All students are required to comment TWICE a week. A week goes from Monday to Sunday. A comment can be a response to my or others' posts --- or a new post. All posts must be relevant to class discussions and assignments. Each post should be 1-3 paragraphs.
Remember, it is OK to disagree with one another, but we must always be RESPECTFUL of one another.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Practical Self-Help
Last week, you wrote a reflection on your strengths and weaknesses in terms of writing. In this post, explore one practical step you could take to help improve one of your weaknesses.
30 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Last week when I wrote a reflection on my strengths and weaknesses of my writing, I came to the conclusion that my biggest weakness is procrastination. I have seen that when I take my time to write my work, it usually turns out a lot better. How I can help improve this weakness would be to start planning as soon as I get the assignment. I can try to complete the work days before it is due, so that I am not in a hurry to rush it at the last minute. Another helpful thing I can do would be to take a task step by step. Instead of writing a whole essay the night before it is due, I can plan what section of the essay I will do each night until the last night. For example if a project was due on Friday, I may write the thesis on Monday, a body paragraphy on Tuesday, another body paragraph on Wednesday, and finish it on Thursday. When I do procrastinate it is very easy to tell in my work, but if I start following these tips, I can learn how to manage my time better.
One of my biggest weaknesses is also procrastination, but more in the sense that i put things aside and forget about them, so i don't get my work done. What i can do is try to write down the things i need to do on a separate sheet of paper, such as projects, homework, and extra practice. I can then check these things off as i finish them, so i know what i need to do, then i can finish them without wondering if there is something due or not. This will save time and will make things more efficient for me.
Last week, I didn't think about commentaries as being one of my weaknesses, so I will say it now. Commentaries are now one of my big weaknesses. However, a step I could use to improve my commentaries is taking the time to study them and their structure. I think that if I get a better understanding of how they are written, I could write better commentaries than I do now. Being able to know the structure and ideas a commentary has will give me help and make it easier to write a commentary. I feel like if I never get the chance to really understand the quality of a commentary, I won't ever be able to write a good one.
One of my weaknesses as a writer is I tend to drag on my writing toward the end. Usually in the beginning of my writing I make it the most exciting and leave the less exciting part for the end. It's as if I get bored by the end and just write whatever I can think of. To improve this I have thought that maybe I could plan out my writing better before. If i plan out my writing before, I will not have to think about ideas at the last minute. Also, I can include a more exciting point at the end instead of putting it all at the beginning. This way, my writing will be better throughout. In addition, to improve this I need to make sure I am not repeating anything I say in two paragraphs. If i repeat what I say too much, my writing will be very boring. If I can improve on this, I will be improving a lot as a writer. Also, I will be able to do better on all my essays and even just free writing. This one step of improvement will make a big impact on my writing.
I am also going to say that one of my biggest weakenesses is commentaries. My problem is that I am not one hundred percent clear on what is supposed to be talked about and in what fashion it should be talked about. I am also not sure on how to dissect the words in a poem to tie it in to my thesis. Looking at someone elses commentaries would definitely help me on how to fix this problem.
When I reflected on my strengths and weaknesses in my writing, I noticed my biggest problem was tying together my body paragraphs with a stronger and not so vague thesis. My thesis's are usually boring and vague and never make much sense. Then, my body paragraphs are strong and well developed, but they do not go with my thesis. Overall, I know how to develop my supporting paragraphs, but I have to learn and improve on creating a better thesis that has something to do with my argument, and have it go along with my body paragraphs. To improve on this, I think it would be best if I outlined my essay before I started writing it. I could create a thesis AFTER writing my body paragraphs. That way, the stronger part of my essay (the body paragraphs) will help me develop a better thesis. When I do this, my body paragraphs will tie with the thesis because I'll be focusing on the thesis and what my main argument is
When writing the reflection last week, I realized that one of my biggest weaknesses was planning. I tend to rush through the plan stage, and often times I have huge gaps in my essays where i just ramble on because i dont know what to say. I also realized that taking the time to plan out my essays and other writing pieces helps me create a more detailed and complete essay.
There is a very simple solution to solving my planning issue and that is to take more time when planning. If i add more detail to the planning, i create a more detailed structure to create my essay on, and the essay just come out much better all around. I also realized that it is a lot easier to write the actual essay when having a better plan base
The weakness that I wrote in my reflection was perfectionism. Unlike procrastination, I don't necessarily wait until the last day to finish an assignment. Rather, I have one draft and one draft only that I meticulously and pain stakingly excavate to put out just what I want, instead of writing multiple drafts and editting them over like peeling the shell of a nut. This can be a real detriment to my time management, also, it is difficult to ration out the right amount of time for each assignment so I can get just what I want out of it. In regards to a strategy for getting the right quality of work in the right amount of time, I will have to turn to better planning skills to map out what I want in a project and in a much more resonable amount of time. It should be simple enough so long as I make it a good habit of mine to write an outline. If all goes well, my tone and style in writing assignments as well as others should not change.
Last week when we wrote about our weaknesses, I wrote that my weakness was commentaries. That probably put me with most of the class. When we first wrote them and were learning about them, I was totally lost. I kept thinking that we had to write the themes of the piece and what the story symbolized because that was what we did when analyzing poems. Even after we tried a few I was still unsure of what they were and why we did them.
However, after this week, I get what the commentaries are about. When we saw examples of good comentaries, I understood what was expected of me in the commentaries. I see that they should be about the language that is used in the poetry and how that relates to the themes that are presented in the story. Now that I have a grasp on how to do the commentaries correctly, I hope to keep improving with them and be able to do them fully by time I have to do bigger and more complex ones for IB.
Last week in my reflection paper I said that one of my weaknesses is that I have trouble creating a strong thesis. There are a few things I could do to improve this. First, I could make an outline of my essay and think about the major point of the essay and try to put that into a thesis. Also, I could take more time to create my thesis. A lot of times I write a good introductory paragraph and then I kind of just throw a sentence in there that vaguely states what my essay is about. Instead of doing that, I should take the time to really think about the points in my essay and what would make a good thesis. It's an important part of any good essay and something that could easily be improved.
For me, planning ahead when I write a paper is a huge step I tend to skip over. I have never been good at planning ahead or pre-writing, therefore I think I don't need to do it. One practical step I could take to improve or to pre-write would be to find a type of pre-writing I like and enjoy. Then use that system (if it works) on all of my papers. Once I have learned it and am comfortable with it, I believe my writing will improve a bit.
going back over the comments, i noticed that a lot of the comments by other students in the class can pertain to me also. Many said that their problems are with their theses in their writing, and with that i definitely have to agree. I sometimes have trouble writing a thesis that is not too vague, yet so direct that i can barely build on it. I need to be able to get to one that is right in the middle, so that it isnt too broad a topic, nor too direct. I could read other essays and commentaries to see how their authors sum up their writing, and then use those techniques to help me with my writing. I could also spend more time on the thesis, taking my time to really figure out exactly where my essay is going to go.
One of my weaknesses is procrastination. This causes me to wait until the last minute every time to write a paper. Even blogs. I'm doing it now on sunday night when I had the whole week to do it. One way that I can try to prevent this is do it in drafts, or plan out how I will do it. I could say that Monday I will write a first draft, tuesday I'll edit it, wednesday I'll do the works cited, and thursday I'll put it all together to hand in on Friday. This would allow me to get some work done before the night before it is due, even if I don't follow the plan exaclty.
I have a few main weaknesses, one that most of us all share is procrastination. I am a huge procrastinator when it comes to studying for tests and quiz's. I always wait for the night before no matter how busy or calm the days before are. One thing I have been trying to do to work on that is to make note cards three nights before, study for the test completely two nights before, and review the night before. This will help in another way also, because I am not the best test taker, and I get very nervous and anxious during tests, it will help me to know the information during the test better without worrying about freezing up and having trouble remembering the information.
I also need to work on staying on the thesis and proving my point alone. I am very easily distracted, and can just write about almost nothing with no problem. That, however, creates a problem during my papers: I ramble which weakens the paper. One way I thought about improving this way to write my topic sentences for each paragraph before writing the body of each, to know what I have to focus on to prove my main thesis point.
One of the weaknesses I wrote about in last weeks reflection was about how I have trouble with figuring out a thesis for essays. The most practical way to work on that would be by practicing writing them. Although its a cliche, practice does make perfect when it comes down to it. The more I have to write theses's the easier they will become. Another thing that is an issue for me when it comes to writing is procrastinating. If the topic of the essay or assignment isn't something that really grabs my attention, I normally end up stalling until the very last minute to do it. A way to fix that would just to get on top of it write away, that way I would have more time to edit and perfect the assignment.
One of the weaknesses I expressed through last week's reflection were my transitions in essays. After reviewing all of my essays completed throughout the year, I noticed a subtle improvement, although I could still use alot more. In order to become more skilled, I believe that practice is one way to improve. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If I also forcus on revising the transition part of my essays, I believe I can show a greater strengths. By referrring back to notes while revising, I can exemplify the work within those notes as well as fully comprehend why I am unsuccessful in this area of my writing.
Last week, while analyzing the critical downfalls in my ability to write it became clear that procrastination was my biggest weakness. Of course there is a very simple solution to this. If I do things as soon as they are assigned then I won't be procrastinating. However the challenge will be getting myself to actually do things when they are assigned. Even now I am posting this blog with only a few hours left before they are due. I think the best way I could get myself to stop procrastinating is to stop paying attention to due dates. By treating everything like it is due the next day I will still feel the incentive to work on the assignment, however I won't feel as pressured to finish it because I will know it is not actually due.
In the reflection I wrote last week, I said that one of my biggest weaknesses is creating a specific detailed thesis that isn't too general or broad. This is a hard thing to get better at but like most things it comes with practice. I need to make sure that my thesis supports my argument in the most specific way possible. My thesis also needs to be able to have enough material to support it. In order to help creating a good thesis I think if I sit down and plan out my essay and look over my argument, it will help me see if my thesis is specific enough. Another weakness of mine is sometimes siting the text, especially if it is for an essay that has to do with a book we read in class. I find it hard to find a really good quote when you have so much text to go through and chose from. I think an easy way to improve this would be to use sticky notes as I am reading and mark things I feel are important and can be used later on.
In my reflection on my writing last week, I identified one main problem that has seemed to occur in my classmates too, procrastination. I always wait till the last possible day to do assignments, this blog for example. This causes me to stay up extremely late writing. That can drastically effect your writing. The main way I vould fix this is to start assignments when they are given to me, as opposed to waiting till the day before they're due. Doing this would make school less stressful and allow me to get more sleep.
I went back and read what people have been writing, and I realize I share some other weaknesses as well. It is commentaries. The issue is that I'm not sure if what I'm saying is too obvious to point out. I hope to spend lots if time looking at other commentaries and getting a better feel for writing them. by knowing what to look for in my own writing, it will be easier to actually write it. It just needs some time, and a lot of patience.
A couple weeks ago, I posted a comment about my strengths and weaknesses, namely procrastination of my work. (This is probably why I missed this blog on its original date, waited until Saturday, then forgot about it.) I noticed that, like eelphick, my work is alot better when i work on it ahead of time and got the chance to revise and edit it. I should probably try to do this in the future, even though I am already finding that I am having limited (meaning no) success at finding enough time to complete my assignments. I will try harder to stop my procrastinating, and produce better work.
Last week, I wrote a reflection on my writing strengths and weaknesses. One of my biggest weaknesses was procrastination, and I think that if I put my mind to it, that is something that can easily be fixed. If I have, say, a five paragraph essay due in one week, I can write a paragraph a night, and then in the last two nights I can proofread and perfect the essay. This way, if I do not have that much time the day before the essay is due, it is not a problem, because I would already be mostly done with it. I can also try to write the essay a week before by pretending like it is due the next day. This way, I complete the whole essay, and have time to work on it again if I want to later. Another one of my weaknesses is not being so repetative. This can be solved by writing an outline for the project I'm doing, and making sure that the outline has no major points repeated, or stated in different words. If I work around this outline, then sticking to my topic and not repeating things I have already said will become much easier.
Something I could do to improve my writing is exapnd my vocabulary. I tend to pick a word that I like, and stick with it throughout the paper, rather than finding synonyms for that word. This is something that can easily be improved if I use the new word correctly. Another thing I could do to improve my writing is practice transition sentences. Sometimes, my paragraphs jump around and do not have smooth transistions form one topic to the next. This makes for choppy writing. If I can eliminate thses problems from my writing, it will improve a lot.
When I wrote a refection on my strengths and weaknesses one of my weaknesses was my thesis. They are never very detailed they are too vague. There are a few ways I could improve on making my thesis stronger. One way is to start writing it earlier that way I have a few days to revise it and make sure it is perfect. Another step I could take to improve my writing is to start earlier that way I could ask Mr. Moccia to revise it and that way I have enough time to make corrections. I think procrastination affects my writing because when I start later I get lazy and do not read over my work carefully and it is not as strong as it could be. If I used my time wisely then I could improve both of my weaknesses.
Last week I wrote a reflection on my strengths and weaknesses of my writing. Like many others, my biggest weakness is procrastination. I usually put things off when I have a large amount of time to do them. I think that in order to avoid this problem, I need to pretend that I have a limited amount of time to do my essay. That will force me to get started sooner. Another thing that I could do to eliminate this problem would be to take things step by step. If I do this, then the whole essay won't be as overwhelming and I won't be under as much stress. I think that if I tell myself to write one paragraph every night, then I wouldn't have a problem at all. Not only could I take the time to perfect each paragraph, but I won't put it off as much since it is not an entire essay in one night.
My biggest weakness in writing is trying to come up with a topic to write about and procrastinating. When a teacher gives us a free topic, I usually struggle on finding what to write about. I like writing what people tell me to, and to fix that I need to try to be creative. And since writing is not my favorite thing to do, I usually end up waiting till the last minute to complete my work. By procrastinating, I end up rushing my essay and end up not turning in my best work. To help this problem, I need to try to plan out a schedule of when to get different parts of the essay done. For example, one night I could write my thesis, the next night write my opening paragraph, and so forth. This would improve my writing a lot, and it would benifit me alot to try to fix my writing weakness's.
Since my main weakness is grammar, I believe that the best approach in fixing this is by reading more. As I read more, my vocabulary will expand further and I will be able to construct more complex sentences. Another approach is to do more independent exercises and learn from my grammatical errors from future assignments.
For example, If i get my assignments back I can do corrections to them by reconstructing my phrases grammatically. This will help me improve for the future, and also make me learn from my errors.
30 comments:
Last week when I wrote a reflection on my strengths and weaknesses of my writing, I came to the conclusion that my biggest weakness is procrastination. I have seen that when I take my time to write my work, it usually turns out a lot better. How I can help improve this weakness would be to start planning as soon as I get the assignment. I can try to complete the work days before it is due, so that I am not in a hurry to rush it at the last minute. Another helpful thing I can do would be to take a task step by step. Instead of writing a whole essay the night before it is due, I can plan what section of the essay I will do each night until the last night. For example if a project was due on Friday, I may write the thesis on Monday, a body paragraphy on Tuesday, another body paragraph on Wednesday, and finish it on Thursday. When I do procrastinate it is very easy to tell in my work, but if I start following these tips, I can learn how to manage my time better.
One of my biggest weaknesses is also procrastination, but more in the sense that i put things aside and forget about them, so i don't get my work done. What i can do is try to write down the things i need to do on a separate sheet of paper, such as projects, homework, and extra practice. I can then check these things off as i finish them, so i know what i need to do, then i can finish them without wondering if there is something due or not. This will save time and will make things more efficient for me.
Last week, I didn't think about commentaries as being one of my weaknesses, so I will say it now. Commentaries are now one of my big weaknesses. However, a step I could use to improve my commentaries is taking the time to study them and their structure. I think that if I get a better understanding of how they are written, I could write better commentaries than I do now. Being able to know the structure and ideas a commentary has will give me help and make it easier to write a commentary. I feel like if I never get the chance to really understand the quality of a commentary, I won't ever be able to write a good one.
One of my weaknesses as a writer is I tend to drag on my writing toward the end. Usually in the beginning of my writing I make it the most exciting and leave the less exciting part for the end. It's as if I get bored by the end and just write whatever I can think of. To improve this I have thought that maybe I could plan out my writing better before. If i plan out my writing before, I will not have to think about ideas at the last minute. Also, I can include a more exciting point at the end instead of putting it all at the beginning. This way, my writing will be better throughout. In addition, to improve this I need to make sure I am not repeating anything I say in two paragraphs. If i repeat what I say too much, my writing will be very boring.
If I can improve on this, I will be improving a lot as a writer. Also, I will be able to do better on all my essays and even just free writing. This one step of improvement will make a big impact on my writing.
I am also going to say that one of my biggest weakenesses is commentaries. My problem is that I am not one hundred percent clear on what is supposed to be talked about and in what fashion it should be talked about. I am also not sure on how to dissect the words in a poem to tie it in to my thesis. Looking at someone elses commentaries would definitely help me on how to fix this problem.
When I reflected on my strengths and weaknesses in my writing, I noticed my biggest problem was tying together my body paragraphs with a stronger and not so vague thesis. My thesis's are usually boring and vague and never make much sense. Then, my body paragraphs are strong and well developed, but they do not go with my thesis. Overall, I know how to develop my supporting paragraphs, but I have to learn and improve on creating a better thesis that has something to do with my argument, and have it go along with my body paragraphs.
To improve on this, I think it would be best if I outlined my essay before I started writing it. I could create a thesis AFTER writing my body paragraphs. That way, the stronger part of my essay (the body paragraphs) will help me develop a better thesis. When I do this, my body paragraphs will tie with the thesis because I'll be focusing on the thesis and what my main argument is
When writing the reflection last week, I realized that one of my biggest weaknesses was planning. I tend to rush through the plan stage, and often times I have huge gaps in my essays where i just ramble on because i dont know what to say. I also realized that taking the time to plan out my essays and other writing pieces helps me create a more detailed and complete essay.
There is a very simple solution to solving my planning issue and that is to take more time when planning. If i add more detail to the planning, i create a more detailed structure to create my essay on, and the essay just come out much better all around. I also realized that it is a lot easier to write the actual essay when having a better plan base
The weakness that I wrote in my reflection was perfectionism. Unlike procrastination, I don't necessarily wait until the last day to finish an assignment. Rather, I have one draft and one draft only that I meticulously and pain stakingly excavate to put out just what I want, instead of writing multiple drafts and editting them over like peeling the shell of a nut. This can be a real detriment to my time management, also, it is difficult to ration out the right amount of time for each assignment so I can get just what I want out of it.
In regards to a strategy for getting the right quality of work in the right amount of time, I will have to turn to better planning skills to map out what I want in a project and in a much more resonable amount of time. It should be simple enough so long as I make it a good habit of mine to write an outline. If all goes well, my tone and style in writing assignments as well as others should not change.
Last week when we wrote about our weaknesses, I wrote that my weakness was commentaries. That probably put me with most of the class. When we first wrote them and were learning about them, I was totally lost. I kept thinking that we had to write the themes of the piece and what the story symbolized because that was what we did when analyzing poems. Even after we tried a few I was still unsure of what they were and why we did them.
However, after this week, I get what the commentaries are about. When we saw examples of good comentaries, I understood what was expected of me in the commentaries. I see that they should be about the language that is used in the poetry and how that relates to the themes that are presented in the story. Now that I have a grasp on how to do the commentaries correctly, I hope to keep improving with them and be able to do them fully by time I have to do bigger and more complex ones for IB.
Last week in my reflection paper I said that one of my weaknesses is that I have trouble creating a strong thesis. There are a few things I could do to improve this. First, I could make an outline of my essay and think about the major point of the essay and try to put that into a thesis. Also, I could take more time to create my thesis. A lot of times I write a good introductory paragraph and then I kind of just throw a sentence in there that vaguely states what my essay is about. Instead of doing that, I should take the time to really think about the points in my essay and what would make a good thesis. It's an important part of any good essay and something that could easily be improved.
For me, planning ahead when I write a paper is a huge step I tend to skip over. I have never been good at planning ahead or pre-writing, therefore I think I don't need to do it. One practical step I could take to improve or to pre-write would be to find a type of pre-writing I like and enjoy. Then use that system (if it works) on all of my papers. Once I have learned it and am comfortable with it, I believe my writing will improve a bit.
going back over the comments, i noticed that a lot of the comments by other students in the class can pertain to me also. Many said that their problems are with their theses in their writing, and with that i definitely have to agree. I sometimes have trouble writing a thesis that is not too vague, yet so direct that i can barely build on it. I need to be able to get to one that is right in the middle, so that it isnt too broad a topic, nor too direct. I could read other essays and commentaries to see how their authors sum up their writing, and then use those techniques to help me with my writing. I could also spend more time on the thesis, taking my time to really figure out exactly where my essay is going to go.
One of my weaknesses is procrastination. This causes me to wait until the last minute every time to write a paper. Even blogs. I'm doing it now on sunday night when I had the whole week to do it. One way that I can try to prevent this is do it in drafts, or plan out how I will do it. I could say that Monday I will write a first draft, tuesday I'll edit it, wednesday I'll do the works cited, and thursday I'll put it all together to hand in on Friday. This would allow me to get some work done before the night before it is due, even if I don't follow the plan exaclty.
I have a few main weaknesses, one that most of us all share is procrastination. I am a huge procrastinator when it comes to studying for tests and quiz's. I always wait for the night before no matter how busy or calm the days before are. One thing I have been trying to do to work on that is to make note cards three nights before, study for the test completely two nights before, and review the night before. This will help in another way also, because I am not the best test taker, and I get very nervous and anxious during tests, it will help me to know the information during the test better without worrying about freezing up and having trouble remembering the information.
I also need to work on staying on the thesis and proving my point alone. I am very easily distracted, and can just write about almost nothing with no problem. That, however, creates a problem during my papers: I ramble which weakens the paper. One way I thought about improving this way to write my topic sentences for each paragraph before writing the body of each, to know what I have to focus on to prove my main thesis point.
One of the weaknesses I wrote about in last weeks reflection was about how I have trouble with figuring out a thesis for essays. The most practical way to work on that would be by practicing writing them. Although its a cliche, practice does make perfect when it comes down to it. The more I have to write theses's the easier they will become.
Another thing that is an issue for me when it comes to writing is procrastinating. If the topic of the essay or assignment isn't something that really grabs my attention, I normally end up stalling until the very last minute to do it. A way to fix that would just to get on top of it write away, that way I would have more time to edit and perfect the assignment.
One of the weaknesses I expressed through last week's reflection were my transitions in essays. After reviewing all of my essays completed throughout the year, I noticed a subtle improvement, although I could still use alot more. In order to become more skilled, I believe that practice is one way to improve. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If I also forcus on revising the transition part of my essays, I believe I can show a greater strengths. By referrring back to notes while revising, I can exemplify the work within those notes as well as fully comprehend why I am unsuccessful in this area of my writing.
Last week, while analyzing the critical downfalls in my ability to write it became clear that procrastination was my biggest weakness. Of course there is a very simple solution to this. If I do things as soon as they are assigned then I won't be procrastinating. However the challenge will be getting myself to actually do things when they are assigned. Even now I am posting this blog with only a few hours left before they are due. I think the best way I could get myself to stop procrastinating is to stop paying attention to due dates. By treating everything like it is due the next day I will still feel the incentive to work on the assignment, however I won't feel as pressured to finish it because I will know it is not actually due.
In the reflection I wrote last week, I said that one of my biggest weaknesses is creating a specific detailed thesis that isn't too general or broad. This is a hard thing to get better at but like most things it comes with practice. I need to make sure that my thesis supports my argument in the most specific way possible. My thesis also needs to be able to have enough material to support it. In order to help creating a good thesis I think if I sit down and plan out my essay and look over my argument, it will help me see if my thesis is specific enough.
Another weakness of mine is sometimes siting the text, especially if it is for an essay that has to do with a book we read in class. I find it hard to find a really good quote when you have so much text to go through and chose from. I think an easy way to improve this would be to use sticky notes as I am reading and mark things I feel are important and can be used later on.
In my reflection on my writing last week, I identified one main problem that has seemed to occur in my classmates too, procrastination. I always wait till the last possible day to do assignments, this blog for example. This causes me to stay up extremely late writing. That can drastically effect your writing. The main way I vould fix this is to start assignments when they are given to me, as opposed to waiting till the day before they're due. Doing this would make school less stressful and allow me to get more sleep.
I went back and read what people have been writing, and I realize I share some other weaknesses as well. It is commentaries.
The issue is that I'm not sure if what I'm saying is too obvious to point out. I hope to spend lots if time looking at other commentaries and getting a better feel for writing them. by knowing what to look for in my own writing, it will be easier to actually write it. It just needs some time, and a lot of patience.
A couple weeks ago, I posted a comment about my strengths and weaknesses, namely procrastination of my work. (This is probably why I missed this blog on its original date, waited until Saturday, then forgot about it.) I noticed that, like eelphick, my work is alot better when i work on it ahead of time and got the chance to revise and edit it. I should probably try to do this in the future, even though I am already finding that I am having limited (meaning no) success at finding enough time to complete my assignments. I will try harder to stop my procrastinating, and produce better work.
Last week, I wrote a reflection on my writing strengths and weaknesses. One of my biggest weaknesses was procrastination, and I think that if I put my mind to it, that is something that can easily be fixed. If I have, say, a five paragraph essay due in one week, I can write a paragraph a night, and then in the last two nights I can proofread and perfect the essay. This way, if I do not have that much time the day before the essay is due, it is not a problem, because I would already be mostly done with it. I can also try to write the essay a week before by pretending like it is due the next day. This way, I complete the whole essay, and have time to work on it again if I want to later.
Another one of my weaknesses is not being so repetative. This can be solved by writing an outline for the project I'm doing, and making sure that the outline has no major points repeated, or stated in different words. If I work around this outline, then sticking to my topic and not repeating things I have already said will become much easier.
Something I could do to improve my writing is exapnd my vocabulary. I tend to pick a word that I like, and stick with it throughout the paper, rather than finding synonyms for that word. This is something that can easily be improved if I use the new word correctly. Another thing I could do to improve my writing is practice transition sentences. Sometimes, my paragraphs jump around and do not have smooth transistions form one topic to the next. This makes for choppy writing. If I can eliminate thses problems from my writing, it will improve a lot.
When I wrote a refection on my strengths and weaknesses one of my weaknesses was my thesis. They are never very detailed they are too vague. There are a few ways I could improve on making my thesis stronger. One way is to start writing it earlier that way I have a few days to revise it and make sure it is perfect. Another step I could take to improve my writing is to start earlier that way I could ask Mr. Moccia to revise it and that way I have enough time to make corrections. I think procrastination affects my writing because when I start later I get lazy and do not read over my work carefully and it is not as strong as it could be. If I used my time wisely then I could improve both of my weaknesses.
Last week I wrote a reflection on my strengths and weaknesses of my writing. Like many others, my biggest weakness is procrastination. I usually put things off when I have a large amount of time to do them. I think that in order to avoid this problem, I need to pretend that I have a limited amount of time to do my essay. That will force me to get started sooner. Another thing that I could do to eliminate this problem would be to take things step by step. If I do this, then the whole essay won't be as overwhelming and I won't be under as much stress. I think that if I tell myself to write one paragraph every night, then I wouldn't have a problem at all. Not only could I take the time to perfect each paragraph, but I won't put it off as much since it is not an entire essay in one night.
My biggest weakness in writing is trying to come up with a topic to write about and procrastinating. When a teacher gives us a free topic, I usually struggle on finding what to write about. I like writing what people tell me to, and to fix that I need to try to be creative. And since writing is not my favorite thing to do, I usually end up waiting till the last minute to complete my work. By procrastinating, I end up rushing my essay and end up not turning in my best work. To help this problem, I need to try to plan out a schedule of when to get different parts of the essay done. For example, one night I could write my thesis, the next night write my opening paragraph, and so forth. This would improve my writing a lot, and it would benifit me alot to try to fix my writing weakness's.
Since my main weakness is grammar, I believe that the best approach in fixing this is by reading more. As I read more, my vocabulary will expand further and I will be able to construct more complex sentences. Another approach is to do more independent exercises and learn from my grammatical errors from future assignments.
For example, If i get my assignments back I can do corrections to them by reconstructing my phrases grammatically. This will help me improve for the future, and also make me learn from my errors.
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