In writing an assignment I often start out full of ideas and methods of analysis about the topic or issue at hand (Creme and Lea 2003). Firstly I start with making rough draft before starting the final essay. As the assignment I have chosen deals with reflective writing I don’t wish to write a language which is very informal but at the same time pen down the all the thoughts I have in my mind. The purpose of this essay is to write about every little thing done in the particular week relating to the course. As of now how much ever I have written for this assignment I have followed the five steps of writing. In the inventing process I started with bullets points of what all I did in that particular week and whether it was important to write it. As we have to write for the entire week I did tend to forget certain things so after the rough plan I rearranged the whole thing to make it better to read and understand. While planning I fail to decide to what is important and what is not which consumes a lot of my time. Then the drafting process I often drift away from the thesis statement and also the matter which is relevant for the argument and I tend to lose marks for that. I make a point to check the spelling mistakes and the grammar used by a proof reading. As this is a reflective essay I have loads of ideas and thoughts but cannot write them all and have problems structuring a sentence. Sometimes the sentences become too long which is not a very good sign. I need to forecast my ideas and make them more readable to the reader.
One more aspect I found out was about the paragraphs as to how many paragraphs can I divide it into and even divide the matter accordingly. Writing is a bit like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You can look at the same scene but find it different every time you turn the viewer (Diski 2005,p.31). Reflective writing can create informative, descriptive material from the mass of ideas, hopes, anxieties, fears, memories and images provoked by everyday working life. I have managed writing my assignment in my own words not too informal for the tutor to understand the way in which I have connected it with requirement. There is no particular thesis required for this assignment but I still want this to be very presentable. In the stage of revising I have rewritten many paragraphs and also cut down a few which were not really necessary which for me was a difficult task. As I did not know whether I was going on right track or no. As such there are no major arguments for this assignments but there are certain places where I have disagreed to the documentaries and topics discussed in class which I was unable to pen down in an informal language or even formally. According to me it is very important to have a a similarity between the introduction and also the conclusion to be focused throughout. Also, in order to keep my paper focused it should have a concise structure laid out and then followed (Shah 2008). Even though I have all the ideas in my head running there are times I keep staring at the screen and cannot find a start to write which takes most of the time. I have been writing a lot of stuff lately not relating to this topic but otherwise like short poems and quotes which do not take so long to pen down unlike essays. I fear of losing marks not writing at a particular level and referencing them in a correct manner.
These are the major two problems which I want to fix to make the rest of my assignment a much better piece to read. I want to organise the left pieces of paper all together and introduce my ideas in a correct manner and explain the way they should be discussed. This will in turn help the reader to know the message I wish to convey and make justice to the topic. Only if these few errors become perfect I will be more confident in writing my essays in future and obtain a very satisfactory mark for the same. I believe this is the most challenging and important part of the assignment so once I sort it I will be very comfortable and focused for the reader to be read. I don’t want it to be a very confusing one and loose my marks on it.
I have now come to realise that through the process of reflective writing about any incident is not at all a cosy process of quiet contemplation but develops more confidence in one. It is more of an active, dynamic, often threatening process which demands full involvement of the oneself and also a strong commitment to the action. This reflective practice does not leave on anything to hide but to be thrown out with the words for the message to be delivered to the opposite person.
List of References
Creme, P. and Lea, M. R. (2003) 2nd edn. Writing at University: A Guide for Students. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Diski, J. (2005) Your dinner is the dog. The Guardian Review, 15 January, 31.
Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. London: Sage.
Shah, M. (2008) ‘Helping yourself Perform Highly at University.’ Journal of Writing Research 42 (1): 37-49
