Change.

My attitude towards writing has changed a lot over the semester. I realized that all aspects of English are not my cup of tea like I once thought they were. Maybe it was due to lack of effort or maybe I just lost interest in the essays. I always enjoyed creative writing more than informational writing. Either way a lot has changed for me and I realized that it was not something I wanted to do. I enjoyed the class but due to lack of motivation, didn't get as much out of it as I should have. My attitude towards writing is still good though, just different!

Revise.

I am extremely pleased with having chosen  to revise the "What Makes A Good Writer" piece. It has been very interesting as it all pans out. I did find it difficult to think of ways to back up my thoughts but eventually it all worked out. The biggest change I made this week was making my essay into a letter. The letter is to my old teacher so that is pretty cool. Big change, but not much work. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Revision Piece

For my revision piece, I have chosen to edit the in class writing, "What Makes A Good Writer." I feel that this topic has room to expand on. There are so many different opinions of what makes a successful writer and how they got to that point. In reviewing it,  I have expanded my ideas into paragraphs and made everything more clear. Overall, it should be a good essay.

Short Project.

My project is about the struggles college freshmen face as they transition from high school. I have decided to either write a school newspaper article or magazine entry. I think in this project I am going to focus on how to prevent the struggles from happening because that is what most students would be interested in.

Facebook Messages Galore.

Since my research paper topic is deals with college freshmen, I thought there was nothing better than to ask college freshmen. Obviously. So I decided to send a questionaire to 100 of my facebook friends all at different colleges asking them about the challenges they face. I really enjoyed conducting a survey and getting real life results. The only bad thing was having to sort out Facebook messages non-stop and keeping up with which ones I had already recorded. Overall I really liked this method of information and I will probably use it more often, when it can. Anyways, to anyone doing a research paper, I'd reccomend a survey! : )

Oh The Choices....

Often, when I decide to write a paper, for fun or for school, I am undescicive about which topic I should do. I usually end up picking one and then switching to another. Sometimes it takes me a day to decide to pick and sometimes it takes me weeks. I have found that when I start writing about one thing, it takes a turn in a different direction. For instance, writing a paper that related to my argumentative essay has been very difficult for me because there are SO many other things I want to write about. Most people would say I am a good writer and have a creative mind BUT when my creativity is limited, I have a hard time working inside the box. I do not like not being able to switch topics because it does not let my creativity flow. Although this is how I feel, I see the benefits of not switching. It forces me to commit to one subject and really pull out a good paper. My main obstacle is getting past how much i dislike the topic. I guess I'll just have to see how this paper turns out...

Research.

When I am researching a topic, I immediately look for websites with sources and expert imputs. I tend to avoid sites that are biased and do not have much information. I have started to use the Delta library for more research. They have lots of sources and different databases. Not to mention they are all credited and are excellent sources. When I am looking something up for personally information or just to know, I usually google it or use wikipedia. Sometimes I use Yahoo Answers! if it is something that another person can tell me. Whether I am looking researching for a paper or for myself, I always turn to the internet. 

Highlight. Right Click. Synonym.

If you have read one of my previous posts, you have most likely gathered that I enjoy writing. One thing you may not know is that my joy for writing, is limited to the first draft. After I have written something, I tend to want to move on to the next thing. I do not like having to go back, read, and find my errors. For some reason, it is not as interesting as it was the first time I read it. It is safe to say that my first draft is usually pretty thorough and well done, so during peer review, people generally don't have much to say. This paper that we are working on right now, I got some pretty helpful reviews. The one thing that will never change though, is my love for the synonym tool on Microsoft Word. I generally don't use "mature words" and now that I am "mature" I need to use those words naturally. When I fail to do so, this button never fails me. This button can get you into trouble though, so if you plan to use it, I would make sure you know exactly what it means. Anyways, the synonym button is just one simple way to making a paper sound more mature while keeping your argument the same.

A Round of Applause for Wikipedia!

Many people would not find it suprising that I started this assignment thinking that Wikipedia was not a good source and that it should not be trusted. I could make a whole list of reasons one would come to this assumption. To my suprise, my article turned out to be basically flawless. It has sources, explanations, organization, and excellent information. The only thing that was ever wrong with the post was taken off within 2 minutes. Even though I am writing this essay to convince my audience that Wikipedia is a good source, I believe that it is only fair to show its flaws as well. Unfortunately, using my article, it is impossible! I guess in a way... thats good. All I'm trying to say is, I'm having problems with my article being TOO perfect.

A Little Piece of Me

One thing that I love to do is writing. Unfortunately, the things we love are not always the things we are good at. When I moved from Alabama to Michigan, I experienced a lot of emotions that I did not quite know how to handle. This was the time that I discovered my passion for expressing myself in written words. For a while I wrote non-stop, but eventually the phase calmed down. Occasionally, I did write something great for school or church. The piece that stands out to me the most was a "sermonette" that I wrote for church last spring. It was basically the story of what I did on a mission trip, and how it changed my life. I spent my time on it and put my personality into every word. I felt extremely proud of this because although I was nervous to speak in front of A LOT of people, I conquered that fear and shared something from my heart. Following the service, everyone talked about how much they loved my speech and even encouraged me to go into public speaking. (Which will definitely not happen!) Two people even asked me for copies of it which made me feel so good inside. Although I do not always have the creativity to back up my passion for writing, when I do something great, I am always proud! I have no doubt that writing will always be a little piece of me.

"The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed."

I used to be extremely disappointed in myself even though the grades I got were exactly what I had deserved. Getting a report card was always hard because it would remind me that I was not working to my full potential and that my academic chances were pretty much going down the drain. Now, I am always excited to see my report card. Last semester, my GPA was a 3.87 and I can’t possibly be more proud of myself. I am committed to getting good grades from here on out and for the first time in my life I truly see the results of hard work. I am not sure why I did not do better and work harder in high school, but I have decided to focus on the future and my classes now. Hopefully, this hard work will pay off and I will be able to accomplish my dreams for the future.