Lesson 5

 What have you learned about your instructor's expectations of you?
I think that the instructor believes that I do have the mental capacity to write papers worth reading, but need to work on organizing thoughts in a influential manner. I appreciate very much the opportunity to learn how to communicate more clearly. I know that I have many contributions to give in any subject, if only I have the structural tools necessary to depict my thoughts.

What have you learned about the textbooks we are using for this course?
Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric in Reading taught me to view arguing as a tool for positive solutions. It also taught me to view truth as relative workability. A Writer's Reference taught me about the structure of writing, and how this structure is important because it is the organization of thoughts  which makes them widely accessible.

What have you learned about the writing process and/or about yourself during this lesson?
I have learned that writing is not as daunting as I had previously thought. Because I have been dubbed shy in some circles during my life, I did not realize how easy it is for me to express myself very creatively and efficiently. I have learned that in writing, structure is key. If I don't establish a structure early on, my research of a subject will never end! I have learned how to jump into a paper, which previously was the most difficult stage of the writing process for me. Now I research the sides of a subject while collecting sources and taking notes in bullet point form, then I proceed with a conversational break down of these points in the icebreaking form of freewrite. This approach helps to incorporate flow with structure. I have learned that I love to write, and that I have allot to say.

Which technique would you choose not to use again? Why?
The idea mapping technique resulted in many pictures of ideas, which in the end were not very helpful to the construction of the paper. I will not use this technique again, although I may substitute it for a collage for a visual understanding of a subject. I enjoy free writing as it banishes the nervous prospect of beginning.

Techniques for generating ideas.
The most useful prewriting techniques for me were the combined strategies of free writing and pro/con outlines. Free writing gets the ideas flowing, and allows a mental exploration of the topic at hand. Outlines provide my writing with the structure it needs to be directly effective. When combined these strategies created the conversational factuality that I love to read, and now write. The previously missing element of structure is now present via outlines .

What might other students be having difficulty with in this class?
I wonder if other students in this class may be having difficulty knowing what step to next take. In English classes there is not a clear numbered list of questions or topics to tackle one by one. For me, this makes it hard to conceptualize the big picture of what needs to get done at which times.