It is amazing how quickly time does go by. Speaking of time, I thought I had pretty good time management skills based on my previous four semesters. This semester however was a bit more challenging. I took two online classes and both were quit reading and writing intensive. I really struggled with putting my thoughts on paper and experienced what, to me, was writers block. With that being said I am still not allotting enough time to finish my work in the fashion I would like. I have seen an improvement and that is why I am here. One skill that I learned was to just start typing. I used to write everything out longhand and then type it out. That was a very long process and I am getting more comfortable with starting right on the computer. It has gotten faster, but I find myself editing while I'm writing, which disrupts my thought process. It's a work in progress.
I really enjoyed the work we did in class. This was really new to me. I have never spent so much time analyzing a single piece of work. It was really interesting how different things would stand out to me upon returning to a reading. some of my views even contradicted my thesis, which added to my writers block. That in itself was a learning experience and taught me to make my claims with confidence while eliminating my first person writing style. Another new experience was the night I attended one of the literary reviews, I found it quit enjoyable. I have to say I expanded my cultural palate.
I will say that over the years I have always enjoyed reading, but never a deep reading. I am not well read in the sense that I could compare the authors that we studied to other authors. I liked both novels that we read and could relate in some fashion to both main characters. The movie Winters Bone was terrible but I enjoyed both the novel and the movie Up in the Air.
I can see that my written communication skills have improved, and have already utilized that in rewriting my resume.
I really enjoyed the work we did in class. This was really new to me. I have never spent so much time analyzing a single piece of work. It was really interesting how different things would stand out to me upon returning to a reading. some of my views even contradicted my thesis, which added to my writers block. That in itself was a learning experience and taught me to make my claims with confidence while eliminating my first person writing style. Another new experience was the night I attended one of the literary reviews, I found it quit enjoyable. I have to say I expanded my cultural palate.
I will say that over the years I have always enjoyed reading, but never a deep reading. I am not well read in the sense that I could compare the authors that we studied to other authors. I liked both novels that we read and could relate in some fashion to both main characters. The movie Winters Bone was terrible but I enjoyed both the novel and the movie Up in the Air.
I can see that my written communication skills have improved, and have already utilized that in rewriting my resume.
Hi Dean,
ReplyDeleteI also prefer to write in longhand and then type everything later, and experienced similar time management issues. I'm finding that it's easier writing technical or classwork in Word, but pen to paper seems to be best for creative writing.
It's really interesting that some of your views contradicted your thesis during your writing, I think that's probably a good sign that you had an actual thesis statement and that your paper was analyzing rather than just summarizing.
It's been great reading your work!
Hello Dean,
ReplyDeleteYou had a good post! I can relate to you in several areas that you touched on in regards to this class. I also get writers block sometimes and I found it difficult to express myself in depth and in detail. I can also relate to contradicting yourself in regards to you thesis and I also have problems with writing in first person. Another big challenge for me was distinguishing the difference between a summary and an analysis. Even with all of our problems the class has been interesting. Good luck to you! It's almost over!
I really enjoyed your post, it was honest and to the point. I can say from experience that to learn to just start typing is a big help. Sometimes I think it is easy to over analyze or over plan a paper when often all that is needed is to begin to type. I agree, I thought Winter's Bone was terrible as well, at least the movie version. Good post and I have enjoyed your posts throughout the semester.
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of the same problems with my writing. I would lose concentration editing my papers as I wrote them, I would maybe not contradict my thesis but I would go off course and write a lot that was not exactly related to my thesis, and I also had some of the same difficulties as Nate in distinguishing between summary and analysis.
ReplyDeleteEliminating the first person is a challenge. I have many of the same problems writing that you have had, and it is quite a process. I've also had writers block almost the entire term. :) I guess it happens.
ReplyDeleteThis semester did go by very fast. And i agree, online classes teach you how to manage your time. I had problems with my papers as well, it was hard to get motivated for this class mostly because it was online.
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