- Reflective or metacognitive writing is an essential part of writing instruction and can be used for a variety of writing, such as composition, creative nonfiction, or fiction writing. It helps to formulate the writer’s purpose, figure out the relationship between the audience and the writer, identify possible problems in the writing process and set goals for revision, and make decisions about language and style, etc. Overall, it helps writers gain more insight and control over the composition and revision process, allowing writers to reflect on their strengths and challenges as they write.
- Once I finished writing a reflection on an essay assignment, I would have a clearer understanding of my shortcomings and figured out again why I should consider the audience. I think that the essay is not only supported by the purpose, but the audience is also a crucial point, as the audience determines the language used in the sentence. Therefore, I feel that reflective writing has helped me because it has shown me where I need to improve more and where I can keep it up.
- Before I start writing, I make a list of what I know about the topic and the information about it, and what kind of ideas I want to have in my writing, or what kind of suggestions I want to make. I think this helps me to have a clear idea of what I want to have when I start writing and gives me a general idea because when I do start writing and get into it, I get disorganized and will write everything in without a plan and I might end up forgetting some vital or information that I think I should mention most in my writing. Before writing the major essay assignment, I had a tough time figuring out which communities I had a lot of connections with, and which communities had words or phrases that I often used that stuck with me and had a big impact on me. So, I made a list of the people who have been with me the longest. As I listed these people one by one, my thoughts became simple and clear, and I quickly came up with words that meant a lot to me and have always been there for me. I also used the word to list some events that happened in my life. When I started writing, I could choose to write about the events that stood out in my list that illustrated the meaning of the word more visually and realistically and then add the introductory and closing information to make it more informative and organized.
4 thoughts on “Week 5: Reflection and Revision”
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I agree with your strategy before beginning to write any assignments. I find that making a list can help to stay focused on the information you’re missing. It’s a great way to help stay on track I’m glad it helped you in this assignment. I also struggled brainstorming words to use for this particular writing assignment and I liked your strategy of making a list of people to help you come up with a word. Since I’m a part of a discourse community already it was easier for me to choose a word to connect with it.
I think your writing process is a very effective way of reflective writing that can really help make sure that your writing piece is clear. I have a similar method but I don’t always write them down instead I do it mostly in my head. I think I will give your process a try sometime in the future, it will probably be easier to remember my ideas.
I agree with you on creating a list of topics that you would like to discuss helps to keep the process more organized. I often forget what I wanted to express so I often find it easier to write down the ideas, even if i do not use them. For my next essay I will try to have an outline before I begin writing.
Hey Arianna (+ others)! This seems to have been a fruitful conversation. Arianna, you brought 2 things to my attention: One, don’t dub your first attempts at writing “shortcomings,” this implies failure. This class is very much a workshopping space, we’re refining our writing styles together, and that involves trial/error. Second, your explanation for fleshing out the first essay is reflective of a process called “concept mapping.”
If you are struggling to find a focused topic, follow Arianna’s lead. Take the greater topic, and then break it off into branches, and then sub-branches (and so on). This is a commonly used strategy that’s helpful when trying to narrow the scope of your essay topics. Great work!