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?
1) I think one writing skill I have improved is annotation. I had heard of it but I never really used it before while I was reading. It definitely made reading and understanding a lot easier and I’m not so confused anymore when I go back and re-read what I put notes next to. I also believe the post-draft outline was something I had improved in too. I didn’t really know what the point of it at first was, but now that I know, it’s something I’m going to use every time I have to write an essay because if you can’t figure it out then you know you have to re-write it.
ReplyDelete2) I think I just need to improve my organization of my paragraphs because sometimes I’ll just write the entire essay not realizing that some things are so out of place until I start re-reading my essay and then I’m like, why did I put that there? So actually, I think the post-draft outline would be a good thing to look back at again. When you go back and make a summary of every paragraph, you can then put them in order and see which paragraphs you want where and which ones don’t make sense.
3) I think the two assignments I found the most beneficial would be the thesis paper we did about the “Tell-Tale Heart” because I found that I learned a lot about writing a thesis paper during this considering it was the first thesis paper I had ever wrote. Another activity, is actually the peer review (if I can count that), I thought getting someone else’s opinion on my paper, really helped me out. I think seeing what someone else sees about your paper that you don’t, can really benefit your paper.
4) I think the activities that I found the most challenging would also be the thesis paper because even though it was my first time writing one, it was the most challenging and coming up with a thesis seems so much easier when you’re just handed one to start with. Coming up with a thesis on your own is much more difficult. Another activity I found challenging was the critical response essay. It was hard for me to prove an author’s argument over someone else’s, knowing that if I don’t prove it right or strong enough, the essay won’t be good enough and I won’t get a good grade.
1. The post draft outline was really a big thing for me. It helped me to format my papers better because I knew what exactly I wanted in my paragraphs. It also helped me to organize my thoughts and ideas into proper categories. Another skill i thought I have improved on was the actual sentence structure. Many times I would write run-on sentences now I can sum them up a bit more and get straight to the point.
ReplyDelete2. I would lie to improve my annotation although i like it i could be a bit better t it. Also I am not good with coming up with a conclusion paragraph. I know I still need improving on my annotation because I dont always respond to ideas that could help me with my research questions and as far as the conclusion paragraph I always tend to get stuck on the last sentence to wrap up the paper, I don't always know how to keep people wanting more.
3. The research paper was beneficial because it was very educating on a topic that hit me close to home. I now no how to research more effectively and i know my attained skills will help me in the future. Another assignment I found beneficial was the short story paper. It had me think "out of the box" and it took a lot of thinking.
4. A challenging assignment was the research paper. This was the absolute hardest one in the beginning I had no clue where to start and It was just confusing. Going through SO MANY different websites to find accurate facts was nerve wrecking! Another assignment I found hard was the short story only because I had to prove something the opposite of what the author was trying to say. It wasnt too difficult but a bit frustrating.
1. Two writing skills that I have definitely improves on would have to be pre-writing and my ability to find details for a paper. I used to never pre-write, but now I set up the diagram and get all the information I need which makes writing the paper a lot easier. Finding details for a paper is also a lot easier with all the ways you showed us how.
ReplyDelete2. I would still like to improve my pre-writing. Even though I do it now, I still don't get enough information because I rush myself. I would also like to work on my ability to annotate.
3. The two activities that I found most beneficial were watching the movies to find details and all of the different ways to pre-write. I found the movies to be beneficial because you showed us how and what to look for. I found the pre-writing activities beneficial because before I would just write every paper by writing whatever came to my head.
4. I found the research paper to be the most challenging because you had to find a lot of details from many different sources which could get annoying. I would say the short story analysis was the next most challenging because I felt like I was basically writing the same things over and over to answer the questions for the paper.
The most important writing/thinking skills that I have learned was how to write an effective research paper, and how to effectively revise a paper. The examples of that are writing the research paper, I felt very confident when I was writing it unlike the past times I had to look up sources and write on them. Also I learned how to get more out of revising a paper instead of turning in the same copy as the first draft, I have learned to read it multiple times with other people, and to not do too much at one time.
ReplyDeleteI would still like to improve on writing conclusions, it is my biggest weakness because I cannot wrap up a paper effectively and to tell the reader everything I just wrote and sum it all up. I also would like to improve on gather information from sources once I have collected them, instead of spending hours reading through everything to help answer my question.
My best assignments were these blogs and the steps to writing a paper, they helped me understand what I was reading in the text book and the steps helped me write a more sophisticated paper.
The assignments that challenged me the most were the final stage of the research paper because I needed to figure out how to effectively put all the information I found into a great paper. Also, the illustration paper was hard because I have never wrote one before, so it took me a little longer to get the paper done then planned.