Improvement of Writing Skills - Coursework Example

Portfolio The core intention of this portfolio is to give a clear and precise demonstration of my continuousimprovement in writing during this semester. Additionally, I intend to reinforce these claims by giving a number of ideas that I have gathered through my observations in genre of writing which I have learnt so far all through the semester. I have gained significant insights on how to write a well-planned, developed, and well-structured piece of witting that adequately demonstrate proficiency in written English. I have also been able to advance my ability to understanding and evolution of ideas. The enclosed pieces of my written work from my Expository writing class constitute diverse types of writing. Thus, they crucial in demonstrating the knowledge I gained all through the semester. The different categories comprised in these essays include a literacy narrative, descriptive essay, article analysis and a personal argument essay. This analysis of my past and current situation will exhibit my strength in writing using the four essays as examples. This will prove that I have greatly improved in gathering of ideas and accurately placing them into a well organized piece of work that enhance the clarity of the objective of the project ( Günter & Herbert 124). To start with, will be my first piece of writing that I will be analyzing in this paragraph. The essay, “Video Game Inspire Learning” is a literacy narrative, which describe a surprising realization of the power of video games in enhancing the learning process of young people. This was a lesson from my experience in playing video games and in learning English language. This process utilizes my childhood experience that also represents the rhetorical situation of this analysis. The Video games apparently in English language setting played a big role in helping me learn some of the basic English words. This writing narrative is achieved from my recount and personal opinion on the issue. It has also derived some additional supporting information to researched work of Dr. Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University. However, the narrative lacks any careful positioned argument on the topic. After recollection of the experiences and the issues discussed in the essay, I came to realization of a number issues. Among objectives meant to be met in Our Expository Writing class was meant to enable us to gain the generic power to improve in understanding and development of ideas during writing process. This aspect of writing has helped me learn how in the process of playing the video game I was able to create a sense of uniqueness in the pursuit of learning the language on my own without the help of my father. The learning I have received regarding the various concepts of literacy narrative was applicable in that room while playing the video games. The fact that there existed quite a difference between my father and I, whilst maintaining a sense of uniqueness in our capabilities helped us to connect together in the learning process ( Günter & Herbert 126). This aspect is strongly brought out in these pieces of witting. Additionally this piece of narrative also portrays other strong points. This is seen whereby I was able to maintain a steady flow of ideas in my writing and well thought transition while maintaining the focus of the writing is a great aspect of the work. However, a number of weaknesses are evident in the thesis and conclusion paragraphs. Thesis statement was not well structured and it lacked the necessary elements of highlighting the objectives of the paper. On the other hand, the conclusion could have included the contribution my Father made in my learning the English language. Next on the line in my portfolio includes analysis of “Parallel World: the surprising similarities of county-and western and rap-and differences.” The major focus of my analysis is on how the author uses different techniques of writing in trying to put ideas across to the audience. One of the major evident literary techniques used by the writer, Noe, is the use of rhetorical triangle. This ensures that the reader get the message intended by the writer in the simplest ways. Noe has also enhances his trustworthiness to the audience through presentation of evident. The writer is a credible source since she is the editor of Caribbean Star Magazine. This analysis was crucial in helping me understand the variability in discourse communities. The analysis was enhanced by the fact I had learnt to effectively break down the subject of the article into its component part. This process helps on to understand the whole work of literature more in details (Troia 234). Consequently, I was able to analyze the article better than I could have done before whereby I could now logically understand the content of the article. On the other hand, I found that I should have improved in several areas. It is against writing ethics to mention some obscene words or use of same language in any piece of writing. Thus, I should have known better when mentioned a number of this words in my work. In addition, the thesis statement should have been stronger in describing the significance of the analysis. The second writing work includes my descriptive essay on; “Nuclear Power and solar Power” which I wrote to describe the various advantages and disadvantages of both nuclear and solar energy. The major focus on my analysis is the strength of my thesis statement and conclusion of the essay. The thesis statement was clearly structured and played a big role in introducing the audience to the content of the essay. The conclusion also shows that I was able to take a stand on my opinion of both sources of energy whereby I was able to pick solar as more safer and appropriate for advanced harnessing for human use. I also learnt a very useful concept of writing process. I was able to undertake a pre-writing process where I had to think about the topic to write about. This enabled me to settle for the topic of this essay, “Nuclear Power and Solar Power.” This step also enabled to undertake the next step without much problem since I could easily research for more information about the already established topic. The book, Green Careers in Energy” by Petersons gave more insight into the topic. The next the writing process moves on to the drafting stage. I was able to do my first draft of the work from which I made the final copy that I presented. According to Hormazábal (2007) webpage, the edit stage marks the last step in the writing process. Here I had to add some punctuation while taking away others at the same time. Source: http://www.scielo.cl/fbpe/img/lyl/n18/fig3-art-15.jpg Another paper that I will be discussing is the “How realistic are goals of Women?” this is an argumentative writing that was intended to discuss a social issue affecting the society and describe my eventual position on the matter. Writing this paper included lot of research work from various sources such as books and online information. My intent was to try arguing my take on the topic and try to support the points with this secondary information. The topic touched on a situation in the society whereby there seems to be a conflict of interests when it comes to issues affecting women. I felt I had to research more on the rights of women and whether they really deserve to be given the same rights as men. The current situation of the conflict between whether women should have equal chance served as an appropriate rhetorical situation. Throughout the paper, I was able to study the topic from personal observation and opinions as well as the views of others. The strength in this piece of work is evident in the fact that I was able to convince my audience of my position by effectively giving reasonable and logical arguments. I also ensured that my points were backed up with quotes from outside sources. Additionally I was able to draw conclusion from these statements, ensuring that I remained as persuasive as possible. Statistics from these sources also showed the current trending that helped further too support my claims. Such quotes also played a role in enhancing my credibility in the eyes of my audience, thus helping me remain a respectable and a trustworthy writer. Another point to consider, Another strong point that I learnt is that the standard of writing will always vary in various discourse communities. For instance, some will only accept a descriptive clear and analytical writing unlike the others who would prefer the opposite. I also realized that my analysis of the article combined a number of techniques to develop the paper. I consistently used research, analysis, and argumentative elements in my work. Finally, analyzing my semester a whole, I can satisfactorily say that I have really grown in terms of writing. I dedicated lot of effort and time in this course throughout the whole time and I can say that it was not in vain since I have generally improved my writing skills. For instance, I have managed to gather adequate information and accurately described them in forms of paragraphs. This way the audience can grasp every piece of my work (Hyland & Ken 97). This has really motivated me and I feel that I have become a better writer even across my discourse communities such as Expository Writing course. My work has also inspires me when I see all the improvements and now I understand that writing as a generative process also allows us to have an increasing understanding whilst developing of better ideas in the process(Hyland & Ken 107). Work Cited Beverly Ingram & Carol King. From Writing to Composing: An Introductory Composition Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. Günter Gerngross, Herbert Puchta. Join Us for English 2 Language Portfolio. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Hormazábal, Rene Díaz. "Argumentative writing strategies and perceptions of writing in academia by EFL college students." 15 09 2007. Literatura y lingüística. Online. 08 05 2012. Hyland, Ken. English for Academic Purposes: An Advanced Resource Book. Chicago: Taylor & Francis, 2006. print. Troia, Gary A. Instruction and Assessment for Struggling Writers: Evidence-Based Practices. New York: Guilford Press, 2010. Print. Read More