Gibran Sheikh
Professor Macklin
English 115
27 November 2012
Reflective
Essay
A
writer is unique as can be; there are many different characteristics that may
shape his or her own style of writing. A writer can come from anywhere, whether
it be a critic drafting his or her review article for a four-star restaurant,
or simply a teenager who finds the necessity to blog about the modern world. There
are many cases where one can be deemed a writer, but what makes that writing “good
writing”? Sadly, I cannot contribute an answer. As far as I know, good writing
is influenced by opinions that label it to be “good writing”. For me, I feel
that good writing is more of a process that is taken by a unique writer. This
process allows the writer to gain knowledge of their own writing style and use
that knowledge to better themselves in their composition. In my English 115
class my freshmen semester, I observed my writing style and gained knowledge
from peers and my professor on how to become a better author of my works. In
building my portfolio for this class, I have found ways to better my use of
writing mechanics, and while I use this knowledge beyond implications of an
English class, I still find ways to improve my composition.
In
retrospect, my writing was more of an unedited flow of thoughts transcribed
into plain text onto word documents. It was simply me blatantly typing what I
thought; in other words, my writing was more of a “raw” idea which was not
fully developed. Throughout the course of the semester there were several
sessions which I attended, some in class, and others at home. It was at those
sessions in which I was able to really generate ideas for a more useful way of
writing. These ideas allowed me to address certain issues in my writing without
seeming too “pushy” about the issues I wrote about. To give an example, in my
first essay my title was “Perfection Does Not Exist”. This basically shows how
my writing was thoughts transcribed, without revision. Throughout the course I
was later helpful to my peers and professor, for their feedback in workshops
was beneficial to my writing. I was able to revise in a more careful manner,
allowing myself to spot out and identify anything that I felt was unnecessary or
redundant. Later in the course I was able to get more advice that was not
directed to me. Writer’s workshops went around for everyone in the class, so I
was able to get a sense of their writing style and take in feedback from there
to incorporate into my own writing. Class workshops in English was always a
win-win situation if you showed up, and luckily for me I was there every time,
gaining feedback all for the best. Certain strengths and weaknesses in my essay
were also improved upon throughout the class meetings. As I began to see, my
writing became more and more adapted to an educational style, still implemented
with opinions and use of tone.
Down
to the bone of the meat, as my friend once said, writing all comes down to an
idea and the way the author presents that idea; through a flow of points and
ideas that may be used for future use. Throughout writing papers for the three
progressions, a criterion that needed to be met with, I also found the ideas
for my writing to be useful outside of the subject of English. As it was, the
assignments in one class, English, helped in other classes: psychology, and
biology are just a couple. My style of writing, as I have learned this
semester, will continue to adapt to more comfortable settings for appropriate
audiences, and I will always find ways to learn from my mistakes, as will
others.
Works
Cited
Sheikh,
Gibran S. "Perfection Does Not Exist" Diss. California State
University Northridge, September 2012.
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