Blog 11: Patterns of errors

In my writing, I noticed that most of my paragraphs my essays are not well focused. For example, I tend to go off topic when writing essays. I start talking about one thing and end up writing about a different topic. This is an issue on my essays because it makes my essays vague, where I am talking about different subjects. Having unfocused topics makes my essays weak because the body paragraphs don’t tie with the thesis. It is difficult for me to have focused paragraphs because I want to write many things about one subject. This is an error that I repeat constantly, but I am going to read my essays and make them relate to my thesis or essay topic.   

  Another error I make in my writing is that I don’t clarify my sentences and repeat things constantly. For instance, I explain quotes or statements but don’t always make my points clear.  I also don’t explain “why?” in my papers which makes my statements unclear. This type of error makes my papers be redundant where I constantly repeat the words again. I can change this repeated error by questioning every sentence in my essay. The strategy of thinking why I add the a particular sentence in my essay, is going to make me noticed where I don't explain things in details.

 I also noticed in my essays that my thesis are not strong enough or are not specific. When I write essays it’s hard to write my thesis because I tend to make it too wordy. In my thesis, I included words that make my thesis have two different meanings. A thesis describes the main topic of the essays; therefore, I find it difficult to come up with a thesis where I am going to have to relate to it throughout my essays. Even though, I make these mistakes constantly I am going to read my essays multiple times, try not to go off topic, and look for better sentence structure. This is going to make my essays stronger and have my writing focus related to one subject.

Blog 10 Peer Review

Peer review for me is a good strategy for classmates to critic my work. Peer review is effective because it gives us ideas about things to include in essays. For example, one students may have a certain still of writing and the person reading the can take some of those ideas. Another example is that it helps us get ideas that we can include in our writing. It can be improved by having two people per group. This will give us the opportunity to only focus in one piece of writing. Only having to read one essay will give me the chance to speak with my partner in person about the essay. I also feel that the questions should be different each time we review an essay. My strengths as a peer review are that I read the essay in details and make comments on them. I try to identify the grammatical errors they have or write questions mark in ideas that are unclear. One of my weaknesses is that I am not good at giving advice. For instance, I find it difficult to explain to my partners how they can improve. While answering the questions I identify the good and bad things but I believe I can add more details. I can explain better how they can improve on their essay. For me, it is helpful to do review at early stages in writing because we can develop better ideas with the help of our partners. When we are in the process of writing an essay it is easy to move or change ideas around. One can make any corrections and fix with the help of the peer reviewer. I believe that smaller groups would work better because it gives us a better chance to give better critic. Also because we are not going to get distracted having group discussions about different things not related to the essays. The amount of time given in class is sufficient to complete the peer review process. 

Blog 9 my own topic

My goal toward my education is to obtain a Bachelor's Degree. Afterwards I plan to keep going to college for my Masters. Right now that I am in college I am having difficulty choosing my major. There are many majors that I have in mind but don't know which one to choose. Some of them being social workers, or secondary education. I really like working and helping others that's why these are the main careers I am thinking about. This is a crucial part of my life because it is the job that I am going to have all my life, but I really find it hard to choose my career. I am undecided because besides liking my major I have to take into consideration the job opportunities each career has. In order to choose my major I have met with a Career Service Counselor. They are helping me evaluate myself and the things I like. They have also explained to me each major and their advantages and disadvantages. So I hope soon I can declared my major. Overall, I think that whatever major I choose writing classes are really helpful. Writing class helps my goals because I am going to be writing no matter what. The most important piece of writing is going to be my thesis once I graduate. Therefore, writing class are helpful because they make my skills stronger. The advantages are that I am able to have better diction and reading skills in others. Writing is something I am going to do in any major I choose no matter which one it is.

Blog #8 Arguments

The article “Should Obama Generation Drop-Out” is about how students study a four year bachelor’s degree in order to find a job. These are usually students who have a stable economy level or are wealthy. However, there are other students who are looking for well-paying jobs but don’t have enough resources to accomplish this. The writer implies that it is good that hiring jobs pay attention to the certification but it should not be vital to have one. In other words people look for a bachelor’s degree when hiring a person but do not know if they are preparing for this job. In the article the writer mentions Obama to show that he is the main authority. For instance, he is the only one that is able to change things since he is president. The writer suggest that instead at asking for a bachelor's degree do an evaluation of how they get things done.

I choose this article because it was the one that caught my attention first. I am the first generation from my family to attend college. So, this is an issue that I as a student need to be aware of. This issue is important for me because now in days it’s hard to find a well paid job and I have to keep on studying to get the highest degree possible. But I think that there are students that graduate from prestige universities but don’t have the experience for their career. I have noticed that there are people who don’t have the proper education but they do have the capacity to do things that pertain to their jobs. This matters because hiring people judge a person for a written certification but not for what they are able to do.