Identifying Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals

My Experience with Writing

Name

Class

Date

My Experience with Writing

Writing is a process that one perfects with time following learning and practicing. I feel that writing course in the university has benefited me in improving my academic writing abilities. It has increased my confidence about researching and writing graduate-level academic writing. I took the writing assessment test that enabled me to determine my areas of strength and weakness in writing. This assessment has been helpful as it will help me to develop my writing sills further by enhancing my strengths and dealing with the weaknesses to perfect my abilities.

My Writing Strengths

My strong writing skills include grammar and punctuation. Correct punctuation and grammar form an integral part of written communication. The reader forms an opinion of the writer based on how well he or she has used grammar and punctuation. If the writer has misused these two skills, the leader may get a negative impression of the writer. The opposite is true. I have spent many hours practicing how to use correct grammar and punctuation in academic writing for my educational purposes. This skill has helped me to communicate clearly and precisely. However, proper grammar and punctuation in my academic writing come from editing and proofreading on my writing (“Academic Guides,” 2017).

My Writing Weaknesses

The two writing skills that I need to improve my writing even better than it is now are incorporating scholarly voice and overcoming writer’s block. Academic writing at higher levels of education requires proper scholarly voice. This is different from the academic writing we used to write at lower academic levels. Academic writing necessitates formal tone and language such that the writer needs to avoid second person pronouns, rhetorical questions, biased language contractions, slangs, and colloquialism (Walden University Writing Center, 2015b). The other writing skill I need is how to overcome writer’s block. I understand that writing is a process, and not a singular event; hence, it is not an automatic event (Zamarripa, 2015). Writing is an occurrence that requires practice, creativity, and diligence. To overcome writer’s block, I will need to prepare, find a suitable environment, brainstorm, and practice using outlines (Walden University Writing Center, 2015b).

Strategies

Various writing strategies support my current writing process. They include taking a critical reading, critical thinking, brainstorming, outlining, editing, and proofreading. Critical reading helps me identify the viewpoints, potential biases, evidence, arguments, and conclusion in a scholarly context. It informs my understanding of a given topic. After critical reading, there is critical thinking that allows me to analyze the content I have read in the context of my topic (Zamarripa, 2015). Brainstorming allows me to narrow down my topic to an interesting and most important point that addresses my chosen audience. Outlining helps me to map the content of my writing, my outlining, my first draft, my listing topic sentences, and main points of each paragraph. Editing allows me to clear the grammatical and syntactical errors in my paper. It also helps me to ensure the paper addresses the requirements. Proofreading eliminates the minor grammatical errors and comes after proofreading ("Critical Reading," 2017).

References

Academic Guides: ASC Success Strategies: Critical Reading. (2017). Academicguides.waldenu.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2017, from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ASCsuccess/ASCcriticalreading

Academic Guides: Writing a Paper: Overview. (2017). Academicguides.waldenu.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2017, from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess

Walden University Writing Center. (2015b). Common writing terms: Overview. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/terms/home

Zamarripa, E. (2015). What Are You Writing For? How Your Academic Writing Skills Transfer into the Workplace. Waldenwritingcenter. Retrieved 28 November 2017, from http://waldenwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-are-you-writing-for-how-your.html