Writing Wrap-Up

Alexandra Bowers

April 29, 2012

Block 4

Dr. deGravelles

Writing Wrap-Up

Throughout my ninth grade year writing papers’ has been tough. The hardest story to write out of all the papers has definitely been the literary analysis, Just Lather, That’s all, but is it? My overall score was not my best, but it was not my worst either. Most of the comments that I received from this paper made sense. The one comment that I was confused about was the first comment of the paper. The reason why I do not understand is whenever I said that Captain Torres was the antagonist, I meant that he was depicted as the bad guy in the short story. The majority of the comments that I was given throughout this paper were about not developing the paragraphs enough. Also, some of the quotes I did not give enough information to support it.

            The second hardest paper that I wrote was the research paper, The Issue of Human Trafficking and Sexual Abuse in Thailand. One of the main problems that I had with this paper was where to put the commas when I was writing the citation. I would also have trouble when I should know where put a comma, semicolon, or just a period. This paper had many mechanics errors. Also, another thing that I had trouble with was organization. It was difficult because I had collected a stack of information, and I couldn’t put all that information in a logical order. The last problem I had was word choice. I have to admit that I am never good when it comes to word choice. Once I reread the paper I wondered if I made my paper too casual, even though this paper was casual. In the end I was proud of the grade I was given.

            The first paper that we wrote this year was called Reading Through the Years. This was the worst paper that I had written all year. The main errors that I made were fragments, comma splices, and missing commas. All in all my mechanics were a little rusty from just coming off of summer. I agree with all of the comments that I was given.

            The descriptive profile was the second essay that we wrote, and mine was called My Backyard. I did not have many problems throughout this paper, but the main problem is I did not elaborate on the details as much as you had wished. Also, another problem I had was I make things to wordy. For example I wrote “beautiful flower that is a yellow-orange color”. The last paper I am discussing in the WrAP essay. I admit that I was expecting 3’s and 3.5’s. The reason is I do not know how the music industry works. I felt that I could not contribute to what the prompt was asking, and I did not have enough information to support the paper. So I found this essay difficult not only that we had to complete it in two days, but also I always like having more information than necessary, but also this time I had less information that was needed.

            Throughout the ninth grade I think have improved my writing skills a ton. The feedback that I was given matches what I have learned over the year, because in the beginning I would have many fragments and comma splices, but now I have improved upon that. I have also worked on if I should put a comma here of have a semicolon. Throughout the year I have improved on voice, ideas, sentence fluency and conventions, but I am still having trouble with organization, and word choice. Next year I plan on working on my two weak spots and also I would like to improve on the parts where I have gotten stronger. First, whenever I start to write my papers I will ask my teacher if he or she could review it (if they are allowed to), and then work on making the weak spots in the paper better. Second, I will ask one of my peers to review my paper, and see if there are any mistakes that need to be fixed. Third, if I am still having trouble I will go and visit this teacher to ask what I am doing wrong and then I will correct the mistakes I have made. This year I wished I would have done this more often, even though I did do it, I wish I would have repeated these steps multiple times. I am satisfied with the work I have done, but next year I want and will improve on all of my weaknesses.