Writing is something that improves with practice and focus. What steps will you take to ensure that your writing continues to improve throughout your college experience?

I will continue to take my time and not rush through anything just to get it done. Making sure my papers are APA formatted will also help me with keeping it professional in the business and academic atmosphere. Getting enough sleep and making time to just relax instead of pushing myself to do something will also help me improve. The more I keep at the same way of doing things in my classes will cause me to improve more too.

What is still your biggest challenge with APA formatting? How might you overcome it?

The biggest problem I had with APA is that I wouldn’t space right. I would just begin typing and not thinking about the spacing until my instructor say something to me about not having my writing doubled spaced. When I did my rough draft I had used Microsoft word to complete my writing so double spacing honestly wasn’t even on my mind. When completing my final I remember that in my last COM class my instructor had mentioned something about Riverpoint Writer and that we should down load it because it can be very helpful in their class and classes to come. I used it and let me tell you it was the easiest thing ever. I now see and understand the difference in my writing and how it is presented. Not only did I have spacing as a problem but I also never typed up a title page. It looks very professional and I actually will be doing my essay from it for now on.

This course has provided you with several writing strategies and skills you can use to improve your writing. Which strategies or skills from the do you think will be most helpful as you develop as a writer and researcher? Why?

I have actually become a better researcher because of this class and my other class, I used to just quote phrases from my research and not provide the information of where it came from. I now know how to do in text citations. At first it was a struggle because I didn’t understand of how it should be done but for doing it for 9 weeks I really have the hang of it. On week 6 when we had to turn in our rough drafts I was actually shocked at the results of the Plagiarism because when I did my writing for my last COM class it was stating that it wasn’t 100% my work. Now I see why it said that. This time I stated in my writing where I got it from and this time it was 100% my work. That actually put a smile on my face because I figured out how Plagiarism and citation works.

In which areas do you think you need to improve? How will you make these improvements?

My areas of needing improvements are when writing an essay depending on what it is I need to find out if it should be written in 2^nd or 3^rd person. I have a habit of writing in 1^st person a lot. I also have a problem with being too wordy. In all honesty I think that comes from me being a talker. I can talk a whole lot. I need to work on using the right words and taking out unnecessary words that are irrelevant to my writing. Most of the time when I do writings it is always something that I like or what I have did and that is where writing in 1^st person comes from. I just have to remember writing in 1^st person can give me a weak essay and I want my essay to be strong for my viewers.

It is sometimes difficult to be your own critic and to see clearly the changes that must be made to a paper. There are several reasons for this, including the effort you’ve put into the paper. Can you become your own editor and review your writing with a critical eye? How?

Yes you can become your own editor and review your own writing. Honestly it is kind of hard because you believe that your work is great and there are no changes to be made. We all fall short of that sometimes most of all of the time but it is okay. Here are some steps that I am going to follow of which are stated in the text:

*Print out a hard copy of your paper
*Read through your paper, paragraph by paragraph. Highlight your thesis and the topic sentence of each paragraph.
*Using the thesis and topic sentences as starting points, outline the ideas you presented-just as you would do outlining a chapter in a textbook. Do not look at the outline you created during prewriting.
*Next, reread your paper more slowly, looking for how ideas flow from sentence to sentence. Identify where adding a transition or recasting a sentence would make the ideas flow more logically.
*Review the topics on your outline. Is there a logical flow of ideas? Identify any places where you may need to reorganize ideas
*Revise your paper to improve organization. Move around paragraphs if needed. Than go into adding transitional phrases if needed. Take out words you don’t necessarily need. Tweak topic sentences if needed.

It may seem like a lot but really it’s not. Take your time and good luck.

How do you know when to accept feedback from another source? What makes feedback valuable? Should all feedback be considered valuable?

I think taking feedback from another source should be accepted at any time. I on the hand except feedback when I feel like I have touched everything that I need to in my paper and to me there are no other mistakes. Having feedback from others is valuable because what you have missed or over looked that person or people can point it out for you. Some people think that it’s like criticizing your work but really when you are doing any type of writing you will get others feedback. I look at it like they are helping me to give a better paper to turn in or read to my audience. All feedback should be considered valuable rather it’s good or bad. Bad feedback is there to help you do better, and good feedback is to let you know you are on the right track just keep doing what you are doing.

The purpose of a conclusion is to summarize all your support and to state how they combine to substantiate your thesis. In this way, the introduction and conclusion are like bookends on a shelf, with the supporting statement like the books in between. What kind of conclusion do you think would be best for your research paper? Why?

Summarizing the rest of my essay will be the best conclusion for me. The reason I say this is because after you have written your essay there is nothing left to do but to end it with pulling the most important points to your conclusion; along with my thesis statement. These two are the most important things for your conclusion because the thesis lets your readers know you are coming to an end and the main points emphasizes the importance of your topic.

One purpose of the introduction is to draw readers into your topic. Is that important? Why or why not?

The introduction is the first thing the readers will endure so it has to be the most important part of the essay. You want your reader to understand and consider what you have to say by following your train of thought. As stated in the text: “First impressions are crucial and can leave lasting effects in your readers mind, which is why the introduction is so important to your essay.” Keeping your introduction strong and leading to the point will cause your reader to want to keep going, to see what point you have to prove.

What do you think are the two most common mistakes a writer might make that could cause his or her writing to be ineffective for readers? What steps might you take to avoid these mistakes?

I would have to say some of my most common mistakes are writing fast of which cause me to misspell words. It causes me to leave out words that I have in my mind but by writing or typing fast I may forget to place it in my writing and don’t notice it until I proofread. Another thing is that I can be too wordy or over use words. Sometimes I even use the improper word like, ‘there’ and ‘their’, or ‘two’ and ‘too’. It varies per person but the ones I stated for myself is common mistakes in a lot of people. What are helping me to overcome this are taking my time, proofreading, and also allowing my husband to proofread my work for me.

Parallelism sentence variety, and sentence clarity are necessary to effectively complete your body paragraphs. Why? How might you use them?

As stated in the text “parallelism creates a sense of rhythm and balance in writing by using the same grammatical structure to express equal ideas”. The text also states, “Parallelism may be created by connecting two clauses or making a list using coordinating conjunctions; by comparing two items using than or as; or by connecting two parts of a sentence using correlative conjunctions.” Honestly I was kind of confused on what the difference was when I was reading the text because it looks and sounds the same but there is a tad bit difference. Here is the text book example:

Faulty Parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool.

Correct Parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than swimming in a pool.

Faulty Parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like to listen to music and talking to friends on the phone.

Correct Parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like listening to music and talking to friends on the phone.

It is important that an essay not be a series of quotes or paraphrased material; one’s own analysis must be part of the essay. How can you create a balance between your own analysis and the source material?

You can balance your own analysis and the source materials by taking notes when doing your research. While doing that you don’t want your essay to seem like it’s depending on the source instead of your thought also. It is alright to use ideas from the sources to make points but you don’t want to use too much of their information over your own voice. I rather quote when writing because it is so hard not to paraphrase without feeling like you are stealing someone else work. When you quote you can state where you got that information from and they will still receive all of the credit. You still don’t want to quote too much because you want to be able to voice your own opinions rather you agree or disagree.

In our assigned article, Tips on Honing Your Writing, we are told “the outline is the most important step in writing – it is the architecture of writing; words and sentences are just the interior decoration (p. 103).” Does this statement surprise you? Why or why not? Why is the outline the most important step—even more that the actual draft?

This question does not surprise me at all because like I stated before your outline is the reason for a great essay. You need your outline to give you and guide to follow in the direction that you desire. Your outline is like your backbone to a stress free essay while writing. I honestly feel that sometimes I get beside myself in writing an outline because I am the time of person that wants to make sure I am not missing anything and want to make sure everything is imputed in my essay that I want. I always have to make sure that I don’t ramble on and on by cramming a lot of information into one paragraph. An outline is very essential when writing and essay. I think it is best thing to do before even writing a rough draft to any paper.

The video “Developing Outlines” provides an overview of the purpose of planning an outline. Does an outline make the writing process go more smoothly? How?

Yes an outline will make your writing go smoothly. As stated in the text: “A formal outline is a detailed guide that shows how all your supporting ideas are related to each other. It helps you distinguish between ideas that are of equal importance and ones that are of lesser importance.”  I feel that without an outline you will be completely confused. Well let’s just say before I started doing outlines for my writing my work was all over the place. The reason for that is because I didn’t have a set guide on which way to go with it so I just rambled combined everything together. So it is true that an outline will give you complete understanding and guide on what you want to do with your essay.

Do you think this is a weak thesis statement: “The subject of this paper is my experience with teaching elementary school children”? If yes why is it weak? How could you improve it? If no, what qualities do you think it has that make it adequate?

Yes absolutely this is a weak thesis statement. You should not start your thesis off by saying “The subject of this paper is….,” you want to give your readers a purpose to keep reading; you want to keep them eager and entertained. In my last COM class we were taught that your thesis should be forceful, confidence, specificity, and it should be able to be argued. We are writing a research paper and not everything that you find and include in your paper everyone is going to agree with. So the ability to be argued is a good thing for your research. Even though the paper is their experience with elementary teaching they want to also include others experience as well to make the paper interesting for their readers or audience.

Identify two key concepts that will help you write an effective thesis statement. Why did you choose these two concepts?

The concepts that will help me write an effective thesis is by being specific and concentrate on my general topic. By being specific and staying with my topic on what my research is about will keep the readers/audience focused on what I want to point out and speak about without them being confused. Also my confidence on my research will help me with my thesis. When having confidence in my writing it will inform my readers/audience to keep an open mind and listen to what I have to say. When you are specific and confident in your writing than your work could be more convincing. I am the type of person that would just keep rambling on and on and be too wordy in my writing. I would start off on topic and then somehow some way I ended up off course. Since my last class I have gotten better.

A good thesis statement helps guide the rest of your paper. Do you think this is true? Is it true of a poor thesis statement as well? Why?

I absolutely think that a good thesis statement guides the rest of your paper. Your thesis gives the points you want to make in your writing by summarizing the entire essay. I honestly think that a poor thesis statement will not give you a strong enough argument for your topic. A poor thesis statement can contain facts that no one can disagree with. It could also make unreasonable claims on the subject you want to write about. You want to be able to keep your readers wanting to know more and a poor thesis statement will not provide that.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing? How do you know when to use each properly in an academic paper?

Paraphrasing is used to prove a point by using ones words without changing the meaning of the original text. Summarizing is used when you want to draw attention to an important point. Although the two sound just about the same they will be used only when needed in writing for completely different reasons. Paraphrasing will be used when quotes are used in your writing or when you want to simplify the work of another person. Basically used when you are using another writers work. Summarizing will be used when you have to use the main highlights of the writers work has to be mentioned. Summarizing is also used when the main idea of the writer are to be identified. Paraphrasing is rewriting in your own words while summarizing is mentioning only key words. They may be confusing but as you can see they are completely different. 

Imagine the impact of sending a business letter or memo that is improperly formatted. In particular, think about rules or standards that must be followed at your place of business. Do you think the reasons for rules and tradition for communication at your workplace apply to academic writing? Why or why not?

Yes the rules at your workplace apply to academic writing. The reason for that is because you will need to be more business and professional like instead of laid back when it comes to those areas. When at work or school you want present yourself with high class, you never know who is paying attention. When you are around your friends and family you can be more laid back if you like. Some people still present themselves with class and others prefer to be more laid back. It all depends on the person. The main two areas you want to stay professional in are workplace and academic no matter what. Your audience is the main people that you need to pay attention too. You want to give them what they want to hear or see. Your audience will be your critics so you want to provide the best for them.

What is a style guide? Is adhering to a style important? Why or why not?

Academic writing has to follow certain guidelines depending on the academic discipline it falls under. This is where style guides fall into place because they tell the format in which the paper must take. Yes adhering a style is important. That is the main purpose for using a style guide so that you can follow it and maintain your style while writing. You want your writing as well as your style guide to be professional for your work place or academic writing. Following proper guidelines helps you to make sure that your work will be taken seriously and provide valuable information to your readers. In may last COM class this is something I had to work on because before I wasn't considering my audience I was just worried about getting my work done not realizing the effect it would have on others.

What should you consider when searching for useful sources? How do you know when sources are reliable? What are some red flags that indicate you should avoid a particular source?

When searching for useful sources you will want to use the primary source and then secondary sources. For example I am doing my research on Healthy Eating, so I will end up asking my doctor a lot of questions on healthy eating. My doctor will be my main source because she knows the advantages of healthy eating. I will use other people, magazines, books, and websites for the secondary choice because they will have information based off of experience. You will know sources are reliable when they are pure evidence and facts. Like for instance when asking my doctor I know her source is reliable because she is a doctor and they so case studies to get to facts. Also talking or reading about other people who have been through something will be a reliable source. Some website would be considered a red flag because not all can be trusted. Also the magazine that has a lot of gossip going on about stars could be red flags too. It just depends on where you get your information from. You should be able to tell if something is good information or not.

What website do you normally frequent? Are these websites credible? When is credibility more important and when is it less important? Support your answers with specific examples.

Websites that I normally frequent use are Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter.  Those ones besides the school website get my attention a lot.  These websites are credible to me because when I don’t turn in to CNN on TV I can get news feeds through my Facebook. Also through my Facebook I keep up with good or bad that is going on with my family. Yahoo also has important information for me from my local news stations send emails on things that I want to know about that I signed up for. Twitter I guess it depends on what shows up on my updates in order for it to be important enough for me. These websites could be less important if they don’t contain information that I think is important to me. Like when the next party is or what new shoe is popular. Those things are not important to me.

Is it important to have a research question when writing a research paper? Why?

Yes it is important to have a question when writing a research /essay paper. Having a question is the basic reason for research. You research to answer questions you or others may have that need to be answered. For example on my last essay I had to do; I did research from media, myself, and other people. So for me to get information or different points of view I had to have questions that needed to be answered. Those answered helped me to open up my ideas of what I wanted to put in my essay to keep it interesting. At first I was kind of nervous to even talk to other people about it because it was all new to me going to strangers out in public and just asking what they thought on each school. After that first one I was all good to go because it was easy. What it all comes down to is that questions are the big key in anything that you do when it comes to any writing paper for a class. Although you may have experience yourself in something that you are writing you really don’t want to make it just a one person point of view. 

Consider the time management tips you have learned in previous courses. What types of information should you include in your project schedule? How do you plan to manage your research and writing to ensure your project is completed on time?

The information I would use in my project scheduling is time and a well rested mind. I say time because you want to make sure you give yourself enough time to research, and make notes here and there. There are some people that just do a little research and that is it. Well sorry to say it is more to it than that sometimes. You don't want to just write up anything that you think is okay, you want to take in consideration your tone, content, and audience. Those are the key things to a great paper. I am in my class 4 days a week, out of those four days I will take two of them to do research and take notes. On the fifth day I log on to post my assignment for the week. So in this case my syllabus has my days already planned out on when everything is going to be due. All I have to do is research on two separate days of the week until the week of my draft is due and than after that I will be revising and editing. 

DQ1- People often come across research in everyday life or are curious about a topic and decide to conduct their own research. Identify a time you wanted to research something and explain how you performed the research and what you learned as a result. How can you apply this experience to your own academic research?

I am always doing research on something. I love to learn new things so when I run into something new I am mostly doing research on the internet or through family and friends that may know what I am talking about. I also do research when I am at the library too. There are also magazines or newspapers that could be holding information that I am looking for. It really just all depends on what I need to know or want to learn more on. When it comes to academic research I search everything I need to search in order to get all of the information I need. I love to get other peoples points of view on things that I am researching. I open my eyes to everything that could help or give me advice in anyway. For example my essay I did for my last class I researched internet, library, people, and also from my own experience. You want to be able to pull in points of view from different things when doing research for a paper or if you just want to know something.