Coming into freshman year of college definitely brought about a huge number of changes for me: living on my own, becoming an adult, and adjusting to college classes. My initial thoughts about taking college level composition classes was that it would be a breeze and be the normal level of difficulty that I had been accustomed to. I soon learned that writing in college is very different and requires time and energy to be successful. Through my time in Dr. Werner's college composition class my writing skills developed tremendously. One of the most important skills I believe I advanced in was word choice. Becoming more advanced in my word choice allowed me to excel my papers in so many other ways throughout the semester.
First and foremost, word choice can have a huge effect on the tone and strength of a paper. When you choose the correct wording for a particular audience it really helps what the reader is seeing fit with them and allows them to relate to it. This means for example if a piece is written for a scientist them it should use formal and educated words so that person can use the information. Whereas if a paper is written for a group of middle school children the word choice should be simpler so that they are able to understand it. Reversing the two would make a colossal difference in the way one's paper is interpreted. Using word choice to customize my work to a reader is just one way I have become more advance because of this skill. In my first paper Anyone Can be a Writer my word choice was not specifically directed at the audience ( a college humanities professor) but seems to lean more towards students. An example of this is when I write “to me if you use your “voice” in whatever it is that you write whether a book or page long response you too are a writer”. (Docherty “Anyone Can be a Writer”) This seems that I am explaining to someone who does not know what to do when I should be saying how I use my “voice” and it helps me be a writer. As I went on write more papers in this class my understanding of this concept grew and I was able to use word choice to relate the wording to the author.
Similarly, another key element of writing that word choice has helped me to improve is organization. Organization in writing is so extremely important to form your ideas in a clear manner. Something I often found myself doing in class to better my work was psychically moving my main points around in revisions to make them stronger by adjusting the flow of the paper. Because I learned to use this skill my work was benefitted very much. Word choice initiates this process because it makes your ideas more clear so that you are able to see the flow of the paper and understand where each idea should fall in order. My reorganization efforts are very apparent in the drafts of Taking Risks in Technology. In the first draft my idea that advancing technology will solve societal problems is the first body paragraph but by draft four that is then the third and all of the other ideas had also moved around. I used different words to start off the paragraph when I moved it so that it would flow with the rest of the paper, the opening sentence went from “First and foremost, if we allow risks to be taken when creating technology perhaps we would be able to solve some societal problems” to “To continue, risks are a huge part of creating technology doing so we would be able to solve some societal problems” (Docherty “Taking Risks In Technology”). This shows how although the meaning of the sentences are the same they have different words to make them fit into their spot in the paper. This is a huge advantage that has allowed me to excel throughout the semester.
Moreover, easily the most important aspect of writing that my improvement of word choice has allowed me to be successful in is sentence structure. Sentence structure is like the nucleus of the cell that is the written work. The way each sentence is written controls how the whole paper is perceived, it can damage or strengthen the entire idea. Word choice determines how powerful a sentence is because the stronger the words used are the better backbone it has. An example of weak sentence structure is in my homework assignment when I write “I think that these facts presented are very saddening.” (Docherty “Naughton Critical Summary"). This sentence is very basic and does not spark any interest or excitement for the reader. Things I could do to improve this are lengthen it by saying what exactly is “saddening” and using higher level words. Both of these would immensely vitalize the sentence. As the semester unfolded I was able to do this with each sentence to make my work sound at a higher level. If it had nit been for what I learned about improving word choice I would not be able to fix my sentence structure.
Ultimately, my writing has truly blossomed during my time in college composition 2. The main attribute I was able to develop was word choice. Improving my word choice helped me in many ways of writing like defining an audience, organization and sentence structure. All of these aspects are extremely important I make a strong argument in writing. There is a clear difference between my writing at the beginning and end of the course thanks to what I have learned. I am glad to say I am able to take away vital skills for writing that I can use for the rest of my composition career.
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