I have always loved writing. When I’m angry or sad or happy or mad, I write. It helps me keep my thoughts together and I know that no matter what I’m feeling, if I put it on paper, I’ll be able to organize my thoughts and if I have a problem, I will come up with a solution. For my academic papers, I have always left writing until the last minute. Frankly, they never got me really excited unless it was a fiction story I was creating—such as the one I wrote last semester.

Coming into this class, I didn’t think I was a poor writer or that I would need much help with my writing. However, I found that I actually did need help! I’m grateful that my flaws were pointed out to me because I think I really am a much better writer now. To demonstrate my point, I include below a before and after of how my writing changed.

Before:

Some may argue, now, that only ignorant people believe in and make judgments based on single stories. However, the creation and subsequent effects of the single story involves people all around the world. Adichie even brings up a stereotype she believed about Mexicans. Adichie’s influence proves her abilities. She has a Master’s degree from Yale University, an Ivy League university. However, she still believed the single story and made assumptions based on the stereotype that exists about Mexicans. The fact that Adichie, an educated woman, also believed a stereotype shows that even intellectuals can capitulate to the ideas and perceptions of mass media. The research people conduct for themselves change the incorrect ideas they might hold to be true. After people conduct research, the actual story emerges.

After:

Some may argue that only ignorant people believe in and make judgments based on single stories. However, Adichie shares her own experience of believing a single story about people in Mexico. The fact that Adichie, an Ivy-League educated woman, also believed a stereotype shows that even intellectuals can capitulate to the ideas and perceptions of mass media. The actual story of people’s lives begins to emerge when we experience the Other for ourselves through travel or research.

The greatest problem, for me, was concision. I mentioned this before, and I will say it again, when I write, it’s very conversational. I like my writing to be read as if one is having a conversation with what I wrote. This means that sometimes I used a lot of “to-be verbs” and other wordy phrases. When Professor Blankenship pointed that out to me, I finally realized what it was doing to my writing! I wasn’t being clear and I didn’t have concision. However, now that I have realized my flaws, I will continue to work on my writing and hopefully develop as a better writer. I understand now that one can still be conversational while being concise (and that it even leads to a better, more conversational tone!).

Even though I was faced with this problem, I still continue to love writing. I think the improvements I will make in the future will only enhance the writing I have submitted thus far in my academic life. The improvements will show that I have grown as a writer, which is what I want. Moreover, I believe that from now on I will comb through and check for the things that were pointed out to me this semester in the rest of the papers I submit in the years to come. I see myself as the same writer but with improvements. I know now that drafting can be tedious, but sometimes is fun and necessary. Because of how I’ve grown, I can see how I will continue to develop my skills as a writer.

The papers for this term were challenging but I liked the challenge. The first paper was a unique one to me. I’ve never written an academic paper based on a show I actually liked and watched. I liked that freedom given to me. I think that it allowed me to develop a thorough and complete argument. The research-based paper was a little trickier than the analysis was, but again, I enjoyed the challenge. When I was researching for the research paper, I was looking for so many things all at once to back up my arguments. I guess now the takeaway is to take one thing at a time and try to devote a separate time for every reference. I would say the research-based paper is the paper I am most proud of throughout this whole semester because I worked hard on changing my writing while still retaining my voice throughout all of it. It’s definitely the first paper in my academic life that I kept on editing everyday until I got it right.

Each time we started something new, it was more difficult and I enjoyed that throughout this semester. The remediation project was another level of difficulty. For this project, I chose to use my research-based paper because the topic was one I am really passionate about. This project was the most challenging, but it was also the most rewarding. It’s nice to look at a website and the pages filled with one’s writing, as well as a video one has created. I’m able to say, “That’s mine!” when I look through my website or click on the video I created. That feeling is really wonderful and so even though it was difficult to put together, I am proud that I got it done.

There are many things I can take away from this class and apply to my life. The greatest thing I will take away from this class is that I need to be more concise. I probably sound like a broken record, but it’s something I will continue to remind myself of. Another thing I will take away is that drafting and rewriting is necessary to be a good writer. Sure, sometimes works are good in the first draft, but they can become even better when one has slept on it and gotten another idea. Hopefully from now on I won’t start my papers the night before I have to hand them in because I know that building on my initial thoughts will make my writing that much better.

I would like to thank Professor Blankenship for being the coach I needed to improve my skills. Hopefully I can continue to make myself proud by improving and developing as I go on in my academic career. Thank you, Professor! 🙂