Matt Hobbs

10/15/17

Prof. Emerson

ENG 110 C

 

Learning Log

 

  1.      As I was writing my first essay I had a hard time because I did not proofread my essay enough. I believe that proofreading is such a help when it comes to realizing simple mistakes you can easily fix. What I found that works best for me is not to just sit there in one night and constantly reread my essay, but rather reread it segments. When I say segments I mean I will reread it after I finish writing it, then maybe the next day proofread it again. I keep doing this process with a good amount of space in between because what I found was that I would pick up little mistakes I missed the first day. I think taking that time to step back and approach your writing with a different mindset or perspective really helps you notice little mistakes you have made. When taking that time you can not only attack proofreading but you can pick apart your organization and flow. Trying to move paragraphs or claims around when rereading can really let you test all the possible aspects of your writing. When you take the time to play with your writing it definitely helps. When it comes to my second essay I will try this method I have been thinking of which includes printing off a couple different hard copies of my essay and each day proofreading it and change around the organization of my paragraphs to see what flows best.
  2.     As I read over my grading sheet and had a sit down conversation with my writing lab teacher I came to realize many mistakes I had made. One mistake was my use of quotation. I do not believe that I used enough quotes from the texts. Using quotes really helps connect your thoughts through the words of other people. An even bigger mistake I made was paraphrasing those quotes. I did not prepare the reader for the quote nor did I discuss or summarize the quote. A solution to this would be going into more detail about the quote and making those connections from my paper to that quote. A big issue I have is not putting all of my thoughts onto the paper. I have clearly made the connection but what I do not realize is that the readers does not have the same thought process as me. Like I said in the future I should open the reader up to the main idea of the quote first to get their mind thinking about the topic, then use the quote, and finally summarize the quote in detail assuring that the reader understands the connection I am making. By doing these I believe I will make my connections much more clear.
  3.     Active and critical reading is definitely a skill that I must improve on. When it comes to the passages we read, I often find myself wasting so much time rereading the texts. When I do actively read and annotate the text it is so much easier to find where a quote I might need is. For example, when I am in the zone and typing an essay and all of the sudden I remember a perfect quote that could support my claim, if I had not annotated then I am stuck searching through my texts. However, when I do annotate I find myself saving a lot of time by just searching for my little notes to the side of the passage. Also when it comes to annotating, like you said in class, I should write down a note for any type of reaction I have to the text. First of all, it helps me stay engaged to the reading. Secondly, When I am writing, I usually end up writing about what I made a little reaction too. Everything about annotating helps my writing and I need to actually take the time out of my day to sit there and thoroughly active and critically read the passages.
  4.     A lot of my peer revising skills have simply come from the activities we do in class. For example, we have done many claim and evidence exercises in class which make sure we understand how to structure a paragraph clearly. Leading with the claim and providing clear evidence is almost like a blueprint to the essays. When I look at it from that point of view it really helps me when peer and self revising. This helps because I can connect all of their claims. Identifying the outlines of the essay make it much easier to revise. However, I have a hard time critiquing my peers’ essays. When I read them unless it is a small grammar mistake, I have a hard time finding anything wrong. In the future I am definitely try to use the blueprint method. First, I am going to find all of their claims and supporting evidence. Then I am going to check their organization, flow, and other main areas. I feel that starting with identifying their claim and evidence I will have a much easier time helping them revise their essays.
  5.     When it comes to the MLA format I have not always been too sure on it. Whenever I am told to use the MLA format I usually just look it up on google. Now of course this is not the best way because it only gives me the bare minimum. I have recently gone over the link you sent us in the email about citing in the MLA format that Laura Randazzo wrote and that will forsure be a huge help to me. I never really had to cite things using the MLA format growing up so I am too familiar with it. After having this link though, I do not think I will have any issues citing in the MLA format. This will definitely boost my confidence and help me in the future. I plan to use that article to guide me next time I have to cite anything whether it be in this english class or another class.
  6.     I have a couple of areas I would like to improve on. The first being preparation. When writing essays I almost always find myself rushing and it shows in the work. I often do a bad job of explaining or summarizing because I get rushed and do not take the time. For preparation, I plan to take the time and completely annotate and actively read the text. By doing this I will have a complete understanding of what I want to focus on. The next area I want to improve on is outlining. I feel like outlining makes writing so much easier. Having a plan to what you are writing and having it all in order just helps. This can also help with time management. I could space out what I want to write and when. Lastly, proofreading is something I would like to improve on. Taking that time to go over my text multiple times will be very beneficial to my writing.