This year in English 110, I learned various ways to active read, brainstorm, draft, revise, and polish my essays. Some of my favorite strategies for the writing process are annotations, peer reviews, brain dumps, freewriting, and “spicing-up” my vocabulary. I have noticed a huge difference in my writing from when I don’t use these strategies compared to when I do use them. My writing is a lot more meaningful, flowy, and it seems more scholarly. To write a good essay, you have to have a profound understanding of what you are writing about, which is where annotations come into the writing process. Annotating an essay has helped me so much this year because it can help you to understand a very complex reading. After I annotate, I usually just do a brain dump and free-write of whatever comes to mind. This step is usually very messy, so I clean it up with revisions, which is usually in the form of peer reviews, annotating my own essay, or simply reading it out loud. After I revise my essay, I polish it up by doing a final spell/grammar check and spicing up my vocabulary. These strategies help me to write the best essay I possibly can and will help me in my future endeavors as a college student. Throughout my whole college career, I will definitely have to use the writing process in not only English but other courses as well. Once I graduate from college, I will work on my resume and other documents as well, so I will 100% have to use the writing process. This class has assisted me with getting familiar and comfortable with the writing process so I will be confident when using it later in life.
