Peer Review Essay #1

The peer review helps because when you write you don’t always catch all you’re mistakes. So, when someone else reads you’re work they can catch the mistakes you didn’t. The feedback is always good because you can get opinions from other people on you’re essay and revise it when you do a final draft. The purpose of it is to correct you’re mistakes, improve in writing, and be a better writer. I did receive helpful feedback and I know what to do and what not to do when I write my next essay. I think I did give back helpful feedback. For me it’s a problem on starting and getting my thesis statement done. Sometimes when I write, I feel like I don’t have a thesis statement. Writing a thesis statement is hard for me because even when I feel like I have one or think I have one, it’s wrong. After I start and get going then I’m good to go. My thoughts just come to my while I write and it gets easier and easier as I finish up the essay. When I write my final draft my plan is to look at the comments I was given and take it into consideration. It will help me revise my essay, maybe add a little to it to make it better, or take some stuff out that aren’t needed. The feedbacks really do help because it can help you improve you’re writing as well as being a better writer.

Plans for Oral Presentation 1

The oral presentation that we have to do seems like one of the easiest assignments I have done my first year in college. Everything about this assignment is pretty self explanatory. Its not a hard assignment, it’s pretty easy to do. I do not like doing oral presentations because I hate having the attention on me. I do not like to stand in front of people to talk and while everyone looks at me. When I do have to do an oral presentation, I get really stressed and overwhelmed about it. I start to freak out and I lose my train of thought and I turn super red and then I get my words mixed up. That’s one of my fears. It’s not so bad when I’m with a group because the attention is not just on me. My past presentation I did in high school went really bad. I got up to speak and forgot my name, had no idea what to talk about, and just started stuttering. I rather do the work in the group and have someone else present it. For this oral presentation, everyone in my group contributed equally and everyone did their portion of the work. I am a little nervous to do this oral presentation and I will try my best not to stutter or lose my train of thought. When I do oral presentations, I think to much about it and when I get up there it seems so scary, but when I get it done, I feel so relieved.

Peer Review Essay #2

For essay number two, I have a lot to work on. My first two essays were not good at all. They weren’t the best, but they weren’t the worst. In essay number two, I need to work on my thesis statements and topic sentences. My checklist would is to write a thesis statement, include three major points, write my topic sentences, provide examples for each, check my grammar and my comma usage. I can improve in these areas by practicing more or writing short essays just to get a hang of how to do it. I also need to not rush through my essays and take my time when writing it. Going back and re reading my essay when I am done will help me too.

Multiple Intelligence Assessment 

Through essay number two I learned what my learning style was and how to work with my learning style. I came across that my learning style is visual. I learn so much better when I can actually see pictures, examples, or notes, rather then just hearing a professor lecture and we write as they speak. In college a lot of my classes are lecture classes and it’s so hard for me to focus in them and maintain my grades. What I would is before that class, I would read the chapter and take my own notes so when I go to class I’m not exactly lost or confused. I try to spend more time on classes I have difficulties with and get a tutor or something that will help me better understand it. When I write my essays, I don’t really use my learning style. Most of the time the essays are self explanatory. You do not need to take notes or see pictures to write the essay. I just need to see the topic and it to be explained to me if I do not understand it. Once I have my topic down and know what I want to write then I will be able start and focus on my topic. No aspect of my learning style makes writing essays difficult because it’s not really used as maybe other learning styles are.

Thesis statement & Topic Sentences

Thesis statement– Given that so many students live on or near campus, ODU should cancel school on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Not all students that attend ODU stay on or live near campus. ODU should cancel school because a lot of students are commuters and the roads are not safe to drive on and because commuters will be penalized for absences if they don’t attend class.

Topic one– ODU should cancel school on Wednesday, Feb. 18 because a lot of students are commuters and the roads are not safe to drive on.

Topic two– Also, ODU should cancel school on Wednesday, Feb. 18 because commuters will be penalized for absences if they don’t attend class.

Midterm Plan

My midterm plan is to do really good on my essay. When writing my essay for it, I want to take all the skills that we learned in class and use those skills in my essay. I want to make my essay really good so I can get a high score. I will focus on having a good thesis statement and coming up with good topic sentences. When I have those two things, then my essay will have a better flow and it will be detailed and well written. I will complete the test in my room, on my laptop. When taking a test or trying to concentrate, I have to have a quiet environment and be alone to focus and do good. I wouldn’t eat break feast or drink coffee, I will get straight to it so I can finish it and not stress about it anymore. Before taking the midterm, I will look over chapter five just for a better understanding.

Midterm Reflection

I didn’t do much to prepare for this midterm. I did go to class regularly and paid attention to the things we did in class to help me write my essays. The essays we had assigned to us helped me understanding writing and how to write better. When I write essays, I can’t really prepare for them. It’s just one of those things that you have to know how to do when you get assigned it. It is not a test where you have notes that you can study for. It’s something that you just have to be always be ready for because college is where you write a lot of essays. In my opinion, I do not like timed essays. I would rather have a set date for them then a time limit. The reason for this is because it takes me awhile to start my essay. I have trouble starting and essay and coming up with thesis statements and topic sentences. When I come up with those then I am set to write my essay and I can take as long as I want or take breaks when I am tired. When you have a timed essay, you have to hurry up and finish. I do not like to be rushed with my school work.

Course Evaluation

Taking this course helped me improve in my writing and helped me be a better writer. In this course when we write essays, we have our classmates to read them and give us feedback on it. That helps me because I will see what mistakes I make in writing and what I have to add or take out to make the essay better. When we did an activity on writing a thesis statement and then three topic sentences, that was also very helpful to me because it helped me learn how to write a thesis and topic sentences. When writing I don’t notice the mistakes I make or the usage of wrong punctuation. When I look over my essay to revise it, I would say that when writing I would need to work more on grammar. To further my skills, in class we can just practice more to make it easier and understanding. To further my skills, outside of class I can practice and write short sentences and then have someone look over them.

Peer Review Essay #3 Recap

When I write my essays I tend to make mistakes because when you write, you write really fast to get it done and over with. Peer review helps because others tend to catch the mistakes you don’t. Essay number three was a well written essay for me and I did better on it, then I did on my first too. Looking back at those two and my third essay, I can really see improvement. I wouldn’t change much of my essay besides some grammatical errors. I will complete the essay on time by looking at my comments I got for peer review and made and adjust any changes I need to.

Plans for essay #4

The writing assignment I will consider for essay number four is my criminal justice paper. For that paper I have to talk about the role of courts and answer questions that she has made for us in an essay format. Writing an essay for every class is similar because whenever you write an essay, you have to have a thesis statement and topic sentences. In some cases it can be different because you talk about different things. Some professors have a certain structure they want you to follow when writing and essay. This class helped me when writing in other classes because now I know how to write topic sentences and have thesis statements.

Peer review Essay #4 Recap

My essay number four did not have many errors. My peers told me to add transition words, but I already had them. There are more transition words then just “first reason, second reason, third reason.” I had a few grammar mistakes that can be easily fixed and a few sentences that can be revised for better sounding. I will fix my essay as soon as I read all the comments and see what I can do to fix it. My plan to completing this essay is to fix my mistakes and turn it in on time. During the workshop time in class, one of the tutors helped me format my paper for my criminal justice class and helped me figure out where to find the information at.

Plans for Oral Presentation #2

For oral presentation two, my group and I are responsible for talking about thesis statement. In the presentation we will discuss what you should include in your thesis statement and how you should write it. This assignment is very easy and simple because throughout the course we learned everything we need to know about a thesis statement. All we have to do now is put that information into a power point and present it to the rest of the classmates. The only thing that will really be difficult to me is speaking in front of people. Our plans for completing this outline is everyone will add there points on Google docs with our group and Natalie will put it in a power point.

Preparing for the Reflective Essay

The skills I have improved in this semester is my thesis statements, topic sentences, and comma usage. I learned how to write thesis statements, topic sentences, different transition words, and comma usage. My writing has improved a lot from the first two essays I wrote in this class to the last two I wrote. When I read it, I notice a big difference. I am proud of my improvement and I just want to keep doing better and focus more on my writing. Practicing on writing thesis statements and topic sentences helped me a lot.

Preparing for the final

There is not much I can do to prepare for the final. I don’t know what my essay topic is about. All I can really do is practice more on thesis statements, topic sentences, and grammar. The advice I would give to future students taking this class is to, take there time when writing essays, complete all the essays, and attend class regularly because that helps too.