Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Dear John,

After having written my first paper for a college level writing class, it is time for me to reflect on writing in college, and new discoveries of my own writing. I can safely say that I have learned a lot from class activities and the teacher. Before starting this class I had no idea how to write like an admirable writer. When comparing my writing to my peers, I usually see a void. Generally, I write without thinking about supporting my claims. I rarely thought about who my audience is, or what they might presumably know about my subject. I learned that writing is simple if you stick with your thesis statement.

In my narrative, I trailed off a few sentences into the first paragraph about how my preoccupied brain made it difficult for me to pay attention in class and write essays. This statement was clearly unnecessary because it did little to support my claim that identity is meaningless. Later, I dismiss writing about identity altogether, I argue that identity is something best shared through dialogue, not an essay. Both of these digressions show that my ability to stay on the track with my claim was unclear. After the feedback from Stephanie and learning that it confuses readers when unrelated subjects are included, I knew I had to make some changes about things that would clearly support my claim thereby making my essay easy to understand and more convincing. However, learning to effectively communicate ideas by staying relevant was only the beginning. Each class I would notice something new that had been missing in my writing. One class I would see that I never

The most important thing I have learned is that revision is a big part of writing successfully. Try as I might, I will always have sentences that are poorly written or ideas that do not quite fit together. I can only fix those problems by going back, re-reading the essay for a second or multiple times, and editing my mistakes.

The concept of ‘learning then applying’ is the fundamental element of education. I have to absorb information first, and then use it to demonstrate my ability to apply it later in life. In writing, the only way to write better is to learn to write better, and the best way to learn to write better is to use the drafting process. Although I mentioned earlier that it is important to learn about writing well, it is equally important to write, then go back and make your paper stronger. Writing at the college level is based on the same elementary philosophies as any learning endeavor; only the concepts are more difficult and take time to master.

It has not been easy to absorb college level concepts and information, but this is because college level writing is preparation for real world writing, which can be challenging and unpredictable. This first unit assignment was demanding, and I expect all subsequent units to be as well. I also expect to continue learning new strategies to develop my writing ability. By the end of this semester, I want to be able to look at my writing before and after this class and see improvement in countless areas. As difficult and involved as writing at this level is, I know it is something I must do in order to continue to become a better writer.