...a text as deeply as possible and unpack every detail to develop a satisfying close read. Also, by reading multiple novels by the same author I have learned to identify different writing styles and make connections that weave texts together; this helped me develop a deeper understanding of the novels. When I look at one of my freshman level novels and see clean pages, I realize that I did not actively read the book. I guess you could say that I have learned to read with a pen, which has drastically taken my writing to a new level because I am able to connect back with my initial insights marked on the page. Writing had always been one of my strengths, but it was challenging to take that initial step past the high school, five-paragraph essay form that constricted my ideas for so long. Moving past this form, however, has greatly opened my mind. My thoughts are now able to be more complex because I have learned how to sustain a logical argument in an organized manner....
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...* 1. What are two or three of the most important concepts you have learned about academic writing for graduate students? The concepts I learned in writing are practicing better writing habits, by skill. I was able to improve upon my use of commas, drafting complete sentences, avoiding sentence fragments and ensuring drafted essays are in compliance with APA guidelines. I was also able to draft better writing essays by using critique methods. Synthesis essays seem to relate to multiple articles on the same topic. Relating multiple topics have the ability to relate information in a argumentative or informational manner. Difference approaches can be taken in order relay important information and build facts upon discussion topics. 2. What advice for success would you give to a student who was considering taking this class? The advice I would give for success to students is to prepare and familiarize yourself with the information being presented. This could be taking a week or two before the course starts to read over the materials and review the topics and understand the depth of the information. This will give students a successful head start into the program and help them understand the information better, more smoother and faster. 3. Please share any other thoughts that come to mind. This has been a really great and informative course. A lot of my writing was drafted in hopes that it was, or might be corrector great writing. With this class, I was about to put everything...
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...foundation for most other college courses. When I began WRTG 101S, I was uneasy with the quality of my research, formatting, and writing; now I am confident in my ability to produce well-written literature. Over the past eight weeks, I have learned much about the writing process and the importance of prewriting, writing, and revising to ensure a quality end product. Since being introduced to college writing and the writing process during a conference assignment in week one, I have applied these skills to all of my writing projects, which have yielded successful results. These steps allow me to progress through any writing assignment in an organized and efficient manner. This process was especially helpful in the cause and effect essay. This was the first essay I had completed in 10 years, since graduating high school. I was very anxious and nervous about the assignment since I had not written academic pieces in quite some time. Honestly, I still become anxious when approached with any type of writing assignment. This is due to my desire to excel in all that I encounter. I now, however, feel more at ease in knowing that I have specific steps than can help me manage any assignment one section at a time. The writing process is still a work in progress for me, but I believe I have made much improvement since the start of the course. Similarly, I feel that I have improved greatly in providing the essential elements that make up the body of a writing assignment. The assignments within conference...
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...In writing my synthesis paper as well as the reflection done in week 9 discussion I have modified and refined my writing style as well as my approach to this essay to get a successful outcome. My goals for where this essay is going to go has definitely changed from what I want to present and argue. This mentality has come from the commentary given to me by the other students to push my ideas further, to develop the basic idea of my essay and maturing it into a more creative realm. For the drafting aspect of the paper I have begun constructing the bare bones of the paper, outlining what I want to discuss in the paper, how I want to present it, self-workshopping the body paragraphs and transitions, as well as composing a well thought out thesis that encapsulates all of my ideas into one argument. I have been going through my annotated...
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...reflection essays that I wrote, I noticed numerous problems that stood out for each essay and some that repeated themselves. These problems formed various patterns that appeared throughout my writing, brought out my strongest and weakest points for each essay, and made me think about what I would have done differently if I would have had more time. As I began writing the review essay, the annotated bibliographies, and the academic argument, the one problem, or error, that became consistent was lack of detail of the citations I used in my earlier drafts. As I looked back at my essay for the academic argument, this became one of the most noticeable patterns that was consistent throughout all my...
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...So, I typed my little fingers off and picked up a few grammatical textbooks along the way. Every essay my grades got a little better, maybe he was going easy on me but I’ll never know. Concluding the year, I had to do my senior research paper, which I chose the topic of “The Brain in Love.” Precisely 15 pages later, I passed in my paper and earned an A. I honestly don’t know who was more surprised, him or me—or my mom. Regardless, I proved that I was capable of producing great pieces of...
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...through touching spirit bear. This was an insane to see myself even do that I have not read a single book since the 5th grade. My goal was to read 2 books this semester, I thought that it would be hard but not impossible. Turns out it was harder than I thought it would be, I barely got through one. Reading is a fun experience but a really hard one to focus on. The first book was an alright read. It was a great book that had a lot of twists and had an interesting, thick plot. The next book would have been a great read, but I shot too high and came back with very little results. When I broke my arm I missed 5 days of school or approximately an hour of reading and I had too much homework to catch up. Since I only read the first book my entire essay will solely be based on how I felt when I read this book. The kind of books that I enjoy reading are the ones that have thick plots and twists, I really loved the dynamics of the characters in this book. The way that the story blended a subject like crime into a setting that it's not normally seen. I thought that the most intense part of the story was the gambling and the planning it put an image in my head of a kid...
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...Ep Reflection During the different processes of making the essay, I felt that it was easier to make the final written essay as we had already made our points and found our quotes. If we had forgotten different events in the novel we could look at our reading log which helped tremendously as we were reading other novels at the same time. These steps helped me stay on track as I would have procrastinated and finished my essay a day or two before the due date. When writing the essay I found that it was easier and quicker as we had already found the quotes and had all our ideas written down. The steps were put into a good order and helped me focus on a topic. At some points I felt rushed as some of the steps were due a few days after we were given...
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...I have always had a grasp on this concept, but for most essays I have writing in my life; the intended audience was always the instructor. Therefore, coming into this class I lacked experience when it came to writing to other audiences and properly constructing my paper for them. The problem paper gave me a chance to do that. There were a few times that I lost sight of the audience throughout the paper. Professor Kissinger said I had good moments of audience awareness and community oriented appeals. This gave me confidence that I was heading in the right direction, but it told me there is still lots of room for improvement. My goal is to have good audience awareness throughout the essay not just moments. Knowing and understanding your audience is important in writing and if you lose sight of it your writing loses its effectiveness. With my community oriented appeals I was also able to tie in some political rhetoric along in my essay, by explaining the consequences if the problem was not fixed. Even though it would have been easier for me to go with assignment 1 for my portfolio I feel like my problem paper help me grow more out of the two...
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...I wrote this essay for the University of New Mexico. The essay prompt asked me to describe a specific example of a time when I displayed leadership. I wrote many essays while applying for colleges. An essay centered around leadership showed up for almost every university I applied to. For this specific essay I decided to elaborate on my experience leading a Positive Action program and my time working with kindergartners. The essay had to be less than 350 words. The short length requirement was another common trend among the essays I wrote for colleges. Admissions officers read thousands of essays all addressing the same prompt. They want to see who can impress them with the least amount of words which creates a unique challenge for the student....
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...The final position paper helped me grow as a writer even more than the previous two essays we have done. The reason I feel this way is because as I was beginning to write the paper I caught myself analysing what I was writing from the beginning, and not just waiting to look back at the end. My writing style matured also while writing this paper. I realized what words to avoid and found acceptable words to replace the ones I could not use. These are reasons I believe I grew as a writer from this one paper. Even though I did grow as a writer through this paper it does not mean it was a smooth writing process. Researching was not hard because I already had most of my sources and new exactly what I was looking for in the new articles I had to find. Once I had all of the sources I needed to write this paper is when the challenges appeared. I had troubles finding a good introduction to start my paper, and my thesis was not turning out how I wanted it to. After I finally got an introduction that was decent I focused on writing my body paragraphs. Organization was something I had struggled with in the past, so I spent time deciding what order I should write ideas in each paragraph. This was frustrating at times because it seemed like no matter how I organized the details it did not...
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...This semester of English 111 has taught me many things about my writing. I have learned that one of my best strategies with writing is getting a head start. I have learned that I will produce a better paper if I work on it periodically rather than all at once before the due date. Writing a paper periodically allows my brain to take a rest between each night. While my brain does get a rest, writing periodically also allows me to think of new thoughts and ideas that I want to incorporate into my paper. Along with this idea, a strategy that doesn’t work as well for me is trying to do too much at once. For the Paradise Lost Analysis and British Literature Analysis, I tried to do everything in one night so I wouldn’t have to worry about it any more. This technique put even more stress on me and made me overwhelmed. Although my literary analyses seemed strong in my eyes, the overall process was difficult and consuming due to how I approached it. Overall, I have developed an effective writing process over the quarter. Throughout this quarter, I have really acquired the skill of incorporating what others say into my writing thanks to the readings found in the “They Say/I Say” book. This book has really taught me the importance of including the thoughts of others in my writing. I have also acquired the skill of how to write effective analyses and research papers. The “Argument!” book explains how to write each one of these papers in an excellent way. Due to this, my writing process is...
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...Throughout my life, writing was always a challenging subject to me. Although I may not be able to write as well as others, I have enhanced my writing skills. As I was assigned to write a great amount of essays in this English course, I realized that my writing has improved immensely. This course has taught me how to write various types of essays, for example, rhetorical analysis, review, report, and reader responses. Every essay has different requirements and different components to include. By using these skills to compose an essay, I am capable of improving my writing and noticing my strengths and weaknesses. Every year, my writing skills improve little by little due to the amount of practice from writing essays. In every essay, there was...
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...In my Third Draft of my M2 assignment, I found the main flaw was not having my whole essay refer to my thesis. While I did provide great examples and analysis, it was disproportionate to certain parts of my thesis. In my fourth draft I attempted to correct this while keeping the good parts of my essay intact. Although I might have had certain ideas and perspectives in my mind, I did not adequately display them in my essay. My thesis can be broken down into three points of focus, symbolism, juxtapositions and diction. My third draft excelled with my focus on juxtapositions but severely lacked in my focus of diction. In my fourth draft I attempted to correct this. In the fourth drafted, I incorporated how diction can be reflected in how Shakespearean sonnets incorporate speech to sound like everyday people: “was the use of specific language wording or diction in sonnets to mimic everyday speech or life of everyday people”. I included this into my analysis of certain parts of my analysis such as my analysis of “coral” in the sonnet....
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...With help from an outstanding teacher, classmates, and friends, my writing has improved tremendously over the course of this year. The thing that helped to progress my writing ability the most was, and still is, all of the out of class work that Mr.Ferges has put us through. Although it has been very laboring and time consuming, I have seen significant growth in my ability analyze and write essays. Looking back at my work and seeing such improvement has also helped me to become more content with my work, another thing I struggled with throughout this year. Because I am now more comfortable with how my writing sounds to other people, I am able to write more fluently and faster, making more time to work on and improve my other areas of concern....
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