Personal Experience Essay Example

Personal Experience Essay: Introduction

No one becomes an excellent writer without trying. All of us need to understand writing as a process and work for it. There are specific rules and proven practices that make someone a perfect writer. This lecture has been significantly influential in terms of making me a reasonable writer. To explain my process and my understanding of writing, this paper will reflect on my personal experience throughout the course and examine how my writing improved. In my opinion, this lecture and its applications to make my writing better are proven to be efficient, and it is clear that everyone who practices these techniques will improve their writing.

Body Paragraphs

At first, my writing was not appropriate in style, citation, word choices, etc. I believe those are common areas that students have a hard time getting used to. For example, I did not find it inappropriate to use any website as my source without checking their credibility. I did not know about writing language. Therefore, I used informal language without any concerns.

Another weakness of mine about writing was the order and coherence level of my papers. I wrote my articles without specific methods in the past; therefore, they were not coherent, and their flow was not understandable or logical. General principles about writing a paper, which I will address in the following parts, solved these problems.

The first thing that improved my writing was planning. After the spring semester with this course, my planning for papers was enhanced more than anything. If one can see writing as a process, then one can understand that it needs preparation. I learned how to create a helpful outline, a first draft, and finally, a coherent paper. Outlines and drafts are great to map your thoughts. This was the most valuable improvement for me that made my writing effective.

Like planning, I also adopted specific techniques to make it easy for me to develop ideas and clearing them. I started to use mind mapping as a way of categorizing my thoughts. I visualized all of my ideas and created maps to make them tidy. Bukhari found that practical mind mapping skills increase EFL learners' writing abilities (58). It is possible to say that mind mapping is an essential strategy to practice before writing a paper.

Also, peer reviews and conferences helped me significantly. Getting feedback from your peers and having one on one meetings with your lecturer improves your writing. I was able to see my weaknesses and work on them. Otherwise, I would not be able to realize them and would continue to make those mistakes. In my opinion, honest reviews are critical in the way of developing your writing skills. Everyone needs to know what particular areas they need to improve.

In addition to getting feedback, giving them also improved me. Seeing others' papers and thinking of ways to improve my paper based on them was critical to broadening my understanding. The study conducted by Lundstrom and Baker also emphasizes that giving feedbacks improves one's writing (30). I was able to collect and combine any part that influenced me from my peers' papers.

Another significant improvement in my writing was the sources I choose to use. Unlike before, I learned that there is a particular criterion for which reference could be used. I started to use academic journals as my prominent source. I also learned how to distinguish a credible and appropriate source from the others. For instance, now I look for relatively recent research papers, as they are more credible. In addition, now I look for articles that are relevant to my papers. I realized that without examining the source with care, one can be misguided or use irrelevant papers as a source.

For example, before this semester, I used papers that include the reasoning I was looking for without much consideration. But usually, they were irrelevant to my topic, and they were not suitable for my paper. But now, one of the first things I do when searching for sources is to do background research about them and see if they apply to my writing.

However, regardless of how much I have improved and learned the basic principles about writing a paper, I still have problems choosing topics and extending them to a reasonably long article. I tried the rapid ideation technique, in which people assemble a small group and create new ideas. This technique improved me on coming up with ideas. Because my peers with different perspectives gave me incredible viewpoints. But I cannot say that I am satisfied with my current situation.

Although, it is possible to say that my writing never regressed throughout the practices I did. I interpret this as it will improve as much as I exercise. As I stated before, I believe writing is a process, which means one must walk through to become a better writer. Studies also show that deliberate practice is the key to improve students' writing skills (Kellogg and Raulerson 238).

Personal Experience: Conclusion

In conclusion, in this semester, my writing has been significantly developed. I learned about certain concepts such as citation, searching for sources, getting peer reviews, and creating an outline beforehand. I believe that writing is a process in which one could get in a better position just by researching and practicing. After understanding its principles, it gets easier and more effective over time. Also, I realized that adopting specific strategies to increase your stream of consciousness is critical to make you a competent and successful writer. In addition to my personal experiences, the studies that I mentioned above also agree with my points. This lecture, in my experience, has proven to be effective in improving my writing, and it is obvious that anyone who practices these methods would improve their writing.

References

Bukhari, Syeda Saima Ferheen. “Mind Mapping Techniques to Enhance EFL Writing Skill.” International Journal of Linguistics and Communication, vol. 4, no. 1, 2016, 10.15640/ijlc.v4n1a7. Accessed 1 May 2021.

Kellogg, Ronald T., and Bascom A. Raulerson. “Improving the Writing Skills of College Students.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2007, pp. 237–242.

Lundstrom, Kristi, and Wendy Baker. “To Give Is Better than to Receive: The Benefits of Peer Review to the Reviewer’s On Writing.” Journal of Second Language Writing, vol. 18, no. 1, Mar. 2009, pp. 30–43, 10.1016/j.jslw.2008.06.002. Accessed 1 May 2021.