Before starting to tell about my writing styles and skills, I’d like to first introduce myself a bit, as a person who likes to read and write. I have been interested in variety of literal pieces, mostly those were written no before 1900s. Though I like to read a lot, and actually write a lot, I have never had any proper education on how to write essays or even basic rules related to that. Maybe because of that reason, most of the time what I write are some short stories based on my own experience. I am also interested in expressing my opinions in an argumentative essay format. I do not think I have my own style of writing yet, but I would want to develop one while taking this course though.
If I particularly wish to talk about my strength in writing, I could say I consider the readers a lot. To begin with, I try hard to keep my essay flow all the time. Most of the complements that people gave for my essay were about how coherent it is. Sometimes, frankly, it might not work out that well, but the thing is that I put things in order so that people would not be confused while they are trying to understand what I am talking about. Another thing is that I use comparably easy words that flow better than some other difficult words. To tell the truth, this is partly because of my lack of hard vocabulary. But the main reason is because I notice that it would be awkward to use unexpectedly difficult words considering that I am not writing a Ph.D. paper. I care about my word choice both for the flow of my essays and the readers.
There are numerous parts in my essay that I need to improve on. One of the poorest skills I have is the “grammar.” I get frustrated a lot because I am always confused with when to put articles and when not to. Besides the articles, I sometimes write awkward sentences that do not really make sense. To improve on those, I believe it is the matter of my practicing harder and trying to follow the instructions that teachers give. Another weakness is that I never really try to revise my essay after I finish the first version. It is very ironic that I know revision is such an important factor to write a good piece of writing at the end; but I am not trying. I am just a bit too lazy to recheck whether I have made any mistakes. To improve on this, the first thing I would have to do is to be more of a hard-working writer.
My goal, particularly in this class, as well as any other English courses that I take, is to be a creative story teller who can touch anyone’s heart with a piece of writing. To be like that, I would have to improve the weaknesses in the first place. After developing my strength and try to turn my essay into a more concise one, I would be able to find my own style of writing. I hope that day comes as soon as possible, as I know the way to do so.
My best piece of writing, as I think, is the term paper that I wrote for Mr. Johnson’s class last semester. I consider it be the best not because I think it has the best style ever, but because I was and I still am very interested in the topic that I wrote on. I think the way I stated the facts and expressed my opinion was fairly good. Though that essay shows how much I lack in grammar skills, it is one of my favorites of all. I will post it on my blog as well.
Sincerely, I felt very encouraged when you said you are going to be very different from Ms. Choi in a way that you would focus more on writing and some deeper stuff. I am not trying to criticize her kind of organizing classes, but it did not fit with me very well. I prefer more critical issues, whether they are from textbook readings or are just some random ideas, mostly because I know what I need to improve on: critical thinking and composition. I am highly expecting to learn a lot in your class. And I will push myself harder as well.
First off, nice blog! It's good to see you've been playing around with the gadgets and layout. That's one reason I like blogger. Secondly, very interesting paper you wrote about the Cheonan. I've actually never encountered a filtered down version of what happened, and the issues surrounding the event, so for me it was enjoyable to read an accessible nut-shell version. As you say, your style flows and doesn't try to overwhelm (which is often the case when reading about political events as big as this one).
답글삭제You also clearly know your strengths and weaknesses. Your grammar seems on the cusp of big improvements, and I think by senior year you'll be close to perfect with a bit of effort. But like you say, a second draft is key to that, and I'm willing to circle your mistakes if you are willing to fix them.
Looking after your reader like an invited guest is a definite way to succeed, and you seem to do that well. I didn't have to re-read anything to get the meaning, and I LIKE that far more than intellectual blunder. If you're smart and know what you're writing about, you don't need gimmicks.
Anyways, good stuff and see you in class.