Personal Reflection Of My Writing

I have some strengths and weaknesses as a writer that I am aware of, but honestly it is not an easy task for me. My only strength in writing is my thought process, not the actual writing itself. I have never considered myself to be good in the subject of writing, but I always try my best.

The first strength I have when writing is I have a big imagination. For example when writing a fictional story, I like to have a story where almost anything can happen. Another strength I have when writing is I am good at writing long stories. I feel that most people have trouble writing long essays but, to me, writing long essays comes easily. On the other hand I have some writing weaknesses that I need to improve on.

Some of my strength, when it comes to writing are persuading, collecting ideas/generate ideas, and understand what the topic is expressing. On the other side, my weaknesses are organizing the paper, sentence structure, and grammatical error.

A person has their own strengths and weaknesses in just about everything they do. A guy who can play football might be able to catch the ball but has trouble throwing the ball. A teacher that can teach a class might have problems grading papers. As I learn more about myself I realize that the same theory applies to me as a writer. If a teacher were to give me an interesting topic to write about I believe that the content of my paper will be more than obvious and an interesting paper to read. I look at that as a strength when it comes to my writing. Although, I have many more weaknesses than strengths. I am horrible at putting things in order; and I feel as though many of my essays jump around. I struggle with grammar and many other writing techniques. I do believe that I will become a better writer being that I am now a college

As continue my education I have started to overcome some of the fears I have about my writing ability. One such fear is being judged for poor work. By proofreading multiple times as well as submitting my material to the Smartthinking tutors, I can complete assignments with a level of confidence. When I proofread, I am looking through my work to find any spelling, grammar, or mechanical errors (Vandermey, 2012). I also use Grammarly and PaperRater to check my content. Utilizing all of these tools decreases the second fear I have when it comes to my writing knowledge which is fear of failure or poor grades.

What I’ve experienced with writing so far is that I have limited skills. But the funny thing is that I am constantly writing something just about every day whether it be an email, or summarizing meeting minutes at work, or proposing an idea for a church program.

Coming into San Diego State University I wasn’t sure what to expect out of any of my classes, especially my writing class. In high school I had taken AP composition and language which helped me improve as a writer but even a college level high school course is not the same as an actual college class. Before college and throughout high school I didn’t think of myself as a great writer, I have always been very average at writing. At the start of the year I wasn’t a very strong writer but RWS 200 is a huge reason how I overcame challenges and became a better writer.

Throughout my years in writing and taking English courses I have always been a faulty writer and never have been strong in this aspect. Truthfully my writing was the same until I came to college and took English 104 with Professor Horjus. Horjus had taught me things about myself and my writing that I never gave my full attention too and explaining my thoughts. Professor Horjus had started off class on making us say things we could work on after turning in an essay and feel we lacked or felt very strongly about. Being able to talk about the lack of my writing skill or even the strong aspects in my writing let me see that everything teachers have taught me in the past has honestly not really helped. College English has defiantly shined a new light on writing for me.

This week I think my writing was better than the previous weeks because I had learned about many of different type of writing including cause and effect, positive and negative, persuasive writing and comparison which can help me to collaborate the style in my writing to show the variety of the structure. Also, this week I prepare an outline for the research project and I faced the problem on my idea which I’m not assured with this idea so this might be the problems when I write the paragraph. As a result, I got the advised that I should find more references to support the ideas. The another task in this week was listening. The teachers showed us about the listening exam which you have to answer in multiple choice. In my viewpoint, I think answer

Since the first time I picked up a pencil and a piece of paper I have been taught how things ought to be done. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s, check your spelling, and do not forget the period at the end of each of your sentences. Writing shows you understand how to fit together facts and bits of information, but when does the real test of knowledge finally come into play? Your writing must express you, while still managing to cover all the appropriate content. All those years ago I wish I would have had someone to teach me that writing could be enjoyable; but for me, it is just another task that must be completed (and a difficult task at that). Writing has always been challenging; a job in other words, which takes time to learn, and despite its best efforts, has attempted to push me to grow.

While I was starting the process of writing the connection narrative I felt that my writing was going in the right direction. When I finished my rough draft, I knew more work was required in order for me to get a high grade which I would eventually work on. Going into the peer review I felt nervous because I received low scores on my previous papers by my peers. When I got back both of my reviewed papers I was surprised, to say the least. I thought I understood the purpose of the prompt better. I lacked details on how the issue connected to me which discouraged me to keep writing. I felt embarrassed that my peers had reviewed my work. It was hard to accept that I don’t always have strong writing. I do appreciate the feedback they gave me which allowed me to rewrite everything in a way that would address the prompt and would be better understood.

Every writer has their own approach to the writing process. Some people may be extremely good at writing while others struggle. I know I was always one of those people who struggle with writing. In high school, I would always have to get help from a tutor or one of my teachers. It was always hard for me to stay focused enough to know what I needed to write about and what order everything needed to be in. it wasn’t until my senior year of high school when I finally had an English teacher who actually tried to help me with my writings. My teacher would work with me just a couple extra minutes before and after class making sure I knew what I would have to fix before I turn in my paper. He tried to help me with grammar and punctuation, but I

I think one of the aspects in my writing that is effective is being able to interpret the meaning of something and elaborate on it through my writing. When writing the paper on a book in the Nutrition Field, I was able to take the information provided and analyze it. I was able to take the preface of what the author wrote and explain his reasoning for it through context clues and other research. For the authors dedication in my book it was only two words “To Betty”, although no one knows who Betty is I was able to determine that Betty had to be his significant other or partner after reading the acknowledgements which help me realize it was wife. I like writing about things that there is a lot more detail hidden because there is just so much to write about.

Writing has to actually make sense. Would it be wise to throw words or thoughts together without direction and confidently expect your reader to understand? The most interesting things I’ve learned so far in this course was how to formulate a three paragraph essay. This method is broken down in three parts called an introductory paragraph, body paragraph, and summary paragraph. Learning this method more than simplified what direction my writing should go.

Writing is a skill that takes time to develop. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is very important. Being aware of your strengths can help you stand out, and your weaknesses show you areas where improvement is needed. Like everybody I have weaknesses as well as strengths, and being conscious of them helped me improve my writing skills.