Strengths and Weaknesses as a Writer - Essay Example

Strengths and Weaknesses as a Writer My writing skills have improved greatly for the period I have been writing essays especially the persuasive ones in the WRC 1023 Course. My way of arguing issues in writing has improved a lot because of the regular essays I have written to test my skills. I find writing more engaging and requiring more creativity to capture the attention of the reader. I have written a number of essays, which demonstrate my developments in personal responsibility, communication skills, and editing skills although I need to work on such areas as inability to have designated writing time, fear of failure, and critical thinking. Since the time I started writing my first essay, I took great caution to have great personal responsibility to the writing process such as making a draft of the essay before the actual writing and reviewing all the sources before deciding which among them are the best. There is the need for somebody to do a thorough research before embarking on the actual writing to come up with the best essay. I learned how to revise my work thoroughly before submission and can meet deadlines since I submitted all my papers on the specified time. Another thing that shows my responsibility is my ability to write without plagiarizing by accrediting all the sources of my writing and summarizing all the sources in my words. I also observe all the MLA style of formatting when presenting my work. I also welcome any critics from my peers and readers of my essays to enable me work on my weaknesses and enhance my strengths. Another strength I have noticed since I enrolled for the course is strong communication skills in my arguments especially in persuasive writing. I have the ability to bring up an argument and support it with convincing evidence by use of examples and demonstration. I can arrange my work with goo paragraphs and well-connected ideas to provide the transition from one issue to the next. My grammar has improved as I can use perfect American English and observe all its rules to build strong sentences free of grammatical errors. By looking at the reviews from my peers and my tutor, there is a lot of improvement in the usage of grammar in my essays as the semester progressed. My choice of words during writing is great as demonstrated in the essay Facebook Making us Lonely "all that glitters is not gold" (4). I also have the ability to use the appropriate styles such as the tone of the writing depending on the mood of the essay. I have improved my skills in forming goo sentences using the formal language while avoiding colloquialism. The use of formal language is very important, and I make sure that my essays have employed the right grammar to bring out ideas arguments. The other strength I have gained from the course is the editing skills that enable me to write and submit a high-quality paper. First of all, I always ensure that I go through the paper editing any grammar errors to ensure that the paper has minimum grammatical errors such as spelling, verb confusion, and any informal words. I always read in my papers at least three times reading word by word to make it easier for me to notice any mistakes. I always check that all the in-text citations to make sure that they are in agreement with the citation rules. I also check for any errors in the formatting styles such as MLA and ensure that the paper is in the right style and that the reference page follows the guidelines of the specific style. Editing has improved the readability of my essays such as the essay on why College Students Procrastinate”. When the paper has no grammatical errors and is in the right format, many readers will enjoy reading the work, which makes me very delighted. Despite the good work I have been doing in my essays, I have a number of weaknesses such as critical thinking skills as I find it difficult to understanding what my audience require from me in order to bring out the message to them. I also found it challenging in analyzing and synthesizing evidence from the sources earlier, but I have worked hard as my essays are well-structured to ensure that whatever that appears in them is accurate. Another challenge that I face as I try arguing critically is trying to connect and relate different ideas from a multiple perspectives. Reading with doubts and responding charitably to opponents is a difficult task for me although I try to give my understanding to the idea as demonstrate in my second and third essay (Why do College Students Procrastinate and Facebook Making us Lonely?). Fear of failure is another challenge I find myself with especially before I start writing my arguments (Hessen n.p). I always have self-doubts as to whether my work will meet the instructor’s requirements, which gives me cold chills and make it difficult for me to concentrate. I keep on thinking what other people will think of my work in terms of quality. Once I have started writing, I find it difficult to get the next point especially in essays involving critical thinking. After I write my clean draft, I still find when comparing the first and the final draft. Sometimes I end up making changes that result in grammatical errors. I also find it difficult to edit my work as I write and do it once I am through with the essay, which makes it more involving, and sometimes I make unnecessary errors such as one in the first essay's reference page "Work Cited instead of Works Cited" (Higher education enrolment in languages other than English 7) . I have some difficulties in setting designated time for writing my essays and weight until the last minute, which builds a lot of pressure on me (Hesse n.p). Working the last minute make me work late into the night as I try to produce a goo essay within a short period. Writing requires a fresh mind and the best time for me to start writing is early in the morning yet most of the times I always do it after classes when already tired. The challenge here is that my concentration is normally low, and sometimes I feel sleepy in the middle of the work. There is the need to have a designated time to do my writing to avoid making unnecessary errors. This semester has been great since many changes have occurred in my life as a student. I have one a lot of research work for my writing that has improved my writing skills to a great extent. Throughout the semester, writing has been one of the tasks that I have worked, which has improved my critical thinking skills enabling me to write high-quality articles. The knowledge and skills gained in the writing class will enable me to perform excellently in my future careers since I have perfected my grammar and vocabularies. Writing skills will help in my future career by perfecting my communication skills, management skills through critical analysis of various situations, and taking responsibility for all the tasks allocated to me. The course will be of high value to me as I now have a lot of confidence in everything I do. Works Cited Hesse, Doug. 'Identifying and Prioritizing Writing Strengths And Weaknesses'. N.p. Web. 11 May 2015. Read More