HW 1

Writing has never been too much trouble for me unless it is a subject that does not interest me. In high school I developed a habit of waiting out a writing prompt that I wasn't very fond of and writing the paper maybe a night or two before it was due. The paper would always turn to be a very high B or low A, but I began to realize as I grew older that I should develop a well constructed writing process that would help me with managing my time and also help create a much better written paper, no matter the content that I was writing about. My process begins with with reading over the essay prompt a few times and really try to get to understand it. If the essay has to be written about a book then I will read the book and develop my own sort of short analysis of the novel and then a quick and simple plot summary just to be able to have some references while I begin to write. Before I start the actual writing process I will construct a light outline that will develop a proper structure for my paper. I normally also try to develop a thesis for my paper that will fully approach what my paper will be about. Then I will write the opening paragraph where I try to give a brief overview and a quick look at the background on the subject matter. Next I will write the body paragraphs, however many it takes, and within these paragraphs is where the bulk of the writing will be located, including incorporated quotes and many facts. Lastly, I will write the closing paragraph which normally will not be too lengthy, but will wrap up the essay with re-capping what I had addressed in my opening paragraph and eventually creating the closing sentence. This is the process I would use if I were given a prompt today, but it will also may need to adapt or change if given a different sort of prompt, or if a different format is needed. Now when it comes to what environment I write best in, it usually is when I have some music playing, more specifically, some light folk music maybe. What I hope I will get out of this is that I can shape up the rough edges on my writing process and become an efficient college writer.