Writing Philosophy
Writing Philosophy
Writing. Something I always considered boring and unnecessary. I wondered why anyone would do it and why they would waste so much time on it. I used to hate it and I used to never write. I made sure it played no heavy role in my life. Through the course of the English 11 AP class I grew to enjoy writing and not just personal writing, but writing for a purpose. I grew quite a lot this year and I am proud at the writer I have become.
In September I did not write. I only wrote for assignments and not for myself. I hated those assignments, but I did them and they turned out nicely. My strengths then were creative writing, even though I never did it, arguing, but never fully developing a side completely, and description. My weaknesses far outweighed my strengths. I did not use great diction, I hurried to finish my writing, I used bad grammar, I used bad syntax, and I couldn’t develop a continuing theme. I really did not know how to write well, because all my past English classes never really cared as long as we got the point to the subject, and then I just wrote nonsense down to get the grade.
Through AP English 11 I developed my skills and strengthened some of my weaknesses. My writing partners throughout the year have noticed the change and they have told me that I have really matured as a writer. This does make me feel better, but in a way it makes me feel stupid, because I wasn’t a good writer at the beginning. Anyhow, people have told me that my structure has improved and my diction has improved, and my overall meaning has improved.
My strengths now are that I can write a developed essay that follows a continuing purpose with varied diction, syntax, and tone. I have also improved my argumentative skills and the outline helped me with that. I am able to argue both sides, but make the side I believe in more, more effective and stronger. The research paper helped me shape my argument and strengthened my skills. My weaknesses are not so much weaknesses anymore, but more of a nagging problem. I still can’t develop a strong diction, or syntax, but it was better than before. My structure has improved, but I can still carry off at some points and talk about thing snot related to the subject at all. My speed and correctness of a piece of writing has improved. I tend to take more time on my essays and they turn out better. If I do run out of time, or just don’t feel like doing it, I can write nonsense that loosely makes sense to the reader, so it is not a complete waste of time. My purpose for writing has changed. I now write for personal development and I can also enjoy writing assigned pieces. The reason I have grown to like the writing of assigned pieces is because it lets me offer an opinion to the subject and then I feel as if I added a great deal of influence to it. My writing is not the best, but I am still able to add my own perspective and it allows other people to read it, and either agree or disagree.
I have matured quite a bit with my writing over the course of the year. My college essay was probably my best improvement and the best piece of writing throughout the whole year. At first, the college essay was boring and not very informative. I was more telling the audience who I was instead of showing the audience who I was. This was a very hard piece to read, as it is dry and contained an arid tone. The second draft was much better. It actually seemed at first that I didn’t write it. I made the essay into a story and showed myself more rather than telling. I improved my diction and syntax and added a lot more description. My third and final draft to my essay was the best. I made it more relatable to the audience and what it would be like to actually be part of the time period in my college essay. I heavily improved my syntax and varied it throughout the piece. I heard from multiple people saying that my essay was good and that it really showed who I was.
My AP English 11 practice essays have been the worst thing I have worked on for the entire year. Every essay has had a boring topic and it was extremely difficult to write a whole essay on the subject. The rhetorical analysis was the hardest of the three types because it required me examining an essay and picking out diction, syntax, tone, and other rhetorical devices. This is not a good thing for me and I really fail at it; one because I have no idea what half of the rhetorical devices are, and two because I get the rhetorical devices mixed up with the different appeals that can be used to make a reader feel a certain way. It has improved and I know what the devices are now. The 1st dialectical journal was a fail, because I had no idea what I was doing. When the teacher explained the devices I was able to pick out the devices better. I believe that the learning of the rhetorical analysis throughout the year, I feel confident that I earned a 6+ on the rhetorical analysis question on the AP English 11 Exam. Argumentative essays were easier for me, but my weakness for arguing kicks in. I have to be straight in the middle of the argument; I can never fully choose a side. This has been improved and I have, through the help of others, that each side I argue is good. I can argue any argument and in any way. Now I choose one side and hit that side hard and bash the other, when I used to go in the middle and bash and benefit both sides and end up not making sense and contradicting myself. With the skills I have learned this year, I feel confident that I earned a 6+ on argument essay of the AP English 11 Exam. Synthesis essays are something that I never really practiced with before. This was a hard experience to get used to and in class I never had examples, but none the less it was an easy to understand, but I had to get used to reading multiple sources. The writing was easy, considering that I could use other people’s examples to make my words sound better. At first I wanted to let the sources form my argument, but I learned that I had to keep my own voice and I learned that it made a stronger essay to keep my own voice. Keeping my own voice was difficult for the essay, considering that the sources were very persuading and it made me think that my own voice was writing and not so intelligent as the writers, so it decreased my confidence. With the low confidence and difficulty keeping my voice, I feel as if I got a 4-6 on the synthesis essay on the AP English 11 Exam.
The research persuasive/argumentative essay and speech was one of the most enjoyable writing experiences. I could finally write about something that I loved. I could pick the side that I wanted to argue, but I had to choose the topic of genetic engineering. I had to argue and persuade that genetic engineering was a problem for the human race. I wanted to argue that genetic engineering was beneficial to the human race, but my friend took that topic. I knew I had to persuade the audience with a strong argument and this was going to be difficult. With the first draft, I was not allowed to use my research and therefore I felt discouraged by my argument. Since I had no research I thought of religion and my research turned into genetic engineering is against morals. This was not what I wanted, but by second draft, I had no time to actually write a new essay so I just changed a lot of it, but added research. My research paper was a very general subject and not tuned into something specific so that decreased my effectiveness. It was a good argument with the research and I strengthened my diction and syntax and I was actually pleased with the piece, except the religion being my main arguing point. For the speech, I completely went a different way. I took out all the religion and had to work with my evidence in a different way. I improved my diction and syntax. I made it more personal with the audience and I realized that I had no appeals in my research paper, so I had to add those. I added a lot of pathos and logos but took out some of the ethos, considering my research paper was all ethics and morals. I feel really confident in my speech and I feel that it will persuade people. I have let a couple of people read it and they said that they are convinced that I make a valid point and that I will win over the audience and get them for my favor. This really increases my confidence.
Throughout the course of the year I have grown as writer and I have developed the confidence to write and I feel that my writing is better. I have overall improved my diction and syntax and I am able to write a successful essay that really wins over the reader, or I feel that way even though it may not actually be that way.
My view of writing follows much like the writing and discussion of the “Simplicity” piece by Zinsser. I prefer to write for all people to understand and be able to read, instead of only highly educated people being able to read my work. I understand that people have to sound intelligent and know how to persuade and dazzle the reader, but if you are trying to appeal to everybody, one had to write to everybody, not just those that you would like to appeal to more. I would love to write to the president and address some important issues, but he is just like any other man and is capable of simple speech, not a person who does not understand the simplest English. I want my writing to be able to be read by anyone that happens to come across my work.
Bergen Evans makes a good point that words can have effects on the readers. Some words make the reader feel a certain way and some words change the entire scene for the reader. I want my writing to have that effect on the reader. I want my reader to be taken to a whole new world, to be lost within the words and engaged in the story. I also want my reader to understand things, make sure that she knows what is happening.
I say I would have to not exactly like what Jimmy Santiago Baca is saying. His story is meaningful, but it and I understand why he would write it, but there did not need to be so many details. It would have been just fine if he told the idea of “coming into a language.” This is a cool way that he “came into a language” and it shows that writers can come from the worst of backgrounds, but none the less his work is still good. It doesn’t matter about the background if the reader enjoys it because if a reader knows the background of a writer, the meaning of the piece changes, at least for me.
I have grown as a writer and I have improved. I will continue to improve and I will continue to grow. There is always room to get better and I will learn the necessary key elements to get me along the way. I want to be able to write to everyone, but do it in such an artistic way, that the reader gets lost. I am proud of the writer I have already become and the writer I will become.
Writing. Something I always considered boring and unnecessary. I wondered why anyone would do it and why they would waste so much time on it. I used to hate it and I used to never write. I made sure it played no heavy role in my life. Through the course of the English 11 AP class I grew to enjoy writing and not just personal writing, but writing for a purpose. I grew quite a lot this year and I am proud at the writer I have become.
In September I did not write. I only wrote for assignments and not for myself. I hated those assignments, but I did them and they turned out nicely. My strengths then were creative writing, even though I never did it, arguing, but never fully developing a side completely, and description. My weaknesses far outweighed my strengths. I did not use great diction, I hurried to finish my writing, I used bad grammar, I used bad syntax, and I couldn’t develop a continuing theme. I really did not know how to write well, because all my past English classes never really cared as long as we got the point to the subject, and then I just wrote nonsense down to get the grade.
Through AP English 11 I developed my skills and strengthened some of my weaknesses. My writing partners throughout the year have noticed the change and they have told me that I have really matured as a writer. This does make me feel better, but in a way it makes me feel stupid, because I wasn’t a good writer at the beginning. Anyhow, people have told me that my structure has improved and my diction has improved, and my overall meaning has improved.
My strengths now are that I can write a developed essay that follows a continuing purpose with varied diction, syntax, and tone. I have also improved my argumentative skills and the outline helped me with that. I am able to argue both sides, but make the side I believe in more, more effective and stronger. The research paper helped me shape my argument and strengthened my skills. My weaknesses are not so much weaknesses anymore, but more of a nagging problem. I still can’t develop a strong diction, or syntax, but it was better than before. My structure has improved, but I can still carry off at some points and talk about thing snot related to the subject at all. My speed and correctness of a piece of writing has improved. I tend to take more time on my essays and they turn out better. If I do run out of time, or just don’t feel like doing it, I can write nonsense that loosely makes sense to the reader, so it is not a complete waste of time. My purpose for writing has changed. I now write for personal development and I can also enjoy writing assigned pieces. The reason I have grown to like the writing of assigned pieces is because it lets me offer an opinion to the subject and then I feel as if I added a great deal of influence to it. My writing is not the best, but I am still able to add my own perspective and it allows other people to read it, and either agree or disagree.
I have matured quite a bit with my writing over the course of the year. My college essay was probably my best improvement and the best piece of writing throughout the whole year. At first, the college essay was boring and not very informative. I was more telling the audience who I was instead of showing the audience who I was. This was a very hard piece to read, as it is dry and contained an arid tone. The second draft was much better. It actually seemed at first that I didn’t write it. I made the essay into a story and showed myself more rather than telling. I improved my diction and syntax and added a lot more description. My third and final draft to my essay was the best. I made it more relatable to the audience and what it would be like to actually be part of the time period in my college essay. I heavily improved my syntax and varied it throughout the piece. I heard from multiple people saying that my essay was good and that it really showed who I was.
My AP English 11 practice essays have been the worst thing I have worked on for the entire year. Every essay has had a boring topic and it was extremely difficult to write a whole essay on the subject. The rhetorical analysis was the hardest of the three types because it required me examining an essay and picking out diction, syntax, tone, and other rhetorical devices. This is not a good thing for me and I really fail at it; one because I have no idea what half of the rhetorical devices are, and two because I get the rhetorical devices mixed up with the different appeals that can be used to make a reader feel a certain way. It has improved and I know what the devices are now. The 1st dialectical journal was a fail, because I had no idea what I was doing. When the teacher explained the devices I was able to pick out the devices better. I believe that the learning of the rhetorical analysis throughout the year, I feel confident that I earned a 6+ on the rhetorical analysis question on the AP English 11 Exam. Argumentative essays were easier for me, but my weakness for arguing kicks in. I have to be straight in the middle of the argument; I can never fully choose a side. This has been improved and I have, through the help of others, that each side I argue is good. I can argue any argument and in any way. Now I choose one side and hit that side hard and bash the other, when I used to go in the middle and bash and benefit both sides and end up not making sense and contradicting myself. With the skills I have learned this year, I feel confident that I earned a 6+ on argument essay of the AP English 11 Exam. Synthesis essays are something that I never really practiced with before. This was a hard experience to get used to and in class I never had examples, but none the less it was an easy to understand, but I had to get used to reading multiple sources. The writing was easy, considering that I could use other people’s examples to make my words sound better. At first I wanted to let the sources form my argument, but I learned that I had to keep my own voice and I learned that it made a stronger essay to keep my own voice. Keeping my own voice was difficult for the essay, considering that the sources were very persuading and it made me think that my own voice was writing and not so intelligent as the writers, so it decreased my confidence. With the low confidence and difficulty keeping my voice, I feel as if I got a 4-6 on the synthesis essay on the AP English 11 Exam.
The research persuasive/argumentative essay and speech was one of the most enjoyable writing experiences. I could finally write about something that I loved. I could pick the side that I wanted to argue, but I had to choose the topic of genetic engineering. I had to argue and persuade that genetic engineering was a problem for the human race. I wanted to argue that genetic engineering was beneficial to the human race, but my friend took that topic. I knew I had to persuade the audience with a strong argument and this was going to be difficult. With the first draft, I was not allowed to use my research and therefore I felt discouraged by my argument. Since I had no research I thought of religion and my research turned into genetic engineering is against morals. This was not what I wanted, but by second draft, I had no time to actually write a new essay so I just changed a lot of it, but added research. My research paper was a very general subject and not tuned into something specific so that decreased my effectiveness. It was a good argument with the research and I strengthened my diction and syntax and I was actually pleased with the piece, except the religion being my main arguing point. For the speech, I completely went a different way. I took out all the religion and had to work with my evidence in a different way. I improved my diction and syntax. I made it more personal with the audience and I realized that I had no appeals in my research paper, so I had to add those. I added a lot of pathos and logos but took out some of the ethos, considering my research paper was all ethics and morals. I feel really confident in my speech and I feel that it will persuade people. I have let a couple of people read it and they said that they are convinced that I make a valid point and that I will win over the audience and get them for my favor. This really increases my confidence.
Throughout the course of the year I have grown as writer and I have developed the confidence to write and I feel that my writing is better. I have overall improved my diction and syntax and I am able to write a successful essay that really wins over the reader, or I feel that way even though it may not actually be that way.
My view of writing follows much like the writing and discussion of the “Simplicity” piece by Zinsser. I prefer to write for all people to understand and be able to read, instead of only highly educated people being able to read my work. I understand that people have to sound intelligent and know how to persuade and dazzle the reader, but if you are trying to appeal to everybody, one had to write to everybody, not just those that you would like to appeal to more. I would love to write to the president and address some important issues, but he is just like any other man and is capable of simple speech, not a person who does not understand the simplest English. I want my writing to be able to be read by anyone that happens to come across my work.
Bergen Evans makes a good point that words can have effects on the readers. Some words make the reader feel a certain way and some words change the entire scene for the reader. I want my writing to have that effect on the reader. I want my reader to be taken to a whole new world, to be lost within the words and engaged in the story. I also want my reader to understand things, make sure that she knows what is happening.
I say I would have to not exactly like what Jimmy Santiago Baca is saying. His story is meaningful, but it and I understand why he would write it, but there did not need to be so many details. It would have been just fine if he told the idea of “coming into a language.” This is a cool way that he “came into a language” and it shows that writers can come from the worst of backgrounds, but none the less his work is still good. It doesn’t matter about the background if the reader enjoys it because if a reader knows the background of a writer, the meaning of the piece changes, at least for me.
I have grown as a writer and I have improved. I will continue to improve and I will continue to grow. There is always room to get better and I will learn the necessary key elements to get me along the way. I want to be able to write to everyone, but do it in such an artistic way, that the reader gets lost. I am proud of the writer I have already become and the writer I will become.