Who are we without literature? We see writing and different styles of writing every day; it’s the way we communicate. Just like every individual on earth, each one of our writings has differences but also lots of similarities, and that’s what makes each piece of literature different.  We write in order to convey a certain idea or spread a specific message, and through our writing were able to build any idea from the ground up. Just like anything good in life, good writing isn’t luck or something you’re born with; it’s something that takes time to develop, and in order to properly develop it, you have to practice it. The theory of writing is that in order to develop a good piece of writing, you apply what you’ve learned anywhere and apply it to your own personal writing style.

Something that significantly changed during my writing was in the very beginning of each of my writings. My transitions. Transitions aren’t just a way to properly switch between topics, but they also serve as a way of connecting ideas and being able to properly present ideas to your audience. Most of my transitions were very simple and weren’t really transitional; they were sort of just there because they were supposed to be there. After reading How to Build an Artificial Heart by  The New Yorker, I saw examples of what a real transition was.

This article helped improve the transitions in my own writing because the author smoothly moves from one idea to another while keeping the reader engaged. In this paragraph, the writer transitions from discussing medical advancements to explaining the growing doubts surrounding artificial hearts. Words and phrases like “But,” “Still,” and “The attitudes… began to cool” help connect ideas naturally instead of making the information feel sudden and odd. I applied to my own writing by using logical and proper organization of topics in order to make each paragraph smooth. 

Another thing I learned during this course that helped me further my thought process of writing is tone. I learned what tone was in high school, but never truly understood it. Throughout my writing, my tone remained consistent, and there was not much emotion or emphasis on what I was writing. I partially believe it was because I didn’t enjoy what I was writing, but it was also because my understanding of it wasn’t fully there. As this class progressed, I studied and read informative writing and learned that tone is different in each genre of writing. In most articles, we read that the tone was urgent and was a call to action. For example, in “How The Pandemic Defeated America” by Ed Young, he immerses you into what exactly it felt like living through such a strange and haunting time period in our lives. 

This paragraph, out of many more clearly repsresnt the tonality of Ed Young, he is urging the administration of that time, which is the same administration we are under now, sadly, to essentially pick up the slack and stay alert and put the safety and health of its people first instead of chasing profits. The strong diction, such as “assault,” “ruination,” and “radical introspection,” creates an urgent and emotional tone.  Articles like this one and a few others we read in this course influence my tone by showing me that words and proper use of language are important in order to offer the correct representation of your thoughts or reflections to the reader, and help shape thereader’ss reaction or emotions to the writing. 

Although looking at different writings from already established writers is great, something that truly helped my writing was peer review. Throughout most of my middle and high school career, we did peer review, but to me, those peer reviews felt like a waste. Most of the feedback I received was lackluster and just pointed out the obvious. This course completely changed my view on peer review. Being given the ability to read the work of peers gave me great sources of inspiration and helped me open up my perspective on my own writing. Seeing different perspectives on the same topic from different people helped me see places where I can adjust my writing that I have never seen before. It showed me that being open and accepting of new ideas in any setting can help you just be a better individual overall, and you learn and grow, whether you’re in the classroom or outside the classroom 

I have made great progress this semester. At first, I thought this class was just going to be another boring general education class that I had to sit through, but I was completely wrong.  Not only did I become immersed in class, but I also came out a better writer, a better understanding of how to properly convey my ideas, and a more open perspective when it comes to writing. I’ve learned that good writing takes time, you need to develop it, and you rush. You have to take your time and think outside the box, even when that box seems unescapable. Go out there and write, write a lot, write a little, write detailed, write vaugley but never give up on your writing, it’s an extension of you and your mind.