This past semester, I have learned quite a bit about my learning and writing styles. I work best in a quiet environment and I have taken advantage of the group study rooms in the library. I have also taken advantage of the library itself, by checking out books for projects and just walking around the stacks to pique my interest. Once I had a solid topic for my WWII paper, I browsed the stacks and garnered tremendous inspiration for my writing. Because I was writing about English Romanticism, I flipped through a variety of different sources. So interesting!
With my writing skills, I have really zeroed in on creating outlines. These outlines have helped me tremendously, as they give me the opportunity to be more clear in my writing. In an attempt to improve clarity and brevity within my writing, I have also taken advantage of the whiteboards in the library study rooms to sketch out my outlines. As a visual learner, seeing my outlines in a larger format allows me to view everything all at once and parse apart individual ideas.
In addition to creating outlines, I have improved at being less of a perfectionist in my writing. Instead of spending twenty minutes contemplating the wording of a sentence, I wrote down all of the ideas in my document. This way I could always refer to the material later and have a record of my thought process.
I have recently become obsessed with my highlighters. Whenever I find a compelling quote I want to save, I designate a specific highlighter color to represent different topics, phrases, and words. This allows me to separate my ideas more clearly. In my WWII paper, I used the color green to highlight ideas associated with nature. Not only did this help me improve my organization systematically, but it also allowed me to have fun with my learning. The symbolism was uncanny.
I experienced difficulty with choosing a topic for my WWII paper. I originally chose a topic which was going to examine the effects of trauma during the Holocaust, but I quickly retreated once I realized reading scientific articles was not for me. I also experienced difficulty when writing my conclusion paragraph. I always dread summarizing information as I am often unsure of how much to include. My outlines thankfully eliminated some of the challenges I had faced in previous essays. Another challenge I experienced was analyzing my evidence. Sometimes I am stressed that I don’t have enough analysis and I divide up my explanations within that paragraph. I initially did this in my paper but quickly stopped due to creative inspiration and research.
Based upon my blog portfolio of writing, class engagement, and completed work, I think I deserve the grade of an A. This may appear highfalutin, but I always put forth my best effort, ask good questions, and am calculating with my writing.
