Writing Process Paper

I feel that knowing your writing process is essential for you to be a well rounded writer. You have to know how you are most successful to enable you to create the best paper possible. If you do not know your personal writing process your writing will suffer. I learned a lot about my writing process and about the writing process of the students in my class. I took these ideas and tried them in my process and some of them worked which made my writing improve.
Over the course of this semester my writing improved immensely, I saw this not only in this writing class but also in other classes where I had to write papers. In my Government class I had to do a research paper and I would have been lost if it was not for this English class. The Government paper was in MLA format and I earned a 4.0 on the paper because of the improvements in my writing and because I was introduced to MLA format. Knowing my personal writing process helped me to achieve the grade I wanted on my Government paper as well as papers in this class.
Overall I write the best at home, while I am writing the problems that I experience include many grammar issues like word choices and errors with overall grammar such as commas. My worst habit is I like to wait until the last minute to write my papers. However I have been trying to get away from that. In my research paper for this class I found that if I start working on the assignment the night I get the assignment then I will get it done early, if I do not then I will rush at the last minute. All of my papers that I have done since the “This I Believe” paper have been started the night I received the assignment.
I really need to work on my grammar issues and word choice issues the most. I think that these are the things that will hurt me in the long run the most. If I do not work on these then I will never get into the physical therapy program at Central Michigan University. Thinking about my future is what helps me counter the flaws in my writing. If I think about the grade I need to earn then I will take more time and do better editing for my paper.
My writing process is really four main stages. It helps me to think of my stages as an outline so I can be more organized through out my writing process. If I have a plan then I am more likely to complete the task at hand. If I do not go through the steps then I always get a grade below a 3.0. I tend to use the five “W’s and H” as I start brainstorming for my paper.
Brainstorming is the first step in my writing process and from the beginning of this course I have felt that I can’t start a paper without this step. I start out working with a scrap piece of paper and I put all of my thoughts down about what I’m going to write about. I do something identical to the brain dump that we did at the beginning of this course. I start off with this step because I feel it is probably, besides editing, the most important step in my writing process.
Before I started this class I could never start a paper but the brain dump enables me to start on a topic and use all different types of ideas for a paper. In this step I use bubbles to connect things that are alike for my paper. If nothing is in common then I wait a while and start another brain dump. I am more of a creative person no this method works for me well. It reminds me of, connect the dots where you make a picture after all the pieces are together. The final picture, after all the dots are connected, being the start of my second step.
My second step is the outline and I do this like you would if you were to prepare a speech. I start by taking the things that connected the best during the brain dump and putting them in to a category. I start be determining what type of paper this is by using the terms in the book, it helps to show me what kind of paper I am really writing. The outline is made by had to save time and I put what type of paper I am writing at the top of the outline so I can stay on track. I make this outline because I am a disorganized person and the outline helps me to be organized while I am writing. This works for me mainly because it keeps me on a steady path to my main goal which is a 4.0.
The third step in my writing process is to actually write my paper. This has to be done at my desk in my room which is the only place I can write. This is because there are no distractions around me and if I get distracted then I will not write the paper well. With the outline at hand this is really a fast and effective step. Normally I write this portion of my paper within an hour on a three page paper, because everything is mapped out for me. Essentially what I do is take my outline and write it out on the computer.
This is also the step where I add all of the description to my paper. When I use description in this step I like to use the thinks we learned during this class like dominant impression and exploding the moment. These make my paper less boring for the reader to read and more fun for me to write. I think these are what really made my papers good in this class.
My final and most important step is my editing and revising step. Most of the time I have someone educated such as my mom, who is in the Nursing program at JCC through Eastern Michigan University, peer edit my paper. When I edit my papers I probably repeat this step four or five times on a really important paper, such as the research paper and two times for a paper that would be a low percent of my grade. There are no words I can use to express the importance of this step in my writing process. With out my editing step I will fail every paper.
Overall I am glad that I had the opportunity to discover my personal writing process because with out this process I think I would be lost in college. I have changed a lot of things in my writing process as I have sat through this class. I went from just typing the paper to having an actual process to follow every time I write. The writing process has taught me how I write best and has made writing more enjoyable for me.