Writing Prompt #3

What audience do you usually write to (teachers, classmates, yourself, a thoroughly generic all=encompassing audience)? Is it always the same or does it vary sometimes? If so, when? What role do you think audience should play in your writing process?


When writing a paper, I would usually target my writing towards my classmates, teachers, or whoever I would read it. I really never thought about who I am writing my papers to…well I lied. Whenever I was little, I think I have pretend to write an essay to the president of the United States. lol. Other then that I don’t think I have ever really thought who I would write my essays to. Until now this question comes around, I have to really think about who I really write to. And i believe I would just write it to whomever would like to read it. Why do I think this way? It’s not that I care…because I do care about who is reading my writing. I would not want someone to finish my reading and then tell me that it was horrible and it needs a lot of work and they would disagree with everything I have to say. So I lied again, I think the people I would want to target my paper towards are the people that could complete agree with me or at least know what I am talking about. Or they could just be someone that actually understands my reading. I notice that when people are reading my essays, it does not make any sense to them until I actually read it a loud and explain myself on some parts. I have no idea why they do not think the same thing as I do but that is just how it is. We are all different and think different things. We also think differently so it is very hard for someone to proofread the essay and tell me it’s good or bad. I honestly do not like writing to a younger crowd, only because when they are reading my paper, they would tell me it’s good but really it’s horrible. For example, I had about 6 classmates read over my paper and made a little minor errors, and they told me it was really good. Were they telling the truth or were they just saying that so they could hurry up and get it done with? Who exactly knows…even whenever I ask a tutor for help…yeah they help but it seems that my writing is still not as great. Therefore, I really don’t know who to target my writing to. It’s very hard to decide. It's like you pick one crowd but then again you want to choose another crowd. I believe that I just focus my writing on whomever wants to read my paper. I know...bad idea, bad habbit, and I know I need to change it...but how?

Writing Prompt #8

What was the hardest thing for you to write and why was it so difficult? How did you overcome the difficulties? Looking back, what could you have done differently to improve the outcome of the assignment for yourself?

I think that my first essay I submitted in for class might have been my hardest paper to write. Although, we have not written many papers yet, but I do feel that it was the hardest one. I say this only because it was the first paper I turned in for this certain class and this certain professor. I did not know how she graded papers and such. At first, I thought to myself that this paper might be a difficult paper, only because I did not know what to exactly write about and I was struggling a bit. I asked questions and asked for help. I almost had a clear understanding of what the paper was suppose to be about. I started to write my paper, it took me awhile to think about some things but I just continue to write away. Everything came to me slowly but also a little easy, I found myself not struggling as much. It started to write away and had a good grip on what I was doing.

As I was writing this paper, I figured out that it was hard to write the middle body of the essay. I thought that the thesis statement would be more difficult to me, but came to figure out it really wasn’t. Writing the thesis statement and conclusion was the easiest of writing the whole essay. I believe that it is more difficult to write about the ideas of the paper. It is very hard for me to come up with ideas and I still have not figured out why. I always see myself repeating the same things over and over. I do not know how to get away from that. If it is not repeating myself, I would reword it but it would still sound like I am saying the same thing. My biggest problem is that and I have tried to substitute words and change the subject around a little bit.

I think that if I go to the success center every time I finish my paper. They can look it over and tell me what is wrong with the paper. I know when I am having problems writing my paper, I could also turn to them. They have helped me so much in my writing along with my teacher. They are people that actually want to help me and it makes me become and feel to be a better writer. I know that if I continue doing this, I will really become a better writer.

Writing Prompt #7

What do you like and/or dislike about the portfolio style of class? How does it change the way you view your assignments? What may it require of you as a writer that the traditional way of turning in several final drafts throughout the semester does not?

I honestly like everything about my English class. I like how the teacher teaches everything; I have no problems with the teaching at all. I absolutely understand majority of the things she is teaching, and if not, of course I ask questions. I actually like getting into groups and having class seminars, it is very helpful toward me writing my essays. Surprisingly, it actually makes me understand how to write my essay. At first, I thought to myself, what does having seminars have to do with writing class? What did reviewing song lyrics have to do with writing? I did not quit understand until it actually happened. We got into groups and discussed about song lyrics and went about on them. We wrote essays on the kind of songs. For example, music appreciation and identity. Everything that we had a seminar about so far actual relates to our writing assignment. I like how this method is being taught to me. It is something new and very different, something I am not use to but defiantly like it and have no problem the way the teaching is being performed. Having this procedure, does not change my view entirely, I feel that I am learning to view my assignments better then before.

I feel that if the teacher does not make me turn in rough drafts of essays over and over again, I may become a failure. I believe that it is a good idea that we turn in multiple rough drafts, it helps me become a better writer. I know that I learn from my mistakes and will not make them so often. I know when the teacher reviews the essay and makes many markings on it…she/he is not doing this to hurt you; they are doing this to make you become a better writer. At first I thought it was a matter of “oh I’m a failure at writing and cannot write for anything”, but really there are many people that help me out. What helps out the most is that I have to turn in so many rough drafts and having them proofread by classmates and such. I know that I learn from my mistakes of writing and people help me become a better writer. If the professor did not require to turn in rough drafts, that means I would have to have other people proofread it before turning it in. I have to have other people’s opinions and suggestions on my paper before I submit it for a final grade. I find that when I don’t have anyone looking over my paper, I end up with a grade I am unhappy with. Whenever I have the success center or peers that are good in writing proofread it, I am guarantee having a satisfied grade.

I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I write and I understand. - Chinese Proverb

When I hear things, I really tend to forget. It is just how my brain works, but whenever I hear something important, I will never forget. Why does this exactly take place? Who will ever know? Not to sound ignorant or anything but I feel like I have my own self to worry about and not others. When I hear someone gossiping, I will forget. That is just something that I feel does not have my time for. I feel like when I hear certain things that do not pertain to me, I would not care and I will forget. I hear the important things and I forget the irrelevant things. Some words I hear will never be forgetful. When someone is explaining something to you, you should not forget. The method they are trying to tell you could lead you to become successful in life. It’s something important you would want to remember.

When I see things, I sometimes remember. Same goes for when I see things, I tend to forget. If it is an important image or something is taking place, I will remember. I will always remember going to school, I see it as an everyday basics. If I see something over and over, for example my home, I will remember my home. Also, going to school, what school I go to and what classroom I am suppose to be in. If I see myself doing this everyday, I will remember where I am supposed to be. It is almost like you see a car driving into a school bus. That’s something you will never forget. It’s just the image inside your mind that would never escape. I notice that I tend to forget where I place my keys; this is bad because I see my keys every single day when I drive. I feel them and I hear them. Once I walk into the house, I forget where I place them. I can never remember. Same goes for my cellular phone, I have it on me when I leave the house, but I would always have to have someone call it because I would misplace it. It is not that I am a forgetful person, because I am not. I do not know what it exactly is but I am breaking the habbit.

I write and I understand. Not exactly correct to many people…when I write, I do understand. I know my own writing and it will 90% of the time make sense to me. I write a paper, I know what I am talking about; I know what I am trying to explain. When teachers read my paper, they think of something differently, they do not think the same perspective as I do. Now why is that? I feel that if a teacher and I had a sat down and had a conversation about my paper, she/he would understand what I am trying to explain. My words can differ among others. I know other people have the same feeling as I do. When I revise someone’s paper, I may not understand what the writer is exactly talking about. To me it would not make any sense, but when I ask the writer what they are trying to state then I would reread the paper again and understand it. Whenever I write my paper, I understand it. The writer will always understand what they write no matter what.

Writing Prompt #5

In what ways do your high school and college writing experiences differ? Explain.

In high school, I believe that writing was a lot easier. I say this only because I feel like in high school writing I knew what I was exactly doing. I had good grades on every single one of my papers. It was nothing less then a B. I also enjoyed writing so much in high school because we had more of open topics. We were able to choose what to write about, for example, school uniforms, keeping or lowing the drinking/driving age, etc…they were fun topics that I could really relate to and enjoy writing about. It seems that every topic clicked into my head just like that. I love writing essays in high school, I felt like I was meant to write well/good. I felt like teachers in high school were trying to prepare me for college life. Since high school was high school and college was/is the real deal. After all, that was their job, right? Well now that I think about it, they didn’t really do such of a good job. Also I believe that teachers were more laid back and did not care as much as they should of.

Now in college, writing seems to be difficult but not as much. Teachers throw topics at you to the point where you would have to sit down and think for quite a while. I feel like I do not understand topics fully. I have to ask the teacher over and over again to make sure I am doing things right. It is like I would think of the topic this way, but really the teacher is meaning the topic should sound like something totally different from what I was thinking. In college, I actually read about writing, for example, I have to read about how to start a paper, end one, etc… from what I recall in high school, the teacher would just explain information to us. In college, we have an actual text book that explains every aspect of writing. After reading assignments, I feel like I could combine my new and old information and know what the author is talking about. I had turned in my first English paper; I thought to myself I do a pretty good job. I know I struggled with the paper a little bit but figured out what I need to do and get done. I turned in my paper know for sure it wouldn’t be lower then a B. I had received a C and it almost brought tears to my eyes. I felt like I did spend a lot of time on the paper and I also know I was having problems writing it. I did seek for help and thought help would make me become a better writer. The more and more I read through my English writing textbook, the more I feel like I will have a better understanding in writing. I feel that college writing will help me a lot more throughout life more then high school. I believe that high school was just preparing you for the little things and not the major writing things. Teachers in college do not give you a bad grade because they do not like you, I guess they are doing this to make you become a better writer. Who knows...

Writing Prompt #6

Describe how you choose your topics and then begin to develop them. How does this process impact the final product? What might be some other ways of developing topics?


When writing an essay, I usually do not get to choose a topic. Lately, I have not written an essay just for the fun of it. It has always been assigned to me by my teachers. But if I got to choose a topic, it would be something I am very well interested in. For example, if my teacher assigned me to write about lowering the drinking age or keeping it where it was at…that would be an easy subject to write about. Considering I am not 21 yet, I could defiantly fight that concept. I think that subjects like this are a lot better and more interesting to write about. I say this because it’s almost like current events and up to date information about our society in general. How I would start this paper…I would ask myself that question, and I would come to about and wanting to choose to write about both, but if all falls and I have to choose one topic, one option, I would go around asking people my age if the drinking age should be lower or if it should be set at 21. I would take the final results of that and start deciding what topic I want to write about. With this topic, it would be very hard to pick what I would want to talk about. For example, I would want to lower the drinking age to 18. I say this because if teenagers can drive at the age of 16 and purchase tobacco and lottery tickets at the age of 18…why waits until 21 to consume alcohol? Also why wait until 21 to gamble? I think that whatever they make legal at the age of 18 should be pushed off to the age of 21 or everything that is legal for the age of 21 should be lower to 18. Around the age of 18, there are so many students that are in college by now. Shouldn’t they be responsible for what’s going on? I mean they’re in college. Any who, I think that it should be like that. And if they get in trouble or whatever, that’s there fault. They should have been a responsible adult. After all, entering and going to college is a total different atmosphere and they are required to become more of a responsible person. That’s just my assumption. Well this is how I would choose a topic and I would develop it very well because I am into this kind of writing and it involves my age group.

How do I feel About the First Draft of Paper 1

At first I thought it was going to be easy but found out that it was a rather bit difficult. I had to ask myself over and over what music appreciation is really all about or what the actual definition is. Over all, it took me about 3 hours to write about it. I literally sat at my computer trying to brainstorm ideas and what to write about for at least 40 minutes. What I had the most problems with was thinking of a thesis statement to write. It is very strange…I have struggle before on a thesis statement but never as much as I did last night. I know how to write a thesis statement but am not really sure. I looked online and in writinig books on how to write one. It tell me to ask questions and state ideas. I have already done that. The question I am asking now is...how long does the introduction have to be? Could it just be 5 sentences or should it be longer? I have two choppy sentences that I know would count only because they are asking questions. Other then that I know that it should be a little longer. I guess I struggled so much because I was not in class whenever the assignment was assigned. I feel that I struggled through this whole paper. I believe that my second draft will be a lot better after I have people review it.

We just got into groups of five and we all read each others papers. My group members told me my paper sounded good. I hope it really does and they're not just saying that. As they were reading over my paper, I notice I repeated a few things that I know for sure I will need to omit.