And that's a wrap

               



              The lectures for this semester will draw to a close in less than a week. Frankly, I still cannot believe that it is actually close to its ending. Although this semester has been very hectic, I think that it has gone by very swiftly amidst the bustle of completing all of the assignments. In a way, it is all's well that ends well. The workload has actually helped me persevere and go through the semester to its end.

              As for the Effective Writing subject, I have gained a lot of knowledge on writing throughout the course. I believe my writing skills have developed considerably through completing the weekly exercises. Thus, I have noticed the overall improvement in my writing ability.The constant writing practices that we have done throughout the semester have eased me up on writing a little. I used to feel writing required a lot of energy in order to generate ideas and phrase the sentences properly to perfection. But now, I have allowed more room for myself to accept imperfection and in turn, this has allowed me to be more expressive and natural in my writing. Though I still think that my writing is a tad rigid than others, I have definitely become better at synchronizing my thoughts with my writing so that it flows with less effort. Dr. Sheena's emphasis on free writing for the blog has really helped me in this regard.

              All in all, the continuous writing exercises have made me more comfortable in penning a composition, either a writing of the academic genre, a persuasive writing or even a narrative essay. I have been able to try my hands on these different writing genres which I had not the guts to venture and attempt on previously. It has really trained me to become a more versatile writer overall. Though my writing is still flawed and needs countless improvements, this class has been a stepping stone for me to become a better writer in the future.
           

And that's a wrap!!

Week 11's reflections

           




            Today's class was on persuasive writing. At first, we read several persuasive writing sample essays given by Dr. Sheena. She provided writing samples on a variety of subjects that were fairly interesting. Then, we had to identify the thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting details, transition words, verbs, words that we didn't know the meanings of and the strategies used by the authors to write the introductions and conclusions of the essays.

           This exercise has  helped me to familiarise myself with the structure and style of persuasive writing. I learned how other writers employ certain strategies such as examples and summaries for the introduction and conclusion sections of their essays, and how one idea is connected fluidly with the next with the use of particular transition words. Thus, through imitating and utilising similar techniques of writing, I reckon I will be able to compose a persuasive writing piece in a more constructive and efficient manner after this beneficial practice.

            Besides that, this exercise significantly improved my reading skills especially in terms of skimming or scanning a document for important ideas and points. I had to exercise my concentration skills to the fullest as we had to identify several principal elements in a text simultaneously. Thus, I think the exercise has helped me become a better, faster and more effective reader overall.