In this class, we have covered several writing and thinking skills. These skills range from writing effective sentences and paragraphs to the writing process stages to analysis to locating and using research. The goal of completing these tasks was to better prepare you to write effective academic and professional documents.
With that in mind, please take a few moments to think back on the class work, readings, and assignments we have completed in this class. Then, answer the following questions:
- What two writing or thinking skills do you feel you have improved in this class? Provide specific examples of how these skills have been improved.
- What two writing or thinking skills would you still like to improve? Explain these skills clearly in terms of why you think they still need improving.
- What two assignments, activities, etc. did you find most beneficial? Why
- What two assignments, readings, etc. did you find most challenging? Why?
I think some skills I have improved upon since taking this course would be the writing inside out method and the drafting method. These two methods have helped me to write more effective papers not only in this particular course but in all of my courses that I took this semester. The writing inside out method allowed me to realize how much more effective a paper can be if you work on it piece by piece rather than from top to bottom. I realized that if you do in fact write from top to bottom it causes you to lose your ideas and create a paper that cannot be easily understood. I also think the inside out method allows for not only better paragraph structure but also better sentence structure. Using the drafting method allowed me to better establish a unified paper. It helped me to pick out information that would be effective in my paper. Before I started drafting and sorting through my ideas I was using everything in my paper and not using any discretion. This method helps me to write a more effective and unified paper, something that I wasn’t doing before.
ReplyDeleteTwo skills that I would still like to improve upon would be the revision process and annotation. I know that if I work on using the revision process the end result of my paper will be much better. I have learned that it is important to not only looking at your paper yourself but to also have others. If you only look at your own paper you will overlook mistakes because you only see how it is in your head. I also think since I started reading my papers out loud before submitting them it allowed me to correct simple errors that would otherwise be overlooked. I have learned to understand the annotation method however I think I have to start to force myself to use it. I think that the method is a very good idea and makes reading through articles more effective. However, sometimes I find myself rushing through things and not focusing on what I should. If I start to use this method more I think I will have better information for my papers and walk away with a better understanding of the topic I am trying to complete.
The two assignments that I found most effective were the research paper and the blogs. Writing a research paper is a very important skill to have because it is something that I will have to do for almost every course and beyond in my career. I think that the methods we used were very beneficial and made for a much more effective way of the writing a research paper. Also I thought when we did this paper the topics were very interesting which caused me to want to do research and continue to find out more. I think prior to this course my research papers were unclear and didn’t cover the information necessary. However, after taking this course I found that I can choose information that will support my thesis with ease. I also found the blogs to be beneficial because it allowed me to look back on the work I had done at the end of each week. I think that my doing the blogs it allowed me reinforce what we had covered in class and therefore allowed me to use the information in a more effective way. The blogs was a great way for me understand the information and think about it on a different level compared to the one I did in class.
Two assignments that I found challenging were The Model Millionaire assignment and the first time we did prewriting. I thought that The Model Millionaire assignment was challenging because I had not had much experience as far as working with literary elements. I found it difficult to pull them out of the reading and determine which ones were being used. However, after I completed the assignment I understand how the literary elements were being used and how they helped to reinforce the paper. I thought the first time we did prewriting was also challenging because before I was more focused on getting the paper done as quickly as possible. So working with prewriting made me force myself to slow down and focus on the topic. I think it was a challenge because before I found the benefits of it I saw it as more of a hassle. Although I did have some challenges this year in this course overall I found it very effective and as an aid to all my writing skills.
ReplyDeleteThis class has helped me to improve my prewriting skills, and my revising skills the most. Before this class I had never really used either of these techniques in their most productive ways. Learning how to use them has made writing for me so much easier. I am able to pre-write with ease, and generate ideas much easier now. Revising, while still a pain, is easier when focusing on specific things such as development, unity, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnalysis and transitions are still somewhat of a struggle for me. Transitions are not as hard as analysis, but there is definitely room for improvement. Analysis is not as easy for me. I have a hard time comprehending what I read. However, through this class I found that annotation is very helpful, and it helps me to remember what I read.
Writing the post draft outline and the blogs have been beneficial to my learning. I really liked writing the post draft outline. Even though it is an “easy” assignment, it readily shows where there are logical and transition methods in my paper. The blogs have been nice, because they help to reflect on what we have worked on that week, rather than me just forgetting it all!
The research paper and the first time we drafted from our prewriting were the two biggest challenges for me. I struggle with getting research papers going, but once I had got it started it was alright to draft, however my first draft was probably the worst I have ever written. When we drafted for the Model Millionaire paper, the prewriting was rough, along with the drafting. When I was almost done with my pre-writing I grasped a whole new idea and rewrote all of my pre-write. I found that when I did this, the writing was much easier and it flowed better. I believe that this was the case because I truly understood what I was trying to say, and I knew what I wanted to get across.
During this class i believe i have learned a lot more about the importance of prewriting. Before when i wrote a paper i would never revise it, unless we had to as part of the assignment. Also i think annotation is important when reading an informational article.
ReplyDeleteThe first paper on analyzing one of the two short stories was to most beneficial to me because i had never done a paper on analyzing an article like that, when learning something new it is always going to help you in the future. The research paper i do not believe helped me with anything because i am still very unsure how a research paper should be written and organized.
The two writting skills that i think i have improved the most this semester would be the method I use for drafting and my pre-writting skills. For instance, I now draft inside-out instaed of top down. This has been so beneficial for me, It made writting papers so much easier. It was also less time consuming. before I started drafting inside out It would take me 6-7 hours just to a do a first draft.Can you imagine how tired and stressed out I was? Improving my pre-writting was also a big help. Before I started this class I never pre-writted before. Doing this alowed me to visually see my ideas and make sense of what information I had. I noticed when i did not pre-write I often left out a lot of details that would of really improved my papers.This class over all has really helped me improve my writing skills and I no longer dread writing a paper like I use to.
ReplyDeleteI would still like to improve my revising techniques. I think my papers still could be better revised. I did not have a chance to benefit from the peer revision which could have really helped me. So hopefully in the future I can take part in that as well as many other techniques. I would also like to improve my time management. It is still taking me a long time to draft my first draft. I am still so concerned with everything being perfect the first time around and I still often find myself revising as I go. I am still working on not doing that.
The two assignments that I found beneficial was learning about the annotation method and the analysis method. I never used either method before but they were both beneficial because it helped me to really understand what I was reading. These methods really forced me to think about the text and put it into my own words. I probably would never of done that if I did not learn about these methods.
The two assignments I felt most challenging was the analysis paper and the pre-writting. It took me a long time to write the analysis paper. I was not use to this type of writing but I got through it and got a better grade then expected. Pre-writing was challenging because I was not use to doing this so when I got the hang of it it really helped.
I feel the two writing skills that have improved for me the most are pre-writing and doing actual research. I have learned how to prewrite successfully, as well as how to do research without it being a complete pain.
ReplyDeleteAs far as still needing improvement, my paragraph structure and overall flow of ideas still need quite a bit of work. Even with the prewriting done, when it comes time to sit down and actually write I start with a stream of consciousness style of writing that is hard to give up. This leads to paragraphs with more than one idea and that don't necessarily follow a nice easy to follow pattern.
Writing the literary analysis paper and the peer reviews for that paper really brought to light for me the problems I have while writing. These problems, while still prevalent in my writing, are hopefully being phased out as I learn to recognize them more easily.
Really the only challenging assignment for me has been the research paper. This has nothing to with difficulty, although I did find it difficult to limit the length of my paper, but everything to do with procrastination. I often put off doing research for anything until the last possible moment. This is not really something any class will help for me, but something I must do on my own.
By taking this class, I feel as though I've improved on being able to write a solid thesis statement. I actually understand the meaning and importance behind it. I learned it should be straight to the point and should always answer a good question. Keeping it at the top of the paper while writing also helps a lot. The inside out method is another technique I have began to really take advantage of. It helps me get my ideas down because I never know where to begin. When writing top-down, the end result is the only thing in mind.
ReplyDeleteI believe I still need to improve my pre-writing skills. I always seem to get a block, or I don't think my ideas are important enough. It's hard for me to just keep the ideas flowing. Also, I would love to improve my vocabulary and sentence variety. I think it would help me expand my ideas in a better way.
At the time, I absolutely hated the critique assignment. It drove me crazy that I didn't know exactly what to do or what was right. Having to research the correct way really helps you understand it to the best of your ability. It also helps when writing your paper to know the credibility and the main topic of that source. The pop quizzes helped me stay on track with my reading. I knew it would be beneficial to read, but knowing I would be quizzed gave me more incentive. The fact that they were timed and short eased my anxiety because I was always prepared.
The most challenging assignment as I mentioned above was the critique. I don't like doing things without certainty. It helped me branch out and learn a new way to analyze information. These blogs were challenging in the sense that they challenged my memory. The weeks tend to fly by and you don't really know where time goes. With something like this, it should help keep someone organized. Sometimes I didn't know how to relate what we did in class to what we were supposed to do for the research paper. I couldn't seem to find a common ground with topics such as health care and slasher movies. Finally, it began to click.
Looking back on the semester, I belive this class helped me improve several different writing skills. The writing skills that I most strongly improved were pre-writing and revising. Before this class I would write my papers top down, now I always pre-write before I start my papers. This helps me to write papers that flow better and clearly develope an idea. Also revising is something I would rarely do before this class. now I always read over my papers. I read them loud to myself to make sure my paper sounds good.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have improved on these writing skills, I'm still no wheres nere a perfect writer. I would still like to improve my grammer skills. Losing points on assignments due to incorect use of commas really irritates me. Also I would like to improve my pre-writing skills. Even though they have already improved, over the coure of the last semester, I know they can get better. This will help me develope better papers.
Writing the response paper this smester was the most benneficial assignment for me. It helped me realise how much easy It is to write a well devloped paper after pre-writing. Also the critique assignment helped me out. I used the same methods i used for the critique, when evaluating all my sources. This helped me pull out good ideas and facts.
The most challenging assignment for me was the literature analysis paper. I had no clue how to start this paper. Also both the pieces of literature we chose from didn't interst me much, so it was hard to get into the assignment. Also the pre-writing was a challenge for me. I didn't know how to prewrite at first, but I later discovered it is easy and very benneficial when drafting a paper.
The skills I most improved this year are my drafting and pre-writing. When I was in high school, I never did any pre-writing. I would almost always hand in my first draft. Mr. Snow stressed how important pre-writing was. I soon realized using the "networking" method was the most efficient way to organize my ideas. I now develop more than fifty percent of my paper from pre-writing. After I write my first copy, I used inside out method to revise. Once I feel my paper is at a decent level. I use the "leave it for three days" and comeback and finish the paper.
ReplyDeleteI still need to work on my unity. My ideas can lead my off topic. I need to continue to write and READ consistently. I truthfully can say i haven't read all the chapters. I have trouble staying with the sentence. My eyes get tired and dizzy from concentrating I start to re read the same sentence. This makes me aggravated and I stop reading. If someone could help me improve or motivate me to read, I would understand my writing and thinking.
I think the short story paper and the critique were the most beneficial assignments. I liked how the short story showed me how to analyze a piece and the critique taught me something new. A critique allows me to look at a source and tell what I think, not only in a positive way, but with criticism as well.
The most challenging assignments for me was these blogs and the reading. Like I said above, I am not a very good reader, and the blogs challenged my memory. Eventually the blogs were not so bad. I started to start them earlier in the week. I am learning how college is. As a freshmen the work is a big change from high school.
One of the writing skills that I improved in is the skill to write more about a source I researched. Throughout high school I never had any problems with pre writing and putting together a well written paper. One of the problems I did have was trying to write as much as possible for a source as I could. Now that I’m in college I find it easier to write more about a source and to try and juice every single piece of information from a source as I can. One example of how I improved in writing more from my sources is the paper I recently wrote on gun control laws. I took every piece of information I found and incorporated it into my paper.
ReplyDeleteOne of the writing skills I need to improve on is in text quotations and I need to learn how to cite my work properly. I need to improve in both of these because I feel I am weak in these areas. I do not know when to put in text quotations because I don’t know when they should come in and I never officially learned how to cite my work.
2 assignments I found most beneficial were the two essay’s we had to complete so far because I believe they really helped me grow as a writer. The reason for this is because practice makes perfect.
2 assignments I found challenging is the essay coming up that’s due on the 7-8th because I don’t know how I should write it and also one of the blogs witch is tricky, I forget witch one I just know I skipped it because I couldn’t understand how to do it
Two methods of wich I believe I have imoroved on are prewring and typing skills.prewriting like in the short story paper helped me realize what could be in a paper in respects to what should be.typing for me is getting so much better and I am making less mistakes in revision.
ReplyDeleteinside out writing due tio the fact i always do what i have been previously tought to do top down. brainstorming as well because, I always try to pull information from my head rather than my sources.
The humpty dumpty exercise because it allowed me to get to know a couple of classmates on the very first day. The continuous lectures and incorporation of slasher films to our work. This helped because I could really understand how they were similar.
The research paper because the information was coming from sources rather than a reading or general knowledge. The pop quizes because I never had one prior to thhe class.
This class has been very positive for me. The thing that I have I learned and benefited the most from is inside-out drafting. This has helped me become more organized and helped me think more clearly within my papers. My organization has greatly improved. When going through the process of writing the research paper, my ability to find information quickly improved too. Being able to use a database really help, since I hadn't used one before. Also, I had never thought of reading the topic sentences in books to see if the information in that paragraph would help me.
ReplyDeleteI think I still need a little work with using details within papers. I don't always put enough in, or put in things that I don't necessarily need. I think I need to improve my thinking of what details are relevant to what I am writing about. I also think I need to improve on writing to a certain audience. I haven't had much experience with writing to a certain audience, and need to work on writing towards more communities to get more practice.
One of the activities that I found very helpful was doing peer review. It always helps to get feedback from someone, especially in this class because you don't really know who anyone is and they will give you better feedback. I also found doing the blog assignments helpful. They made me think more about what we were doing in class, and just to be able to express my thoughts.
The research paper was a bit challenging for me. It was mostly difficult because of the amount of time we had to do it. We had a long time to do it, and it was a little bit of a challenge because of the time management. I felt like I had too much time, and procrastinated on it for a while. Its not that big of a deal, but I had a hard time starting because I felt like I had enough time to do it and put it off for a while. That was the only real challenge I had, which wasn't too bad at all!
1.)I really liked the prewriting we did in class- the prom model. The bubble method we used helped me to see how easy it can be to generate topics for your body paragraph's. I also used the listing method on the last two papers and that seemed to work out well.
ReplyDelete2.)I would like to improve my introductory paragraph and my closing paragraph. I am definitely having a problem translating my research question into a good thesis statement. I know I need to improve this area of my writing.
3.) I really liked doing the research paper because I was able to put the body paragragh's together pretty easily, my topic was easy to organize and I enjoyed writing it. I also liked the in-class research on the slasher film we did. It was fun and a great way to teach.
4.) For me the first paper was the most challenging because I had never written a paper before. I had no idea what I was doing. I also found the critique challenging.
The skill I have improved the most since taking this class would be in regards to writing essays. The inside out method is very helpful to me, and it is now much easier to write papers. Another skill I have improved on is setting up my papers, and paragraphs through specific, step by step notes we took in class during the beginning of the semester.
ReplyDeleteI still need to work on my researching skills. As I attempt to research a topic I often get lost and gather unnecessary information. I also need to improve unity in my papers, or more specifically, the flow of my papers as a whole. This is something I notice not only when I re read my papers, but also during the writing process.
The activity I found the most beneficial in class was actually the blogs. The blogs really connected my work to class work. Doing a blog on Sunday night also helped me stay on track, since all my classes run on a Tuesday-Thursday schedule.
Another class activity I found beneficial was in class notes. Unlike many other courses, notes I took in this class were extremely helpful and practical.
The most challenging part of the class was the readings. Having four classes all expecting you to read a chapter or two per week sort of turns the brain to mush and cancels out the benefits, but that’s just college, I suppose.
The next most challenging part of the class was the MLA citations, simply because I am extremely unfamiliar with them.
Over this semester I have learned many new skills and I have also learned how to improve existing ones. The one important part of writing I really improved in was staying focused on writing about my thesis statement. This helps me stay concentrated on my point and keeps me on track. The other skill I now recognize is very important is prewriting. Ive found it makes your writing extremely easier. Through the practice I have learned that webbing is the best prewriting technique for me.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the writing process in which I should improve is the revision process. I seem to focus more on my drafting than revising. I would also like to improve my ability to lengthen my papers.
I found the research paper very benefical because it was a chance to help focus on supporting my thesis statement. I also believe the blogs help a lot because they give you a chance to reflect on everything you've learned.
I found the literary device paper to be a little difficult because mine turned out to be more of a plot summary rather than an analysis.
I feel I have improved on writing more detailed informative papers. After writing a couple of papers I realized that I wouldn’t put enough specific details in a paragraph to back up my point. Also, I believe that I have improved on my prewriting. I found after I pre-write I would write detailed papers. It also helped me write papers faster because I got all my ideas out of my head. For instance, my last paper on the fat tax I pre-wrote and I had at least 3 specific details with in each paragraph. I would like to improve on paragraph clarity. In my last paper I made minor mistakes in choice of wording sentences. Furthermore, I would like to improve on my proofreading. I feel like I often skip over mistakes because I’ve read my papers so many times. I found the critique to be beneficial. This is because it was something completely new to me. In a critique you have to state the author’s thesis as well as your own and then agree or disagree with the author. It is slightly similar to a research paper and found it helpful to write one after writing the critique. In addition, our last assignment was helpful when we had to pre-write in class. It made me sit down and think about what I wanted to write about for our last paper. The most challenging assignments I found to be were the two papers. The first paper was challenging because I had a hard time getting my ideas onto paper. The second paper was hard because a lot of research was needed and it was time consuming.
ReplyDeleteOne writing skill I have improved on over the course of the semester is the way in which I pre-write. I had always had trouble pre-writing until I was introduced into the web-design. This design allows me to put all my ideas together and then pick the best of them. While another writing skill I have improved on is annotation, this method allows me to highlight key points in my research and know exactly where in the article I should refer back to.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my pre-writing skills have improved, I believe that they can be improved further by practicing and make the details more descriptive. Furthermore, I believe I need to improve on my inside-out drafting because it is a very handy trick to use when writing lengthy papers.
I found the literary analysis paper helped my writing out more than most of the activities because it showed that I can be very descriptive in my writing without letting the main idea of the paper to get out of focus. Another important assignment I found very useful was the work we did on annotation, this allowed me to better understand why it is important to use annotation when reading articles.
The research paper was very challenging because you couldn't just make something up and hope that it would make a valid point. In addition, I struggled to work in groups because I felt as if I would be stealing ideas from the other members versus making my own ideas and forming my own opinions.
I think the inside out method helped me the most in writing my papers. I started using this method and it changed the way I think in writing a paper. It also helped me explain more in each paragraph what I was trying to say. It has improved my writing because I get all my ideas out into more developed paragraphs. My research has improved by finding the right details that I need for my paper. By going to databases and using my online sources were key to getting details for my essays.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I would like to improve would be my explanation of each paragraphs thesis. Sometimes I need to explain even more in detail. Another thing I still need to improve on is my analysis on my documents to get the right information on my topic. The analysis is key to writing a good paper and it helps give good details. My information sometimes needs to be improved.
One of the assignments that I like the most were the blogs because they helped me think about what we did in class. It also helped think outside of class of what we were doing.
Another assignment was the quizzes we did in class because they helped me look for information faster.
The two assignments that were difficult for me were the analysis and the pre-writing. They both were difficult but after doing them a couple times it got easier.
Pre writing was actually one of the biggest things I got out of this course. I didn't take the time to really try it for "the tell tale heart" but I did for the research paper. Forcing myself to truly take all of the steps to plan it out before diving into shallow waters was a life saver. The thing I really need to improve on is time management for assignments. The adrenaline rush that used to be able to produce amazing papers in highschool now just creates anxiety. This isn't producing the same results. I need to follow the checklist in the textbook that shows the proper time you are supposed to give yourself to right a paper.
ReplyDeleteThe things I found helpful was the blog (even though I wasn't always on time :( ) But, I feel like it does a quick check-in with you at the end of the week to make sure that you understand what is going on and gives you a chance to connect that what we learned in class. I also liked working on the class essay because then you see what you are supposed to be doing at the time.
I struggled with the research paper. This was just due to time management and I almost felt that I had too much freedom, so I was nervous about picking something that was not going to make any sense. I probably rewrote it five times. The only thing I had going for me was my pre drafting. But, this can be fixed with a little time management.
One writing skill I have improved would be pre-writing. I would always have trouble pre-writing, but the web-design helped me out a lot. It kept me very organzied and when I went to start my paper, I knew exactly what to write.
ReplyDeleteI would like to improve my paragraph structures and to add more details for my paper to flow better. I need to lengthen my papers. I also need to learn how to cite my work properly, becuase I always seem to leave something important out.
Tee 2 assignments that I liked the most was peer review. I liked getting feedback from my classmates, and it helped me improve my writing skills. Another thing I liked was blogging. I was able to express my thoughts.
I never really liked the pop quizes. Not that they were hard or anything, and they were straight from the book, but I always felt nervous because we only had 5 minutes to get the answers down, and I would be more focused on the time rather then getting the quiz done.
This is Brian Kim. I had some difficulties writing the first draft we had and the critique paper. Since it was the first paper we had to write with new techniques which were different than what I had been previously doing, I had some difficulties starting the paper. However, I realized soon that the techniques worked really well. I had never written a critique kind of paper, so I had some difficulties starting the paper also. I chose topic related to virtual world gaming, but after I finished the paper, I realized the topic may had been too broad. I need to improve on narrowing the topic I am writing, and summarizing what I am going to focus on. Most of the time I write a paper, I read my finished paper and I realize there are not many strong points as I thought they would be. I found most beneficial on the research paper and the first paper about literacy. I was always weak on writing paper based on the literacy. Although the literacy was short, it was beneficial to me by practicing my skill. The literacy and research paper was challenging since I was weak on literacy and the topic was too broad for me for the research paper. The fact that I can choose any topic made me choose a little too broad topic, but I could narrow it down while writing the paper.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can get a bit of credit for this blog, even though it is a week or so late, I was confused on how I should answer the questions.
ReplyDeleteI definitely improved my researching skills along with my pre-writing skills. I can now research much more efficiently by using databases and by using annotation to quickly single out words and phrases helpful to my work. As for pre-writing, I really never did much of it before I took this class so writing papers were arduous work because I did not have any of my ideas collected and ready to be expounded upon.
Although I’ve improved my researching skills, I really need to polish my annotation skills and critical thinking. I really need to work on these skills since they work hand-in-hand to be most effective. For improving my annotation I need to work on what to write as comment on the text as a “conversation” with the author. And with critical thinking I need to really look more in depth and analyze sources I find while researching so that I can annotate more conclusively.
I found the second essay assignment very beneficial because I was able to practice the skills we had learned so far.
The research paper with the topic about using multimedia as educational resources helped me the most. While writing the paper I was able to practice my researching skills, drafting skills and citation skills for the first time in my college career. The second most beneficial assignment was the last paper upon which I was able to put into practice the skills I was able to learn in the first research paper.
I have to say that the same two assignments were also the most challenging because they taught me new techniques which I had not used before. Over all I feel that I have learned to pre-write, research, draft and revise much more efficiently than I could before I wrote the two papers. Besides, anything worth having is worth working for, especially writing skills which will help me throughout the next several years of education.