Final Evaluation

Writing might be one of the most fluid ideas of college. There is no set standard for what is right and what is wrong, unless you professor tells you there is. Over this semester, I feel that I have become a much more mature writer. I am able to create successful works without my instructor telling me exactly what to do and how to do it. I see myself as a very independent writer but I have been so restricted in all of my previous years of school that I am too accustomed to having exact guidelines that when I am set free I tend to just stand there and think to myself, “Well, where do I go now?”

Because of this, my writing has grown. I have been able to view objects is a much different way than I ever could before. I learned how to dig deeper into the ideas and come out with an interesting idea. Our first major essay, focused on an observation, helped teach me to look at others and not focus on myself as much in my writing. On my first draft, I included a large amount of what I did during the observation and how I reacted to everything I saw. As I revised the piece I was able to let the reader know exactly what I saw without making the main focus of the piece be on me.

I also have learned to appreciate my peer’s ideas on my writing a lot more. When I was in high school, I was considered one of the best writers in my class (pathetic class, I know) so I really didn’t pay much attention to what my classmates had to say about my writing because it was usually something to the extent of, “Wow! This is so good. Um…I don’t know. Don’t change anything.” That didn’t do me much good. But now, as I am starting to be surrounded by much more successful writers than my previous chums, I am realizing that the peer reviews are very beneficial and the other writers tend to have some very good input that helps expand my writing. In fact, the reviews that I recieved from my professor and my peers during the peer review really helped turn my second writing project, focusing on rhetorical analysis, into the masterpiece it became.

The definition of good writing is still is very vague. I think that any writing that the author gets across an idea while informing or entertaining the audience. As long as someone has learned something from the writing or finishes the piece and are glad that they spent the time to read it, I believe that that paper can be considered “good writing.”