Reflective Essay: My Personal Writing Style

Jesika Anderson WR 121

My personal writing style is generally very casual; my brainstorming process really only includes getting any ideas (if any) I need to further a topic or to flesh it out beyond what it began as. As with brainstorming, my drafting is minimal and almost never done in longhand, my ideas flow faster than I can write them out, so I almost always need to type which I can do at a much faster (and legible) rate. I write, and then edit the process from there, going through two or three edits before a final piece is produced. Research happens while I write or while I brainstorm. Either because I need to confirm the idea is interesting during brainstorming or I need to confirm/cite during writing. Revising for me is done during writing as well. I’m probably an English teacher’s worst nightmare

I like a generally quiet environment while I work, because I need to concentrate solely on one thing and I find if there is more than one audio distraction I try to listen to everything all at once. I learned I can’t type out notes in class, despite being a fast typist because the information just doesn’t stay with me the same way as it does when I write it down longhand. I appreciate smaller groups, particularly in subjects I feel uncomfortable with like mathematics.

I’m a returning student who hasn’t been in a true college setting in 20 years. I don’t remember how to “college” and I don’t even know that I did it right the first time around. I work part-time, live 45 minutes away, have a hectic life and I’m extremely nervous about returning to school. As a student, I want to try my best but I also feel like I could get extremely overwhelmed at everything as well. I’m trying to keep it all in perspective and just take it one day at a time, and as things happen. I suppose I really don’t know what kind of student I am yet, only what kind of student I hope to