Writing Process

My rough draft of the Critique needed some MAJOR revisions. After making the revisions, I feel better about the success of the essay as a whole.

My writing process included reading and making annotations in the margins of the essay, outlining, brainstorming, free writing, and of course, drafting and revising. In the next essay, I believe that I will keep each part of the process that I used for the first. Each part plays an important role, and I do not think my writing would be nearly as effective if I opted to not use any one part. For example, if I did not annotate, it would not be as easy for me to find points within essays that I wish to use. Without brainstorming and outlining, my essay would not be well organized which could cause serious problems for anyone reading it. Free writing is essential to my writing because it helps me to get my ideas on the page (Of course I can better organize those ideas if need be at a later time.). And drafting and revision is a key part of any essay. No one can get an essay perfectly written the first time around. Therefore drafting and revision help to strengthen the essay and are key components in its overall success.

Group Work

Using the class wiki was not difficult for me because I had used one last semester in English 111. Once I mastered how a wiki worked (in my former class), I found it to be a very helpful tool for sharing ideas. This is especially true in our writing class where group work is essential so that we can all improve our writing skills.

The ideas of others can greatly help writers strengthen their writing. For example, in our Criteria Brainstorm, everyone contributed ideas for possible criteria on which to evaluate the essays we had chosen to read. Looking back at the list when considering criteria for our evaluations can give us ideas that we may not have yet considered.

To me, the main reward of group work is that ideas can be expressed, shared, and expanded upon. Different points of view and different ideas can be more closely examined making the process of group work a learning experience for all involved.

Criteria/criterion

Setting criteria is an important part of making any decision or judgment. This is especially so in the "real world." I can think of two examples where criteria was an important part of the decision making process in my own life.

The first was shortly after my daughter was born prematurely. I had a very important decision to make concerning who her primary care physician would be. I realize that this is an important one for all parents (whether children are born prematurely or not), but it is especially important where children who may have early complications due to premature birth are concerned. The main criteria I based my decision on was the doctor's experience in dealing with premature babies and some of the complications they (the babies) had (For example, lung problems among premature babies are common.). I did get a recommendation from the hospital for a doctor, but before I decided to choose that doctor, I made some inquiries to ensure that my daughter would be well taken care of by him as well as inquiries about his overall experience in the field. It was not until I was satisfied with the results that I decided he would be her doctor.

The second example of a time when criterion was very important in my decision making process is one that I am sure everyone reading this blog can relate to - choosing a college. Criterion that I used for this were 1.) Did the college have an online program that fit my major? 2.) What types of degrees were offered (Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, etc)? I was looking for a college that offered a Bachelor's degree. 3.) Could the college of my choice accommodate my disability if need be? I chose BGSU because it met all of these criterion. If it had not, I would have continued searching until I found a college that could better suit my needs.

English 112 Expectations

This writing course is the second one that I have taken since I began classes at BGSU (Last semester I took English 111.). And, as with the last writing course, my expectations are to continue to improve my writing skills so that both writings I will do in future classes as well as writings I may do in my career can be both informative and of high quality. The main strengths of my writing include grammar and expressing ideas coherently. Something I would like to continue working on in my writing is audience appeal. Even though this has been a strength in some of my essays, it has needed a good deal of work in others. I would like to have audience appeal be more constant in my work. The only expectation that I have of the instructor is that she give specific feedback where needed so that my writing can improve in problem areas.