Writing my first paper for my WRI 100 class, was very nerve racking. Being that this was the first paper, I was unsure of how my professor grades papers. Sure there is a rubric and I reviewed it, but it is writing, not a math equation and everyone has a different style. The steps I took to complete my essay included, making a mental outline. I knew what I wanted to focus my paragraphs on, it's just making my incomplete thoughts in my head, into coherent sentences that sometimes isn't my strong suit. Yes, I know how to write a sentence, but sometimes I think of so many things at once, that my writing tends to be choppy and bounces around. Next I write topic sentences for each main paragraph and attach bullet points to each main topic, making kind of an outline. I turn my bullet points into sentences, and add a few transition words, adjectives, a conclusion/introduction and BAM! I have myself a paper.
I definitely have negative thoughts when writing. Sometimes I feel like I don't write enough like a "grown up" and don't always use large professional words. So after thinking bad about my writing. I throw those thoughts out of the way, and start to tell myself, "Tori, your writing is good and you will get a good grade." I also make sure to sit somewhere that is a little populated when writing a paper. For some reason, the background noise and people watching almost gives me ideas of what to write. That probably doesn't make sense to many people, but it works for me.
After writing this paper, I am a little more confident in myself. Writing is a lot easier that I had thought it would be. We all have our own unique writing style that works for us. With each paper we write and complete we increase our confidence level when writing and will do better on the next one.
Sometimes I don't feel like my writing is sophisticated or professional as well. I want to make sure I use proper writing, but make it sound more like a college paper than a high school paper. I do feel more confident in myself too after writing m first college paper. It was nerve racking because college is a whole new experience from high school. Making a mental outline I think is a good tactic in writing because then you have some what of an idea about what to start with, how to go about the middle, and then where to end.
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