time was spent on improving my reading and comprehension skills. A small part of the class was given to improve my skills as a writer and even a researcher. In English 101, however, most of the class time was spent on writing and more specifically, academic writing. This includes doing proper research, picking a worthy topic to write about, correctly analyzing sources, and developing a well-rounded, complete paper. I have progressed a writer over the semester by effectively integrating and analyzing sources better, and being more specific with my words.
Throughout this semester I have learned many ways of writing through two main essays literacy narrative and comparison and contrast. These two essays have taught me how to correctly fix my comma splices, thesis statements, and capitalization. I have engaged in numerous learning material during this summer class. Many times when I thought it would be hard to work on those three developments I never gave up. I gain more positive feedback from my teacher because he pointed out most of my mistakes I made on both literacy narrative and comparison and contrast essays to help me understand what is it that I need to work on. My development as a writer became stronger.
This English course was a vastly informative class. We covered lots of criteria material and discussed topics during class. During the course, I have accomplish a variety of goals I once thought were unachievable. I still have a little ways to go to become the best writer I can be but by taking this course I have been able to expand and learn as a writer, editor, and analyzer of my work, peers work, and academic work. I have learned from others as others have learned from me. I have tried to improve particular aspects of my writing but continue to struggle with other aspects. I have found new strategies and breakthroughs that have allowed me to improve my essays. However, I am still learning how to write and believe that I always shall be.
As a result I believe that the progress I have made in my writing during the course of English 1B has changed my negative views of writing. As silly as it may sound to say that my fears about writing papers have been defeated, they have. Whether they are short reviews or extensive research papers, I have become more comfortable in writing. I have not only learned how to write and express myself more effectively, by organizing my critical thoughts, but most importantly I have learned that review and revision is an essential part of the writing process. This process how allowed me to grow to become a better writer. The skills I have acquired can be used for future coursework and beyond.
...r. Another focalizing point is preparation. Unfortunately, I am a procrastinator and I am often ill-prepared, both of which I am attempting to improve. The most dreadful of tasks that I must learn is how to write decent essays ‘on-the-spot,’ so to speak. I am a slow worker, meaning that I write my essays at a leisurely pace. Naturally, the timed in-class essay was difficult for me. I like to take my time and think on the subject for a long time, before committing it to paper. I believe that all of these points are gravely important in writing exceptional essays, whether on the spot or in the home.
I improved on many aspects of my writing throughout the duration of this class, but there are still some things I need to refine. Over the course my writing skills have gotten better due to the instructor’s feedback, peer reviews, and just me learning. I enjoyed peer reviews because sometimes it is easier to relate to someone my own age. The overall structure and flow of my essays have improved, as well as the use of word choice and quotations. Throughout this course, I was able to apply critical thinking and reading skills to different texts, compose essays with appropriate content development and organization, use correct style by practicing the steps of the writing process, and reflect on my own development as a writer. However, I still need to work on demonstrating correctness, including punctuation, mechanics, and
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
To know how to improve your college level writing skills, first of all you need to understand what college level writing is. Melzer (2011) states that College-level writing is a broad term with many different characteristics which focuses on self-thinking rather than engaging material with the idea that you have to agree with everything the author of the writing has to say; you have to know how to do proper research, your writing has to be persuasive, the organization of your ideas has to be sophisticated which means it has to varied, not following the same order/template every time, and all the arguments that you estate in your writings have to have strong back up support; grammar, and vocabulary are part of these characteristics as well (Melzer, 2011).