Personal Narrative Writing

Over the course of this semester, I have learned many things to improve my writing. Having taken the course before, this semester has been an excellent opportunity to expand on my existing knowledge. Although I had written many essays before, there is still much to be learned and improved. Two factors of writing that I had learned or improved on this semester were transitions/topic sentences and how to properly structure a conclusion paragraph.

My writing process starts when I am given an assignment. I’m not one to just write for fun, so this is usually the only way I can make myself write. Don’t let that fool you though, because once I start writing something and my ideas start flowing, it’s hard for me to stop. Personally, I love to be able to choose what I’m writing about. I don’t like getting assigned a topic, because that means everybody else has to write about the same topic and that ends up with everybody asking what I wrote in my paper and comparing it to theirs. I HATE when my writing gets compared to other peoples’, because we are all unique and different writers and we shouldn’t be so concerned about who stated certain facts better or got a higher grade.

I'm not the best when it comes do to writing well. I guess i feel like my writing doesn't sound “smart” it's not full of big words that the reader has to look up and learn more about.

Throughout my writing process there are a various amount of steps I do to perfect it. Generally coming up with the idea is the most difficult part of any writing, even now, it is difficult to get started with the essay. Once I dive in though, it gets quite easier. Procrastination is a problem that i can not seem to shake. I will attempt to sit down, but as soon as the littlest thing pops up, I will usually be distracted and lose my train of thought. I attempt to run through the whole essay in my head before I start just to get a proper idea of how it will be structured.

When I start my writing process, the topic is key. The decision of what I'm going to write about is based on how I feel about the topic. If I have some baseline knowledge about a particular subject and it relates to my life somehow, then it becomes a bit easier for me. For example, if I had to write about Army life, I can easily relate to this subject and can lean on my experience to help guide me in the right direction. Another tool is research, using proper citations in my work to support the opinions or ideas.

What I have learned throughout the year about writing is that it is important to know how to write because you will need to use it for your everyday life, whether it is at school or at your work. My writing process I think that I have changed a little bit on it but I think I need to practice more so I can get better. What I have changed on my writing was that I need to make my writing sound good and that it makes sense. Why I made those changes because I want it to sound good and make sure that it makes sense to what I am being asked to write. My opinion on writing has not changed. My opinion hasn’t changed because I just don’t like to write and I find it boring.

I always start my writing process by reading the directions. I read the directions three or four times to fully analyze what is required and what is being asked. For instance, in most assignments are not simply questions. There are usually more than one factor in the question. After understanding the directions, I start following the five steps of the writing process. First, I pre-write/ draft a outline to get my ideas into answering all the parts of the question and to establish. Next, I start writing to establish flow of my paper. Then, I submit it to paperrater.com to check for grammar, punctuation, and spell check. Then, I edit my paper from the suggestions paperrater.com suggested. Lastly, I submit my work for a grade.

My current writing process for the past few years has consisted of me being a 2:00 a.m writer. In all honesty, though, I can't recall a time where I chose to put a paper off; I couldn't get to it because I've been a busy bee. I am still going to be a busy bee, but I will have a set plan for papers and set my own deadlines apart from yours. I used to not be able to focus at home considering there are loud children here, but the perks of having a night class include doing homework in the morning when the kids are at school. I bought a desk in my room to remain in a more "school-zone feel" which aids me in concentrating better. As much as I would love to write until my paper is complete, I have to take a break every half an hour or else I will

Although my writing process is not where I want it to be yet, I have made significant improvement. This class has been instrument in providing me the necessary guidance to improve my skills and grow in many areas. I feel more confident and will continue to work tirelessly to continue to grow. In regards to the final draft of this week critical essay and my writing process in general focuses on several key techniques. I have found my brainstorm technique to be an effective way to embrace any subject I have to write about. My weakness lies probably in organizing my writing. I’m working on following Dr. Idowu’s guidelines and recommendations to strengthen my abilities to deliver better results. Our professor’s guidance has help me tremendously,

During this semester, I have learned multiple things in English 1020. Not only have I learned new writing techniques and how to find and use credible sources, but I have also improved my writing skills. Throughout this semester, I focused on the topic of abortion, which, not surprisingly, I regretted soon after completing my annotated bibliography. However, by choosing this very biased topic I was able to give myself an academic challenge. I was challenged greatly when it came to forming and writing my own ethical opinion, as well as finding unbiased sources to help guide my research. Looking back at this semester I was faced with many bumps in the road, but now reading through the many revisions I put myself through, I have noticed the huge improvement I was able to make through this single English course.

This past month has taught me so much about myself as a writer. The areas I struggle with along with the areas I have improved in. Although my writing process has changed, there are still areas that need improvement. I have a better understanding of a sentence structure. Being able to make a complete sentence and have the correct verb, noun and punctuation makes all the difference with your writing. Your ideas need to be complete thoughts. This is one of the areas that I often struggled with as I had fragment sentences, comma splice errors and punctuation issues. The improvements come from the type of assignments we had this class. Our blog writings, discussions with videos and essay writing has helped me tremendously. The assignments I felt,

Thinking about our first writing assignment, one of the suggestions focuses on the comparison of writing to running, it became apparent to me that this is something I would enjoy writing about. I am a long time running advocate, competing in marathons, and a neophyte writing student, and I find many similarities in both endeavors.

When it comes to writing I have a mental breakdown, I get nervous, overthink, and emotionally stressed. These three words describe me as a writer. In high school I would have a difficult time starting papers, often times my weaknesses was grammar and sentences fragments. How I feel about writing is how I feel when a love one dies. It's like as if I'm at a funeral and my paper is the one being funeralized. I think the reason why I am how I am about writing is because my college English teacher in high school was so harsh on my papers, and ever since then I've been traumatize to write papers.

Throughout the seven weeks that I have taken this writing composition course, I have developed skills to help me improve my own writing. Using the writing process is one of the main focuses in the course. The writing process helps writers develop and revise their essay as they work their way up to creating the final draft that can be presented. Although there are many areas in my own writing where I can get better, I have found that my writing has improved in many ways while practicing using the writing process.

In this semester my achievement of improving my writing skills has increased significantly. My sentence lengths vary in a positive manner along with my word choice improving, becoming more complex and of writing expectation. My main struggle this semester would be the peer editing. Although I have improved significantly I still find it difficult to edit others papers. Further more than the common spelling and grammatical errors. I believe my essays have improved drastically from the beginning of the semester towards the end.