GCU ENG 250 Week 5 The Writer and the World
Details:
From the assigned readings covered in the course (or with permission from the instructor, an appropriate author not covered), select an author. You will explore how the author’s social, cultural, and historical setting influenced the mechanics and subject matter of his or her writings in a paper (500-750-words).
Use a minimum of two scholarly resources from the GCU Library.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the GCU Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
Sample Answer
Reflection on my growth as a writer
While I always endeavor to be among the privileged ones to have their work all over the website for all to see, I have realized that effective writing is a continues process, and every writing experience adds value to our writing skills. As the semester comes to an end, reflecting on my growth as a writer is critical in discovering areas where I have improved tremendously as well as learning areas of improvement. A reflection of my growth mirrors how my writing has been enhanced through the semester. Unlike high school writing, college writings command top-notch writing skills. While in high school, I despised writing solely because my English teacher who was not only a nuisance in writing lessons, but she also contributed to my dismal performance in English. Thus, as I enrolled in college, I was completely aware of my pathetic writing skills, and therefore, I began college English classes wholly pessimistic about writing. However, all these perceptions were all wrong.
Reflecting on my first experience with the book “between the world and me,” I realized that I had to be the best if my dream of being all over the web was to be accomplished. Looking back at my first essays, they were characterized by vivid descriptions in my topic sentences, which despite the vibrant information, my compositions lacked organization and structure which was a pretty mess. As time went by, the English teacher assigned us more in-class writing assignments, which improved my writing structure significantly. I could logically structure my thoughts while writing and I even learned to construct diagrams for organized writing. This further boosted my confidence and helped smoothen out my main flaws in writings. With the knowledge gathered through this semester, I can now write a well-structured essay which enables my essay readers to envision my writing. Another stronghold for my writing growth this semester has been the ability to incorporate credible sources in my writing, which not only adds to my writing, but it also impacts my growth as a writer in becoming the best writer.
Although the semester has helped me improve my writing skills, I still experience difficulties with topic sentences, use of quotes and PIE paragraphs. In most cases, I write essays that lack topic sentences, evidence, and commentaries which worsen my writing. Though I have ideas, I fail to present them in a thoughtful, unified, coherent and well-developed manner precisely because of my poor skills in PIE organization. As such, most of my paragraphs lack relevance thereby disconnecting my writing from the central thesis. This is because the paragraphs lack focus thus diverting the attention from the main idea of the essay. Another addition to my writing growth is the tremendous improvement in my reading skills. Improvement in writing skills has contributed significantly to my reading skills throughout the semester. On the other hand, reading has provided me with excellent vocabulary which is a substantial ground for practical writing skills. Reading has also been an excellent source of my writing knowledge as it has enhanced my knowledge about sentence structures and importance of the logic flow of words in writing. Initially, I had a little vocabulary which led to redundancy and repetition.
To develop fully as a writer, I need to improve on my topic sentence, quotes and use of PIE paragraphs. Regarding topic sentences, I need to settle on what to say to support my thesis based on my reaction to the text for the appropriate introduction of my writing. This will grant me the central idea of my work and provide me with a substantial ground for the recurring thoughts of my papers. Concerning the use of quotes, I need to improve in referencing works from other sources. At this juncture, I need to develop more illustrations that support my topic sentence and the examples should reinforce my central ideas. About the explanations, I should improve in explaining the relationships between my examples and the main ideas. Writings without explanations leave an opening in my papers for misinterpretation of the central thought which distorts the actual meaning of the work.
While some students perceive writing as an overwhelming and exciting experience, to some it is horrible unfathomable encounter. I uphold writing as a venture for improvement, not only for personal growth but also for readiness in the corporate world where success is based on one’s ability to express their ideas in a formal way. While writing can be such a good experience, I am often challenged by lack of ideas on a particular subject. Another challenge is fear of the unknown which result in low confidence and overall productivity. Personally, I usually feel that I can write the best about a given topic but the fear of “what if the professor rejects my work” puts me down, and I end up losing my confidence. In such a case, if I submit the work, I tend to produce low quality work due to the assumption that the lecturer will reject my work.
In summation, my writing has experienced tremendous growth throughout the semester. At first, I never thought that my work would ever improve with such magnitude. I thought that after school I could never grow the writing skills due to the notion that college writings expect you have already acquired a certain level of writing capability. As I progress to the next English class, I aim to improve my skills until I become the best.
