Reflection On Outlining My Paper

When beginning to write an essay everyone has their own method of doing so. Some may like to brainstorm while others may prefer to go straight into writing about their topic. I personally beginning every essay by collecting ideas about my topic before coordinating them into a type of diagram, next I proceed to do my rough draft before revising over the paper and finally composing my final draft. The point of the writing process is to help break everything down so ideas can be organized and everything can make perfect sense for not just the writer but also the reader.

Throughout my experiences as a writer, I would say the issue I have faced the most is being well-organized. While writing essays I can begin to write on a topic but it gets difficult for me as I start to discuss or argue on my topic which can cause confusion to readers as they read my writings. It is a setback that I have adapted into my style of writing and has needed improvement in order to have a strong structured foundation academically. Over the past years as I encountered different perspectives from teachers that have led me to incorporate their style of writing that I have adjust to my own. Though I may have my difficulties, my ideas can be great but the lack of knowledge I have organizing my paper it has created a foundation that is not

One of my biggest challenges was accepting the fact that I had numerous habits that I developed in high school which were restricting my creativity. After reading Revising Attitudes by Brock Dethier, I now know that your first draft isn’t meant to be perfect. While writing drafts you need to let it go and not try to perfect anything. A rough draft is called rough for a reason. As a perfectionist, it was hard for me to comprehend the fact that I need to let go. I quickly found out that this would end up being one of my biggest weaknesses. I became frustrated with myself since I couldn’t figure out ways to revise my essay that had obvious problems. I was able to learn from my mistakes from the last assignment and avoid them. I now know to start narrowing your topic down when brainstorming your topic. Then you would continue to be more specific as you do your initial research. This helped me be crystal clear with what I wanted to write about and in the end helped me figure out which claims

Initially, a writer should do an outline before starting any essay. An outline can help to organize his or her main points in order to build an introduction, body and conclusion. This method of pre writing was something that I had never been exposed to prior to receiving an example outline from Professor Vilceus. By studying the example, I went from zero knowledge about an outline to creating ones that made arranging essay material uncomplicated.

Part 1: My writing process itself is pretty simple. I do not follow the normal writing process. I start off by stringing random thoughts together. I then write a draft of my thoughts, and my draft usually ends up to be the size of my essay. Next, I do not revise too much, I just make sure that I stay on topic, and that everything makes sense. Finally, I edit and proofread my essay making sure that I did not miss anything in previous steps. I did not face many issues while writing, but there were a few. My first issue was using transitional words. I feel as if I am always searching for transition words. Another difficult part to writing my essay was vocabulary. Sometimes, I feel myself not using enough intricate words. Also, I have a problem with grammar. I do not always catch grammar mistakes while I am writing. I often have to read my passage three or more times just to get my grammar mostly correct. Although I try my hardest to get better, these are some of my downfalls. Now, I can reflect on the easiest part of my essay. The easiest part for me is finding something to write about. I try to pick topics that I know a lot about, and I try to pick topics that

High school was a time when writing assignments began to have more fascinating prompts, but also needed more structure. I drew ideas for my writing from several different sources including my friends and family’s opinions, things on social media, and my own beliefs. All of these diverse sources enhanced my writing and helped me to become more open minded. I always started a paper by organizing my thoughts and ideas by writing down three or four of the main points I wanted to include. From there, I wrote a rather brief outline only consisting of my thesis statement and the opening sentences for each of my body paragraphs. Before starting my first draft, I would look over my short outline, read the assignment once more, and then begin writing. I did not prepare nearly as much as I should have, but I was still able to produce a good first

People have many ways that they write. Some do a process of doing drafts so they can look through, edit and make the paper better. Others will just write a paper and turn it in. My process consist of starting with making a thesis. Then from the thesis I create the topic sentences for the topic at hand. The best way to write the essay in a good format and have good detail in the writing I would write a paragraph a day. By doing that process it allows me to get what is needed out on the paper so none of the paragraphs are mixing content and making the paragraphs less structured. This process not only makes writing essays less stressful while also getting the paper done quickly.

Usually, reflections are one of my stronger suits simply because I am good at pointing out my own mistakes, of which there are plenty in the first essay of the year. However, my summer reading essay was by far not the worst essay I’ve ever written, but it expectedly had some faults. While I made some good points about the role of societal standards in a person’s obligations, i stopped before analyzing much further. There were also issues with my sentences, as some of them ran on for too long, giving my essay a droning feel. This also forgoes concision, one of the two main principles of essay writing. The mistake I made that was by far the least conducive to my claim, however, was spending a sizable portion of my essay recounting plot events,

Writing the proposal paper was the longest paper that we as a class had written. Our main goal was to write a proposal argument based on the issue that was picked by the students and address the causes or the effects of in your Causal Argument. This paper was fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred words, with a little over a month to complete it. The controversial topic that came to my head that has been talked about for years now; why college athletes should be paid. With this tedious and prolonged essay, I was able to receive personal, but constructive criticism. My essay was supposed to persuade others to take action on a controversial topic. Due to the abundant amount of smaller deadlines, I was more focused on writing a well-developed paper. After each deadline I was able to get back my mistakes and correct them. Throughout the year the same mistakes held present in my essays.

In previous English courses, something I think I did well is formatting my thoughts and ideas into a logical and thorough essay. I enjoyed writing outlines for my essays so the writing process was easier and more organized. In reference to a previous paper I wrote on the topic of NAFTA and whether it should be renegotiated, I believe that I formatted my essay in strategic paragraphs that helped guide the reader to focus on the different points that I developed throughout the paper. However, something I found challenging was narrowing down my ideas to concise points. My essays are organized and formatted well, but there is usually a lot of points in my essays and they can sometimes seem unfocused. While writing, I often find myself getting lost in the details and forming too many arguments that my papers may sometimes tend to lack a central point.

From the first assignment to the last, I realized that my writing process has changed a lot. I usually write my papers in my room, whether on a desk or on my bed. I did not organize my thoughts as eloquently as I should have. My ideas were more sporadic, and I did not give myself as much time to write it out. In addition, I was more worried about the page limit rather than the content of my work. Similar to the other assignments, I did not start my process with an outline. I went straight towards writing my paper without giving any structure, which did not help with the organization of my papers in this class.

For upcoming classes one aspect of writing that I would like to focus on is my ability to stay on topic. A lot of the time I tend to become so engulfed in one reasoning for my argument that my mind begins to wander elsewhere. Ultimately my essay structure will suffer because of this, so in order to stay more focused I want to start making outlines before I write out my essays. With an outline it will be easier for me to stay on topic since I will have a structure to follow. Also by having an outline I can find my quotes and compose my topic sentences ahead of time, making it easier for me to see if my ideas will fit well together. This will also

Everyone has a different process they usually run through while writing a paper. In the past, I have always gone straight for the computer when I wish to start on a particular assignment. Whereas some may prefer to put their words on paper first or prepare a detailed outline, I stick to opening up a word document and writing the first thoughts that come to mind. Teachers have practically drilled into my mind over the years that outlining will help my writing, but personally I repeatedly struggle with structure, and prefer to write right away and clean up later. Furthermore, often times I will think of a new idea while writing a paragraph completely unrelated. Instead of abandoning this thought, I tend to bullet point at the bottom of the word document to remember to incorporate it at some point in the paper. Thus, I approach a paper more freely and choose to type what’s on my mind currently, as apposed to copying from an outline or a handwritten essay.

To be honest, I have never really enjoyed writing that much. Even though I don't enjoy the activity, years of english classes have made it easier and more bearable for me. In addition these classes have taught me numerous techniques and tips for crafting a fine paper. Even though I have a few good qualities that make me a decent writer, I believe that my greatest one is my ability to plan and structure essays. When I write a larger paper I start with an outline that plans out my introduction, main points, sub-points, and conclusion. This outline helps me organize my thoughts, so when it comes to writing my actual essay the process is faster and my ideas are coherent and easier to understand. Outlining my papers before I write

My old writing methods weren’t bad, but they definitely needed to be improved upon. In past times I would create three circles that listed my three main arguments and start writing immediately. Even though I still use this technique, the thing I have improved on is taking more time during the brainstorming process. It is important to take your time and fully think out what you plan on writing about. Your paper should always be smooth with good transitions all while staying on topic. But this cannot be achieved if you don’t actually plan out the essay. Now before I even begin typing, I brainstorm for at least two or three hours and map out everything in this time period from simple transitions to what my thesis statement should be.This method works the best for me because my sense of voice has improved and I find that once you invest more time in your paper then writing a longer essay won't seem very difficult because you know what you have to say.Giving more thought makes the writing process more organized and easier while still having a better developed paper.