I would like to take this opportunity to express my thoughts, observations, and reflections on the academic writing that was presented within the Capella University writing course. The enclosed portfolio will provide additional detail to what I have learned throughout this course, and showcase my strengths and weaknesses. During the course, I have evolved within my writing due to the specific way this course compartmentalized each step of the writing process. For example, the first three units provided a way to analyze research on a specific topic and critique the data presented in the scholarly article. I have always felt that my research skills were good, however, the feedback received made me realize that I need to critique the studies more to be able to apply the results to my topic of interest.
In the first two days of Honors English II, you taught me a lot about writing that impacted the way I wrote on the second day writing assignment, from the first day writing assignment. The first writing assignment was less of what is expected for an Honors English class due to lack of originality, organization, and a good MLA format. I then took what you taught me and applied it to my second writing assignment. First of all, the sentences were too bland and unoriginal in my first assignment. It contained bland sentences such as,"This summer I read many books.
Since my early days of learning, I used to enjoy the writing of all kinds from creative, essay, information among others although I often struggled to do it. I took English in my first semester of college and it made me feel very excited. However, at the back of my mind, I knew the assignments will be tough but they were generally interesting and the topics were engaging. The semester had been quite busy and it was characterized with a lot of assignments such as, essays, discussions as well as research project among others. Generally, all experience of learning was beneficial despite the challenges that I faced along the way.
In this course, I have learned quite a few things about writing. I believe the most helpful thing I have learned is how to revise a draft. Before this course, my final drafts would often look very similar to my first draft, which is a very bad sign. However, now that I have taken this course I feel that my revising skills are much better. For example, I am now able to compare my drafts and see where I made changes and why I made those changes.
Tawney Nodland – As I look back over the past semester of English Composition, I realize that I have grown as a writer. Not onlyhas my understanding of the writing process changed, my whole attitude towards composition has too. This composition course has made a significant impact on my learning experience and has given me tools to take forward into my future educational and professional goals. Throughout this course, I have discovered things about myself as a writer and know some of my strengths and weaknesses. I now feel more prepared for future writing assignments, whether for work or for school.
Maci Podbilski Reflection This Semester of English Comp was very helpful in learning how to use your writing to persuade audiences about social issues in the world. Not only from my own writing but from others as well I have learned new techniques and ways to make my writing more persuasive. I feel as though I know have a good handle on how to persuade readers that there is a probably, how to provide evidence that supports a solution for said problem, and how to make smart writing decisions. Each of the essays we wrote this semester and even the PSA dealt with trying to persuade people in some way.
My writing extravaganza began in second grade when my world was changed, thanks to the teachings of Mrs. Clutter. The most distinct memories I hold from that year includes the colorful, giant list of homophones hanging on the wall, and the purple writing journals we kept throughout the year. The fire for writing that I developed in this class continued with me as I traveled to third grade and the rest of my elementary experience, but quickly died out when it came to middle school. Through a random app that I had learned about from my cousin, that fire easily rekindled and I was back to writing by eighth grade. These memories are just a minuscule fragment of the whirlwind of words that is my writing style.
Throughout the term there has been many writing assignments —big or small— that helped reflect my writing process or the process itself. In the beginning of the course I felt like I was an “ok” writer, but lacked some skills such as: organization, sentence variety, and vocabulary. Also, I did not like to write and had a feeling of dislike when forced to write. I felt like I improved on everything I wanted and was seen throughout the semester. I know how to organize my ideas, the worksheets given in class to work on sentence variety really helped, and vocabulary was built on some level.
I have always found writing hard but now I enjoy it more. I 'm not going to lie and say that it 's easy for me because it 's hard. I get lost with my thoughts a lot. What I say sounds way better then when I put it down on a paper. I have been wanting to write a small book of something.
Being a part of this course has helped me improve my writing in different areas such as my grammar, editing, and planning. Being that, when I got back my teacher 's essay edited the first thing I noticed was all my grammar and my paragraph structure were all off. As a result, after I turn my essays in I always review my paragraphs and sometimes I even ask my friends to read over my essays to see if I need to improve either my paragraph structure, thesis or conclusion. Another, way I tried to improve my grammar, editing skills, and planning is
Over the this past semester in freshman composition I have learned how to write a college level paper. Going into this class, I was a little unsure and scared that I wasn’t going to be able to do the things that were required for me to do. As the semester passed I could definitely see a change in my writing. I learned how to use the appropriate punctuation, how to write and refute an argumentation paper, which I believe is my strongest piece of writing and how to research and gather information to write a strong research paper. I knew coming into this class that I was going to struggle with my punctuations, word choice, and the overall flow of the paper.
This semester has been an ongoing challenge for me but has been an enjoyable one and I have not been presented with any impossible tasks. I have never been much of a writer, and during the course of this semester, I 've struggled to meet length requirements on the assigned essays. However, I do understand that not everyone is an excellent writer or even has to enjoy writing to get a good grade in this 1A class. From the start, with the first essay, I pushed myself to do my best and looked to multiple outlets to polish my writing, such as the online tutor, the writing center, the internet and the writer 's handbook.
Writing essays and other types of posts has always been difficult for me. But, throughout this composition class, I have learned many interesting and new things about the different types of writing styles. When starting this class, I considered myself to be an average writer with run-of-the-mill vocabulary, ordinary sentence structure and typical finished products. This class has helped me greatly improve my writing skills in a variety of ways. I have learned multiple things by taking this class, such as new ways to approach writing and that there is much that I still need to learn about composition.
Writing has always been an issue but yet interesting subject of mine. As hard as I try and write essays, and papers I just can’t get the hang of writing. But after taking this class, I did learn different writing technique and improved my writing proficiency, material body of formatting, and how to uncovering and properly use sources. Through class exams, essays, and a research paper, I was able to learn new writing skills. Although I have learned a variety of things, my writing still needs improvement.
Writing project 3 has shown me the importance of writing something that is of interest for you, an issue that you are passionate about. I think that I have started to get somewhat better at the structuring of my writing and using outlines before I jump into a draft. I am no longer as scared and hesitant to write, as I was the first writing project. I think a good goal that I accomplished from this project was using diverse sources in my writing. I was able to utilize a magazine post, newspaper article and research journals to form my argument and provide support.
