Throughout the course of the semester, I have definitely improved my writing skills and critical thinking skills. The weekly posts where we had to connect a work we read to a more abstract concept forced me to think more analytically; I noticed that with each post, I was able to find a connecting theme with more ease. Most importantly, I feel that I have finally found my writing style. Through constantly practicing my writing skills, I found that with each writing assignment, I was better able to express myself and translate my thoughts onto paper. One thing I feel that I still need to work on is organizing my essays; I always have trouble when starting a longer paper because I feel overwhelmed with the amount of ideas that I want to incorporate. I think through creating an outline I would have been able to better organize my ideas.
- Zuzanna, I’m glad that we both learned useful skills from this class that we could carry on using in future classes. Writing for this class has definitely helped us make some final tweaks in our writing styles to improve them even further. I also found it a little hard to organize some of the paper we had written for this class because my ideas were all over the place. Maybe we should try to make stronger outlines before we even start the writing process; it would definitely help us with the organizational aspect.
- Borys
- Zuzanna, I agree that the weekly posts had a strong impact on finding my writing style. I am so glad you have found yours. It’s an important skill – if not one of the most important skills – to take away from college English class. You mentioned that you still have trouble starting longer papers. I understand where you are coming from because it can be hard to introduce as well as summarize what you’re trying to say in the first paragraph. I agree that writing an outline can be beneficial for you because it will create a base layout for each piece of the essay and even if you can’t figure out what you want to put down for the introduction, you can move on to the body paragraphs and, once you finished, go back. This also gives you more time to think about the intro.
- Emily
During the course of this semester, I think one of the greatest areas in which I have improved is in free writing and in open response. In the past, I have struggled with trying to write the “perfect” paper, whatever that may be, and hindered my ability to simply let thoughts and ideas flow out into words. I have a lot to say, but I worried so much about how to say it. The limitations that I put on myself while working on an essay or any piece of literature made it harder to keep in touch with my creative side. Our weekly free writes and posts have pushed me away from that oppressive mentality and allowed me to focus on my artistry and inspiration. Regular practice has helped me learn how to get out of my writer’s block and in turn has also boosted my confidence as a writer.
- Emily, I know that trying to create a “perfect” paper can make one feel as if everything they write is wrong. I have definitely felt that way before, and tried to make every draft ideal. However, when writing an essay, I found that editing and revising is one of the most important parts of the process. I am happy that you no longer hinder yourself and allow your creativity to translate through your work. I think you have definitely improved as a writer and I think you should always keep in mind that when it comes to writing, nothing is permanent and you can always fix something that you may not initially be satisfied with.
- Zuzanna
- Emily, I can agree with you that my free writing skills have also improve throughout the duration of this class. I don’t believe I have ever done this much free writing in any english class. One benefit of free writing is that it actually forces you to really think about the prompts that the teacher asks in class and get a little more in depth with one’s analysis.
- Borys
One strength I have developed is incorporating evidence more smoothly into my work. The paragraph structure that we learned in your class proved to be very useful throughout the duration of this class. It gave me an organized outline to follow, and showed me how to better incorporate evidential text into my writing. This has overall improved my abilities as a writer because I am now able to better support my arguments. One thing that I still have to work on is trying to stay on topic when I write, because I sometimes have tendencies to run all over the place while I analyze the evidence I provided. It is important to stay on topic when one writes because an unconcise argument is a weak one.
- Borys, I’m happy to hear you feel as though you have an easier time finding and including evidence in your writing now. Our midterm was definitely a test for that, and you did very well. The paragraph structure is also a nice way to organize that evidence. When it comes to staying on topic, consider starting a paper earlier with the goal in mind to edit and re-edit your essay to condense whatever it is you are trying to say. You could also consider writing an outline as it lay that out clearly for you before you get to the final writing.
- Emily
- Borys, I am glad that you have learned how to better incorporate text evidence into your writing; it’s important to be able to prove the concept you’re writing about with direct quotes from a text. I think something that could help with staying on topic while you write, is creating an outline beforehand and constantly going back to your thesis in order to remind yourself of the main idea. I also tend to stray away from my thesis as soon as a new idea floats into my head, but then I remind myself of what I am generally proving or analyzing and I find myself back on track.
- Zuzanna
- Zuzanna