What I Learned From the Readings
As I stated in my previous blog entry I am not very good at writing essays. I find it very difficult interpret then remember all of the information that I need in order to write the essay. When it comes to essay exams I have a lot of trouble remembering all of the information that I have learned no matter how long and hard I have studied. Not remembering the information results in a short essay, and I know instuctors like to see lots of elaboration in essays.
After reading the information provided in the readings I feel that if I start using some the pointers that they gave such as analyzing the question, then using some of the organizatioal cues I will feel more comrfortable about writing essays.
Whenever I am writing an essay for an exam I may read the question or prompt over and over again, but I do not really analyze it and break it down. Like the book says, I see a word or phrase that I do not know and I start to panic. However, the book also says on page 718 that “The question itself can show you the best way to organize your response.” If I break down the question into the specific points it is asking about, and then look for key words such as or, and, as well as to know how much of the question I am actually supposed to address.
These are only minor adjustments, but I think that if I really work hard at them, then I can feel a lot more better about writing essays in general; not just exam essays.
