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

When writing my Identity essay, I learned quite a few things about writing from different aspects. Writing at the college level is a tough process. I never really thought I was a good writer, but I did not think I was as bad as I appear to be to others. I am not sure if Steph grades harder than other English teachers at Umass or if I really should consider where I stand as a writer. The majority of my friends talked about how they all received A’s on their first paper when they had English, and how they did not have to rewrite them. I had high hopes coming into this assignment because it seemed fun and interesting. I felt like I asserted myself pretty well when writing it, apparently I just did not write a satisfactory college level paper. When I found out that I had received a C on my first draft, I came to this realization.

I feel as though, grammar and usage come into play a lot more in college, when I was in high school, I never had a paper picked apart with a highlighter so bad. This is probably the reason why I did not really proofread this essay for grammatical errors. That one came back around to bite me hardcore, I will never not thoroughly proofread a paper again before handing it in. I guess I can thank Steph for instilling that in me.

As far as my writing goes, I learned a whole lot. I often stray off of the beaten path which leads the reader confused. I had always felt that in my writing but never really knew how to identify it. Steph did a good job of pointing this out to me with the example of how I wrote something about my father that seemed to hint at my identity when it really had no effect on me whatsoever. I also learned that when it comes to writing about myself, I tend to include a little too much boring detail; this maybe a bit egotistical, I am not really sure, but I realized the hard way that people are not as interested in me as much as I thought. Finally, I feel as though I learned that I am not a very great writer, which is hard to deal with, but I know with a little guidance and practice, I can surely write at a college lever. Moreover I would like to learn how to write an interesting paper that will actually keep the reader interested.