Reflection Paper On My Writing Skills

Reflecting back to the start of English 122, I feel I may have started with a little more confidence in myself as a writer. As I progressed through the course however, I realized I had a lot of work in improving my skills. I found I needed to be refreshed of the basic construction of an essay as well as some basic grammar and syntax skills. Reflecting on the last eight weeks of English 122, I have learned the basic steps of the writing process, the importance of utilizing outlines, and have improved my overall writing skills in a formal essay.
Writing is a process that takes multiple steps. Starting with brainstorming and finding a topic, then organizing the idea into an outline. Outlining is an important step as this is where you generally form your thesis statement. This tells the reader generally what your essay will be about. From that point forward forming a thesis statement as one of the first challenges in getting started helps in making a strong path to follow. This makes it easier to put your ideas from the outline into writing a rough draft. Once you have a first draft, proofread and edit to make a final, polished essay. Refreshing this process has helped me greatly in improving my personal writing.
I have used outlines in the past, but never heavily relied on them to build an essay. Generally, I would start with a blank page and jot down rough sentences. This however is not a fool proof method, and I sometimes found myself lost, or restating the same information twice. In the Module Two Discussion post, Lesa commented that my topic about childhood friendships “pulled at her heartstrings.” Lesa’s comment gave me confidence to go forward with my narrative essay topic as I would have a great hook for my introduction.
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...ing anymore.” I have now come to rely on one to two people to read my work with a fresh eye to catch any minor details such as grammar and basic sentence structure that I tend to keep missing after reading my essay. This has become an important part of the proofreading step of the writing process. Even with the help of an outline to organize my thoughts, I don’t always get the words written cohesively.
Through each Milestone I have rediscovered the true importance of each step in the writing process. Outlining my thoughts and ideas on my essay topic is essential to building an organized draft. Proofreading and reforming the first initial draft yourself, as well as having friends and family read your essay helps create a neater, more cohesive essay. Knowing these important steps will help in me succeed in my remaining courses here at Southern New Hampshire University.