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Reflection on the process of writing
My writing process experience
Phases of the writing process
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Recommended: Reflection on the process of writing
The writing process has always been a constant struggle of mine throughout high school. I was never taught the process well enough to get better at it. Writing essays wasn’t a common task to do at my school. I have been working on my writing and this chapter helped me realize what I need to work on during this class and be aware of.
A quote that resonated with me was, “For the writing process, however, editing means highly focused attention to specific words or phrases or to the structure of a sentence.” Editing has always been a major problem of mine. I try my best to edit the paper I wrote, but somehow I always miss some of the sentences or phrases that should have been edited. Last year was the first year that a teacher harped on grammar, but it was so late in the year that it was hard to make the adjustments in a short period of time. Bad habits are hard to break and I am still trying to break them. My grammar skills are not as advanced as they should be, so in this class that is going to be one of my major focus
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points of each paper I write. In college, I am going to edit my paper multiple times instead of just giving up after one time through. Usually I read the paper fully once and then skim a couple times to find any errors. After reading this I realized I can’t do that anymore; I have to read the paper completely multiple times until I am content with the content and grammar. After I write the paper, I think I completed the assignment and I am ready to turn it in. This chapter made me realize that the first draft is not what you should turn in. As I read the Choices Student Writers Make section, I realized that I make some of the same mistakes as fellow students.
Another quote that caught my attention was, “In the same study of revision strategies, Nancy Sommers found that college freshmen planned to make the first drafts of their papers the last, and they did not tend to use the terms revision or rewriting to describe changes they made. Instead, they mentioned minor corrections and deletions they made while reviewing their work.” This quote describes me perfectly; I do plan to make the first draft of my paper the last. I don’t know if I have ever totally rewritten an essay after reviewing it. This quote made me realize that I might have to rewrite a paper after I revise it. I have never used the terms revising or rewriting while summarizing my process of writing an essay or a paper. In college, I am going to do both of those steps because I want to produce the best writing that I
can. This chapter has opened my eyes regarding how I can change my writing and the way I write now isn’t permanent. I hope that I can produce better writing than I have in the past. It is certainly going to be a challenge to change my writing, but I can do it. Throughout high school, my writing has been average; I have been too afraid to change. Now I realize that if I don’t change, my papers will be average throughout college. I am fully prepared to make the changes I need to my writing so that it improves.
This assignment is a testament of growth and contributed to my outlook on strategies towards improving my writing through the importance of understanding how crucial, each component of the writing process is and how in depth you should take each process. Lastly, this reflection advocated how editing is the principal task of every good writer. “To write is human, to edit is divine,” Stephen
Several people have trouble writing college level essays and believe that they are unable to improve their writing skills. In “the Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer,” Sarah Allen argues how no one is born naturally good at writing. Sarah Allen also states how even professional writers have trouble with the task of writing. Others, such as Lennie Irvin, agree. In Irvin’s article “What is ‘Academic’ Writing?” states how there are misconceptions about writing. Furthermore, Mike Bunn’s article “How to Read Like a Writer” shows ways on how one can improve their writing skills. Allen, Bunn, and Irvin are correct to say how no one is born naturally good writers. Now that we know this, we should find ways to help improve our writing skills, and
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...
Recently, I have been writing quite a few essays and papers throughout my college experience. This entails, but not limited to, English, History, and Economics. My style of writing and methods have generally remained the same throughout the process. In this assignment, I will be discussing how I prepare to start a paper, what my thoughts are through the process, and my strengths and weaknesses of what my final drafts look like.
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
It’s ENC 1101, Not knowing what to expect I entered the room with absolute fear, after all it was my first year of college. Although I’ve never been quite fond of English in the past, I’ve always excelled in the subject. I had yet to work for my grade and no English course I had taken proved to be a challenge through my eyes. I am a huge procrastinator, if not one of the biggest when it comes to assignments. I most likely wrote papers the night before or the day of and still managed to average an “A” on all of them. This bad habit led me to believe that I was cheating myself. Throughout my scholastic years I always had the mentality of asking “what could this class possibly teach me that I didn’t already know?” I believed that my writing skills were perfected down to the very word. I was in for a rude awakening.
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
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.
This unit has enabled me to become better acquainted with my writing processes. I now understand that the majority of my writing I use the prewriting strategy of brainstorming to varying degrees depending on what my writing genre is. When my genre is an email at work I compose the email by brainstorming the subject in my head and then typing my ideas directly in the body of the email. I then revise those ideas, usually multiple times, to make sure that my message is easily read and understandable. In essence, I go from my informal brainstorming draft to final draft with no intervening steps. This process is short and takes little time from start to finish, which mirrors the fast pace of the workplace. The brainstorming process I use for the
I decided that the topic of my essay would be about the daily writing routine that my mother implemented and how it affected my view of writing. Since this assignment was a personal narrative, the logical organizational method would be chronological order. However, I soon realized that that method would be difficult to determine since my view of writing changed gradually over the course of a year instead of instantaneously. I created a vague outline where I described the first day that I received a journal and began the routine, within the first few paragraphs. Next, I placed the lessons that I learned, realizations, and what I enjoyed in the proceeding paragraphs.
There are many ways to use writing and it happens all over the world every day. Receptionists, office workers, computer programmers, teachers, doctors, scientists, engineers, firemen, lawyers, jobs everywhere use writing in some way or another. At hand is the different ways people can use writing; to name a few, people fill out information and paperwork, write books, papers in school, texts, checks, journals, laws, tickets, accident reports, lab write ups, prescriptions, and many other things that can all have a diverse style of writing. The real question is, where did writing begin for 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.
In my narrative essay I changed multiple errors throughout the paper along with adding more information. I started revising my essay by identifying that I need to change the point of view. I need to transform second person pronouns like “you” to first person pronouns like “we” and “I”. I strived to improve a list of grammatical errors as well throughout my paper. Finally, I need to add more dialogue and clarified my introduction paragraph to improve my essay. After re-reading my essay and identifying what I needed to correct, I started fixing my errors to improve my work.
Rather, revision is the process of strengthening your argument by way of following through with your thesis, ensuring ideas are expanded upon, and making certain your focus as presented in the prewriting phase. Harvard University’s writing center suggests “rethinking your thesis”. Harvard argues that the best thesis is not conjured in the prewriting phase, then in no need of further thought. Instead, Harvard argues the thesis is a product of evolution, built upon throughout the writing process. Furthermore, Harvard brought an important detail to our attention when they wrote “Revision entails making structural changes”. This is how revision differs from editing, structural changes. Additionally, while drafting is the process of discovering an idea, revision is the act of perfecting the way an idea should be presented. Similar to a fine dish, once it is cooked, the presentation must be on point. Your argument will not become flawless if you only tinker with individual sentences, it's vital that in this phase you take a step back and see the big picture. Does your paper have a clear thesis? Is it focused like a magnifying glass on an ant? You want not only your main point, but your supporting arguments to burn into your audience like those poor little metaphorical ants. Write.com, a popular source for writing advice and content solution stresses vehemently that you delete unneeded information. Sentence syntax and structure need to be examined, then simplified like a fraction. Focus on the point your paragraph or sentence makes, and get to the end result in the most efficient way possible. Remember this acronym: KISS—Keep It Simple