The writing
aspect of English class this year has helped me become a much better writer and
has led me to a better understanding of mistakes or errors that I commonly
make. My improvement as a writer becomes apparent when comparing each
consecutive paper I have written throughout the year. The variety of papers I
have written in English this year included a literacy narrative, profile of a
person, literary analysis and a research paper. In addition to papers, I have
written blog posts, such as this one, and other countless writing assignments.
When
beginning English I, I knew that I needed to work on supporting ideas and
writing faster because in the past I have often struggled with that. Those
aspects of writing were part of my focus for improving my writing. The
combination of the two transpired in my struggle with the WrAP test this year.
Normally, I do well, but this year, I found it hard to write about the topic
given as I found it rudimentary and hard to expand on. Of course, the amount of
time given didn’t help because there was no time to just think for a while or
make a detailed outline.
Each of the
“Traits of Good Writing” plays a crucial role in developing a good paper, or
just writing in general. The traits focused on this year include ideas,
organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions. With each
paper I have written, I have noticed a fluctuation in my grade for each of
these traits. Therefore, I made a table and graph to calculate which traits
needed the most work. I figured out that my two weakest categories are sentence
fluency and conventions (results are an average of all papers combined). Both
of these categories would be another place to focus on next year.
Not only do
I need to work on the broader categories of writing, but I also need to work on
specifics. One specific I need to work on is punctuation. Sometimes I find
myself overusing commas. This can become a bad habit because it might lead the
reader to a wrong interpretation. Other components of writing that need work are
quotations and paraphrasing. In the research paper, I did well with quotations,
except for that instance where I made the mistake of “dating Spiderman”.
However, when looking back, I feel that I need to incorporate my quotations
better. I also need to work on paraphrasing. Not once in the research paper did
I use this technique. Looking back, I realize the advantages of paraphrasing
and the potential it had for making my paper even better. Lastly, I need to
refrain from using words like “very” and “a lot” because they are often
overused and are less specific than other adjectives.
I have noticed
that each paper that I have written this year has its own unique struggle. With
the first paper, the literacy narrative, the vivid details and sentence fluency
were the hardest aspects of it for me. The next paper I worked on, the profile,
I found it hard to write and keep in mind the perspective of the reader. Thinking
in the reader’s perspective was crucial because the reader was supposed to be
able to infer characteristics about the person or place being described in the
paper. This is opposed to just simply stating the characteristics of the place
or person. The third paper, the literary analysis, was the most difficult for
me. I think if I had chosen a different story it would have been better and
easier to write. In this paper I lacked support for my thesis, which in this
paper seemed more essential compared to others. The final paper I completed
this year was the research paper. If I had not “dated Spiderman”, this paper
would have almost been impeccable because the rest of it was well written.
One of the most
vital things that I need to work on is analyzing my rhetorical situation.
Often, I find myself taking this step for granted and ignoring it. I need to step
out of this mindset of thinking and work towards utilizing what it has to offer
me. I now realize after learning about it this year that analyzing my
rhetorical situation can provide me with more ideas and help me to decide how
to write in any situation.
Moving into
next year when I take English II, I plan to take with me everything I have
learned throughout all of my years of writing. I plan to continue to work on
two of my biggest obstacles supporting a topic and writing in a limited amount
of time. Not only could this help with the WrAP test, but it could also help me
to get better grades. The time management could also allow me to finish writing
assignments faster and more efficiently. Another goal of mine is to make sure
to stay in the tense I am writing in when it is essential. I also plan to
continue to work on the basic writing skills, which could always need
improvement such as word choice and sentence fluency. If I succeed in doing
well with these goals next year, it will make it much easier throughout my last
two years in high school and onward.
I need to continue
to work on analyzing my rhetorical situation, time management, support, tense
and the “Traits of Good Writing”. This gives me plenty to consider when writing
next year. There is always something to be improved when writing, but if I
improve all of these aspects of my writing, it will be much easier to read and
more enjoyable.
